Byline: MARK SINGELAIS - Staff Writer
TROY - As Jeff Icenogle worked the night shift in a California supermarket, it did occur to him that his dream of a major league baseball career might be over.
'The thought definitely entered my mind,' Icenogle said. 'But I never gave up the hope, and I just kept going after it.' Icenogle, a Tri-City ValleyCats pitcher, was out of baseball for two years after undergoing major surgery on his pitching shoulder in June 2004.
During that time, he toiled in the dairy and deli section and worked as a cashier at Vons, a Los Angeles-area supermarket chain.
Safe to say, he likes his new job a little better.
Icenogle, a left-handed middle reliever, will suit up for his first professional game tonight, when the ValleyCats open their sixth season in the New York-Penn League with a game at the Vermont Lake Monsters.
Tri-City, a short-season Class A affiliate of the Houston Astros, plays its home opener at 7 p.m. Saturday against the Oneonta Tigers at Bruno Stadium in Troy.
Icenogle, 23, wore his Tri-City uniform during the team's Media Day festivities on Monday.
'It definitely makes you appreciate the finer things in life,' he said. 'I'm out here playing baseball every day. Millions of people would like to be doing what we're doing.'
Icenogle and right-handed pitcher Cardoza Tucker, who played for the independent Yuma Scorpions, are the only players on the Tri-City roster who aren't joining the ValleyCats from straight out of college or elsewhere in the Houston farm system.
Icenogle said he's aware he might have more to prove to the Astros than a drafted player.
'Sometimes there's some politics involved where a lot of high draft picks get to move up to certain levels,' he said. 'Being a summer-sign undrafted (player), I'm out here working my hardest every day, but you kind of have to prove yourself a little more.'
New ValleyCats manager Pete Rancont said he's still learning about Icenogle.
'I can't tell you a whole lot about him, other than he's a good competitor,' Rancont said. 'He's going to throw strikes, and he's a very hard worker.'
Icenogle needed that work ethic after blowing out his shoulder while pitching for Pasadena (Calif.) City College in 2004. His labrum and rotator cuff were partially torn, and his biceps tendon ripped off the bone.
He had exhausted his junior college eligibility, and four-year schools weren't jumping at the opportunity to take a pitcher coming off a serious shoulder injury.
So Icenogle endured the drudgery of daily rehabilitation and continued his job at Vons, where he'd worked since high school. He played the infield in a slow-pitch softball league just to stay active.
His patience paid off last year. He got a phone call from a friend who played on a Los Angeles Dodgers scout team, which gives high school and older players a chance for exposure. The friend told Icenogle the team needed left-handed pitching.
Icenogle pitched for the Norwalk Dodgers and was noticed by Astros scout Chuck Stone, who managed an opposing team and liked what he saw in the left-hander with a heavy fastball and three other effective pitches. The Houston organization agreed and signed Icenogle last August. Former Astro Enos Cabell, now a special assistant, compares Icenogle to Tom Glavine.
Icenogle has show business in his blood: He's the great-grandson of Oscar-winning actor Ed Begley and great-nephew of actor Ed Begley Jr. And his story has a Hollywood feel to it.
'He's got an excellent shot as long as he stays healthy and strong,' Stone said. 'Being in a grocery store, it sounds like something out of (the movie) 'Major League.' It's all storybook.'
Mark Singelais can be reached at 454-5507 or by e-mail at msingelais@timesunion.com.
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Philip Kamrass/Times Union JEFF ICENOGLE, great-grandson of actor Ed Begley, hopes his career reads like a movie script about a supermarket employee who pitches hs way to the majors.
