While his fellow seniors are preparing for the final week of their College careers, Bob Bennett '93 is busing across the country fulfilling every child's dream of playing professional baseball.
Bennett, a strapping six-foot-four right-handed pitcher from Rapid City, S.D. blessed with a 90 mile per hour fastball and a sharp breaking forkball, was drafted by the Oakland Athletics last year in the seventh round of baseball's amateur draft.
Bennett said the A's agreed to pay for his last year of college, and also gave him a $40,000 signing bonus.
"I put most of it away ... I really messed around a while though," he said.
Bennett said he was very excited when he was drafted. Bennett said he was relieved that he was drafted because of his "disappointing" pitching junior year.
One year later, Bennett is just three jumps away from "The Show." He now unleashes his fastball, forkball, change-up and his newly developed cut fastball for the A's single-A minor league team, the Madison Muskies in Wisconsin.
A typical minor leaguer starts in the Rookie leagues. If he performs well, he is promoted to single-A, double-A and triple-A before finally getting to the major leagues.
He said he hopes to pitch in the major leagues someday. "The chances of that happening is less than one percent for any professional ballplayer," he said. "As long as I keep working hard ... I want to go as high as I can go."
After his professional career is over, he said he would like to go to law school. "We all go to a school like Dartmouth because of the name and the opportunities it gives you," he said.
Bennett said he has two terms remaining in his senior year, and hopes to come back next winter, but he said that might change depending on what the A's want him to do during the off-season.
According to Bennett, players do not treat him differently because he is coming from an Ivy League school although many of them hail from junior colleges.
"Some people are surprised I'm there," he said. "We're all equals here ... I'm just one of the many fighting for a place."
Bennett's first year statistics were less-than-stellar. Playing for the A's rookie league team in Arizona, he went a mediocre 2-6 with a 5.81 ERA.
"There were a lot of ups and downs," he said. "I learned a lot, but I still have a lot to learn -- I'm in no hurry."
But his blazing fastball never stopped working, striking out 41 batters in 48 innings.
He now is pitching as a reliever in Madison, but said he hopes to start again in the future. "I'd rather be starting," he said. "In this world you are whatever they want you to be whether you like it or not."
He has only made three appearances thus far this year, and he said he hopes to have more of a role in the team in the future.
Bennett said he gets paid $1,000 a month for playing baseball. "Everyone knows the big leaguers get paid a lot," he said. "But for us, talk about paying your dues."
The team does pay for his lodging and gives money for food though, Bennett added. "It's pretty relaxing," he said.
All travelling is done by bus, Bennett said, but he said it is bearable. "I just throw a CD in my CD player and enjoy the ride," he said.
"The atmosphere is totally different --the whole professional aura. They let you do what you want to do as long as you show up on time and catch the bus," he said.
Bennett said the lodgings he stays in this year are much better than last year. "I stayed in some dumps last year," he said. "The higher up you move, the better it gets."
This year, the A's promoted him to A ball. Bennett said he was going to start the season in Madison but his arm was sore, so he stayed in Arizona for an extended spring training.
"You had to be at the yard at 7:30 [a.m.], and you have games at 11," he said. "It's pretty monotonous."
Big Green baseball's Co-Captain Clark Khayat '93 called Bennett's current level a "pretty good level for only having played one season," but admitted that Bennett's season last year was "not too great."
But while he was in Arizona, Bennett got the chance to pitch in an exhibition game against the major league team. He pitched four innings, gave up just one hit, and struck out Dale Sveum and Scott Brosius, both major leaguers for the A's.
"It was really interesting. It was in front of 10,000 people," he said. "I talked to [A's manager] Tony LaRussa after the game --he congratulated me. They'll keep that in mind a few years down the road."
Bennett said the Muskies usually play in front of 1,000 fans.
Bennett's three year varsity career for the Big Green reads like a human highlight film.
Despite going only 14-11 in three years with the Big Green, Bennett had a sparkling 3.08 ERA and struck out more than a batter an inning.
Bennett's best season came when he was a sophomore. He went 6-3 with a minuscule 2.09 ERA, the 14th lowest in all of Division I, struck out 59 in 64 2/3 innings, was named pitcher of the week twice and was rewarded at the end of the season by a place on the All-Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League first team.
Bennett said that after his sophomore year, Baseball America ranked him as the 28th best pitching prospect in college baseball, and he tried out for the Olympic team.
In both his freshman and junior year he was named to All-EIBL second team.
Baseball coach Bob Whalen said Bennett's decision to turn pro after his junior year was not solely his decision.
"Professional baseball decides whether you're going to do it or not ... I encouraged him to do what was right for him," Whalen said.
