May 12, 2008

Cole White e-mailed Army associate head coach Fritz Hamburg six years ago saying he wanted to be an Army Ranger. So Hamburg went down to Texas to see White, a high school junior, and what Hamburg saw was a "pretty live arm with an undeveloped body.''

Oh, the kid could pitch all right. He would come to Army. He would go 7-1 with a 3.07 ERA and win Patriot League rookie of the year. But White wanted to do more than pitch when he arrived on campus from the USMA Prep School in Jersey. He wanted to play the field. He wanted to hit.

"I think they were a little standoff-ish at first,'' White remembers, sitting in the Army dugout at Doubleday Field before practice on Thursday.

White didn't help matters when as a pinch-hitter in the first at-bat of his first game at Army, he missed a take sign from head coach Joe Sottolano. White popped up to second base on the pitch and Sottolano moseyed on over to him. "You ever want to play in my program!?'' Sottolano barked. Told White did, indeed, want to play in the program, Sottolano said, "Well, you better learn the signs!''

White started in right field the next day, a position he had never played at any level. His swing was kind of ugly. But the kid could hit.

For the complete article from Kevin Gleason of the Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record click here