Former Miner hired as coach

John Hendricks, a former pitcher with the Mat-Su Miners, called Miner general manager Pete Christopher, trying to sell Christopher on three of his players at Lenore-Rhyne College.

The 2005 Miner roster is basically full, so Hendricks couldn't sell Christopher on his players, but inadvertently Hendricks sold Christopher on himself.

"Accidentally," Hendricks said.

The former Division I All-American at Wake Forest University and two-summer member of the Miner pitching staff was named the Mat-Su pitching coach earlier this week.

Hendricks rounds out the 2005 staff. Bethany College head coach Matt Tramel was named the Mat-Su field manager in September and Jimmy Smith will return next summer for his season as a Miner assistant coach.

Hendricks, who has dreamt of an opportunity to return to the Palmer area, is elated with the opportunity.

"I'm really excited -- this will be my third summer in eight years," Hendricks said.

"For people from down here, it's a lot different to be up there for the summer," said the North Carolina native. "To spend three is amazing. Those were the best two summers of my life.

"I always thought it would be really cool if I could move up, course there are not a lot of baseball jobs up there."

Hendricks pitched for the Miners during the National Baseball Congress championship summer of 1997 and in 1998. The southpaw was one of the top pitchers on the staff, accumulating a 14-1 record in two seasons.

After pitching the 1997 season with the Miners, Hendricks had initially signed to return for the 1998 season but a college coach at Wake Forest convinced Hendricks to pitch in the Cape Cod League.

"Being 20, I did whatever the coach wanted," Hendricks said.

But Hendricks wasn't happy with his decision. After pitching 15 scoreless innings for his Cape Cod club, Hendricks called the Miner clubhouse and former general manager Stan Zaborac answered the phone. Hendricks told Zaborac, "Send me a plane ticket, I want to come back."

"I regretted my decision so much," Hendricks said. "I figure I gave them 15 innings, I'm ready to go back to Palmer."

Hendricks completed his career at Wake Forest in 1999 and was drafted by the New York Mets in the 14th round of the amateur draft. He pitched for two seasons in the Mets organization.

Following his professional playing career, Hendricks created a baseball academy in his home state before getting into the college coaching ranks.

Hendricks said the main thing he wants to instill in his players is work ethic.

"The day in and day out focus," Hendricks said. "Baseball is such a mental game. You can't take a day off. You only got 60 days up there. If you don't get better in some part of your game, it's a wasted trip."

Hendricks' philosophies for coaching in the summer amateur ranks closely mirror that of Christopher and Tramel -- sending the players home better than they arrived.