from the Albuquerque Journal...
Baseball Coach Begins Tradition
By Glen Rosales
For the Journal
Seventy-two-year-old Jim Economides spent the past 10 days taking hacks at a local batting cage.
The extra work at the plate didn't do much to help Economides on Saturday. In his only at-bat in an alumni versus current Lobos exhibition game, Economides, a local dentist who was a three-time Skyline Conference batting champion while playing with the University of New Mexico, whiffed.
But that did little to erase the grin that was plastered on his face throughout the six-inning contest at Isotopes Park.
"It's the most fun you've ever had in your life," he said from the dugout overstuffed with many men on the wrong side of 40 with gray hair peaking out from underneath new Lobo caps. "The ball moves a lot faster now than it did in my day."
A lot has changed since many of these guys donned the uniform.
"I never played with a helmet," Economides said. "I always used a wooden bat and I never used batting gloves."
For many of the players, it had been years since they picked up a bat. Some, like Matt Foote, who was a Lobo from 2004-07, have just finished their playing careers.
Foote, however, is still attending UNM while finishing up his degree after completing his eligibility last season.
He had the pleasure of sharing the dugout with his dad, Mike Foote.
"It's pretty neat because I never got a chance to see him play," Matt Foote said of his father. "But I've heard so many stories. It's pretty fun to be able to see him in here."
Mike Foote, a 1980 graduate who reached the Triple-A level in the Reds' organization, appreciated the opportunity to play alongside his son.
"That's pretty cool," he said. "The excitement of seeing everybody here is a lot of fun."
New UNM baseball coach Ray Birmingham initiated the plan to engage the alumni, enlisting the help of local businessman Ernie Blackstone to get the game going.
"You look at the college programs around the country— Indiana basketball, Notre Dame football, Cal State Fullerton, Texas and Oklahoma State in baseball— what they have is tradition and that's extremely important," Birmingham said. "The alumni are a big part of that."
Getting former players to participate was relatively easy, said Blackstone, owner of Coaches Sports Grill.
"We had calls and e-mails from people all across the country," said Blackstone, who lettered once during the late 1970s. "We had so much interest in this. We hadn't done anything with the alumni for some years. Coach Birmingham realized the importance of bringing the alumni back into the fold."
Not surprisingly, the current Lobos won handily 10-2, with Derek Pilkington, Max Willett and Mike Brownstein hitting consecutive home runs as part of a seven-run third inning.
But the outcome of the game was hardly important, said Mark Biren, a 1982 graduate who played one year in the Pittsburgh organization.
"This is great," said Biren, who flew in Saturday morning from his home in Denver. "This helps get the program up and going again. What's really great is seeing all of the guys that you played with. I haven't seen a lot of these guys for years."
Original Post