Local David beats Goliath

 

North Fayette alum Ryan Pennebaker works for John Deere in Waterloo during the week, but on the weekends, he travels with the T’s 13 slow-pitch softball team out of Omaha, Neb. The T’s 13 play throughout the Midwest, and Pennebaker, shown in a recent at-bat, has also won a number of home run derbies with the team. Early last month, using this same power swing, Pennebaker beat six-time American League All-Star Jose Canseco in a home run derby in Cedar Rapids. (submitted photo)

 

 

Local David beats Goliath

 

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@fayettecountynewspapers.com

The Cedar Rapids Kernels professional baseball team recently held a softball home run derby featuring a giant vs. some local Lilliputians.  

The giant was six-time American League All Star Jose Canseco. Perhaps best known for his advocacy of steroids, Conseco was the first member of pro baseball’s 40/40 club (40 homers and 40 stolen bases in a single season). The former Oakland Athletic star clubbed 462 home runs during his illustrious career.

Even at age 50, Canseco has a sculpted, muscular frame that launched one softball 407 feet during the contest.

However, once the smoke cleared, Canseco went home a loser; or, as Sports Illustrated (SI) put it in an issue, “Welcome to the City of Five Seasons, buddy.”

The derby winner was 2001 North Fayette grad Ryan Pennebaker! In 10 at-bats apiece, the former Fayette resident brought down Goliath, five homers to four, earning a spot for his name and his hometown in SI.

“It was a good time,” stated Pennebaker. “Canseco was an idol of mine growing up. Meeting him was really cool, and he turned out to be really nice and we had a good time talking.”

Pennebaker is an admitted dugout rat. “I grew up following my dad, Rob, who played in various leagues. So, I pretty much grew up either in the dugout or on the field. I also learned a lot about hitting from my dad.”

Also, while growing up, Penenbaker and his friends were constantly on the old ball field near the Fayette school.

“We played in leagues, held home run derbies, played pickup ball and goofed around on that field all the time,” Pennebaker remembered fondly.

While at NF, Ryan learned some more about hitting from Dan Hovden while playing varsity baseball and also basketball.

Next, it was on to Upper Iowa, where he played baseball for two years and graduated in 2005 with a degree in marketing.

After graduating from UIU, Ryan got a job at John Deere in Waterloo where the 32-year-old is now a project engineer. 

While in Waterloo the home run king continued to play slo-pitch softball in a variety of leagues, and he was pretty good. In fact, he was good enough to be approached to play for one of the better slo-pitch teams in the Midwest, T’s-13, out of Omaha. T’s 13 got its name from Milton “T” Peterson who sponsors the team and the original 13 members of the team. 

Pennebaker noted, “Mr. Peterson is one of the best sponsors in the country; without him I wouldn’t be able to play competitive softball.”

The home run king went on to add, “The T’s 13 is one of the better teams in the Midwest, and we play in the most competitive tournaments we can find.”

The team plays weekends throughout the Midwest, including Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, and later this summer in Orlando, Fla.

The weekends feature a tourney and usually a home run derby. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, the former Hawk won a derby against 50 entrants in Waterloo with his parents, Rob and Sheryl, attending.

“That was a thrill,” Ryan admitted. “My folks are big supporters and travel to a lot of the games.”

Pennebaker is having fun playing ball and also living a dream of playing at the highest possible competitive level.

However, he may never have a bigger thrill than the night he beat his idol, Jose Canseco, in a one-on-one matchup

Rate this article: 
No votes yet
Comment Here