Baseball is a funny game.  Anyone who’s listened to Bob Uecker or read Joe Garagiola’s 1960 book by that title would probably agree. 

But at the professional level, the National Pastime is a business.  And as Bart Giamatti, Major League Baseball’s seventh commissioner, once wrote, it can break your heart. 

Consider Jeremy Hazelbaker, who has spent the past decade playing for pay.  “It’s definitely a job, it’s a business,” said Hazelbaker, an outfielder in the Minnesota Twins organization.  “From the top to the bottom, the front office – it’s a business for everyone.  We know it.  We get it.”   

Born in Muncie, Hazelbaker grew up in nearby Selma, Ind.  He blossomed into a star at Selma’s Wapahani High School, where his coach was Bruce Dudley, a member of Indiana’s Baseball Hall of Fame.  After graduation in 2006 he went on to play for Rich Maloney at Ball State University.  A left-handed hitter, Hazelbaker batted .429 as a junior in 2009 and led the Mid-America Conference in batting average, hits, runs, triples, walks and on-base percentage.  

The Boston Red Sox selected Hazelbaker in the fourth round of that year’s MLB Draft. He signed that June and reported to Lowell, Mass. (short-season New York-Penn).  The next seven years were a blend of hope and disappointment as he wended his way through the Red Sox chain, rotating between all three outfield positions.  

By 2012, Hazelbaker was playing for Pawtucket (AAA International), Boston’s top affiliate.  The Red Sox dealt him to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2013 campaign.  He split the 2014 season between Dodger farm clubs in Albuquerque, N.M. (AAA Pacific Coast), and Tulsa, Okla. (AA Texas).  Los Angeles released him in May 2015 and he agreed to a minor league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.  He batted .308 in 40 games at Springfield, Mo. (AA Texas) and hit .333 in 58 contests for Memphis, Tenn. (AAA Pacific Coast).  

Heading into 2016, Hazelbaker was a 28-year-old veteran of seven minor league campaigns.  He had never spent a day in the majors.  One of two non-roster outfielders invited to the Cardinals spring camp, he made the big club when shortstop Ruben Tejada went on the disabled list.  

Finally given an opportunity, Hazelbaker made a powerful first impression.  He homered twice in the season’s first week and had ten hits in his first 19 trips to the plate.  He batted .317 during April with five home runs.  The Cardinals became the first team in major league history to record three pinch-hit home runs in one game on April 8, when Hazelbaker, fellow rookie Aledmys Diaz and Greg Garcia all slugged homers during a 7-4 win in Atlanta.  “It was a good time,” said Jeremy.  “I experienced a lot of things, a lot of firsts, set some records – a whole lot of great experiences.”  

Optioned to Memphis in mid-June, Hazelbaker rejoined St. Louis a month later.  He finished the year with a dozen homers and a .235 average.  His four pinch-hit homers tied for the major league lead.  

When the Cardinals placed Hazelbaker on waivers that November, the Arizona Diamondbacks claimed him.  He was hitting .308 for Arizona on May 4, 2017, when the D-Backs optioned him to Reno, Nev. (AAA Pacific Coast).  Writing in the Muncie Star Press, Ryan O’Gara described Hazelbaker as “the victim of a tough decision.” 

Undaunted by the demotion, Hazelbaker punished PCL pitching with a .329 average in 22 games, including five home runs and six doubles. Arizona recalled him on June 6, and he finished the year with an eye-popping .346 average in 41 games.  

Hazelbaker appeared to be a cinch to make Arizona’s opening day roster this year as a backup outfielder.   But on March 20, the D-backs optioned him to Reno.  And on April 6, Arizona designated him for assignment.  “It definitely caught me off-guard,” said Jeremy.  “But over my seasons in baseball, I’ve learned you can’t really be complacent.  Once you think that you’re okay someplace and you might be able to make that your home, things can change quickly.”    

The Tampa Bay Rays acquired Hazelbaker on April 10 and assigned him to Durham, N.C. (AAA International).  He returned to Indiana when the Bulls came to Indianapolis for a three-game series, June 22-24.  “It’s been a tough year, going from spring training to the season and then getting designated the second day of the season,” he said.  “Then there was about eight or ten days of no baseball activity, and not seeing a ball thrown at me, or a ball thrown to me, or seeing a pitch.  But again, that’s baseball.” 

Hazelbaker was on the move once more on July 19, when Tampa Bay dealt him to the Twins.  Minnesota assigned him to Rochester, N.Y. (AAA International).  He’s now played professionally in 13 different states, from Maine to Arizona.  He turned 31 on August 14, and the Red Wings are his fifteenth team in ten years.  As of August 21, he’d appeared in 1,063 contests – all but 155 in the minors.    

“That’s baseball, though,” Hazelbaker said with a shrug.  “For some people, it’s a long road, like it’s been for me.  For other guys it’s short. Baseball’s a frustrating game.  It’s a frustrating sport and a frustrating job.  We don’t do it because it’s easy.  We do it because it’s something we’re built to do.” 

Pete Cava is the author of “Tales From the Cubs Dugout” and “Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014.”

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