Don’t tell Vincent Towns professional sports is a young person’s game.
The Maryland man will do something on the diamond Sunday that he’s been working toward for more than 30 years.
The San Francisco Giants drafted then 18-year-old Vincent Towns right out of Suitland High School, during MLB’s 1991 amateur draft, attracted to his fastball.
“Back then, I was in the high 80s, and the average Major League fastball was the high 80s,” said Towns, now 53-years-old. “So that’s why they signed me as a pitcher. I was in between 85 and 90 (mph).”
Towns lasted two years on the Giants’ rookie team and then his dream was over. But not his love of the game. He played in adult leagues and continued trying out for professional baseball.
But he had to make a living, too.
“I’ve worked construction for the last 30 years so that’s a hard labor job and it’s hard work,” Towns told WTOP. “But I still had to stay in shape for this moment that I finally reached.”
As he got older, he had to change the way he threw the ball. No more fastball, the knuckleball is what works for him now, impressing his new team.
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The Hagerstown Flying Boxcars drafted him out of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball on Monday and gave him the news he’s been waiting to hear.
“I just want to let you know, next Sunday here at home, you get the rock my friend,” Hagerstown Flying Boxcars Manager Mark Minicozzi told Towns.
At 53 years old, Towns will realize a dream three decades in the making when he is the starting pitcher at The Flying Boxcars home game Sunday at 2 p.m. at Meritus Park in Hagerstown.
