Published: July 24, 2008 11:52 pm            

Michigan man living his dream

BLUEFIELD — Charlie Bachman has the same dream shared by many diehard baseball fans. Only his dream is different.

“I’m just having a great life and I’m living my life,” Bachman said. “I’m living my dream.”

Bachman, a resident of Lapeer, Mich., is in the process of completing a 17-day road trip that has seen his Impala dip into West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio to catch what will total 18 Minor League baseball games.

He was in Princeton on Tuesday, Bluefield on Wednesday, Pulaski on Thursday and will be in Salem tonight. All four are facilities that he had never before visited.

That means that in roughly 10 years, he’s visited 128 different Minor League facilities. Just don’t ask him to name a favorite.

“It’s hard to say because all of them have been super,” Bachman said.

Bachman attends games at all levels, from Triple-A to Rookie and even Independent leagues.

“I just come by myself. I have never been married so this is just a goal in my life,” said Bachman, who started this trip on July 9 in Toledo, Ohio with the Mud Hens, and will end it on Saturday with a Frontier League game in the same state with the Chillicothe Paints. “I think you have to have goals and objectives in life and this game provides a great family atmosphere and it is just fantastic.”

How diehard is Bachman? Until his truck finally gave out, Bachman would travel the country to attend Minor League baseball games. When nightfall arrived and the games were over, Bachman would climb into the back and go to sleep. Sometimes even where the buffalo roamed.

“I had slept in the back of a pickup that I just traded off, but I had 175,000 miles on it,” said Bachman, who has also visited the Appomattox Court House near Lynchburg, Va., and Bristol and Martinsville motor speedways on this trip. “It was a ‘92 and I just enjoyed it. It was an inexpensive way for me to travel.

“I try to tie things in with it. Being my age right now, I can travel four or five hours a day to see a ball game, and then stay in campgrounds. When I stayed in the Grand Tetons (in Wyoming), you had moose and buffalo roaming around, which is fantastic.”

Fantastic is the life Bachman now lives. A school teacher for more than 30 years, he developed cancer in his early 50s. Bachman, who turns 66 on Aug. 3, planned then to make a lifestyle change.

“I had cancer when I was 52. I taught elementary school for 32 years and (cancer) was a blessing in disquise,” Bachman said. “Instead of getting down on myself, I said, ‘Let’s retire, let’s retire when I hit 55 and now I am living my dream.”

That dream is to visit every Minor League baseball park in existence. Even though Bachman is a fan of the Detroit Tigers, he has more passion for the minors where the players are still trying to get to the highest level in the game.

“The kids are still kids, they enjoy playing the game, it’s not for money,” said Bachman, during a Wednesday evening interview at Bowen Field. “They just want to get up there, and it’s just a great event to see.

“It’s close to the action, you can hear the players talk, you can hear the coaches talk and you can hear the umpires talk. It’s just a great atmosphere.”

Bachman was able to see a home game at each of the 10 Appalachian League stadiums over the last two weeks, including the contest at Princeton that was called by rain in the fourth. Weather can be the worst enemy of a baseball junkie.

“I came over to Princeton and they got rained out, but that’s the things in the life, that’s something that you learn,” Bachman said. “It is frustrating, but you still get to see the ball park and you still get to see attitude.

“You still get to see things that develop and then if it’s like tonight (Wednesday in Bluefield), you get a beautiful sun-shiny evening. You’ve got to take things as they happen, you can always second guess yourself, but I’m very happy with what I have accomplished.”

An excursion like this deserves to be recorded. Bachman does just that, but just don’t expect to pick up a copy at a local bookstore.

“I’m just doing this for fun, I keep a scrapbook,” said Bachman, who is always seen with his camera. “You will see me around taking pictures tonight and I enjoy doing that.

“I don’t want to get into the journalism part of it, I think basically that would ruin it for me.”

Bachman is a neutral fan, much like a sportswriter should be. Bachman simply roots for fun.

“I try to root for the home team and try to be impartial and just have fun,” said Bachman, who plans to return home for a wedding and then spend a few weeks traveling through Pennsylvania. “I just have fun at the ball game, I think if you’ve got a favorite one it just ruins it for you.”

The Appalachian League boasts some of the more unique stadiums in baseball, such as Bowen Field, Pioneer Park in Greeneville and Calfee Park in Pulaski. Bachman has enjoyed not only the parks, but the games as well.

“It’s been fantastic, I really have enjoyed the Appalachian League because the games have been very competitive,” said Bachman, who has also seen games on this trip in Florence, Ky., Greensboro, N.C. and Lynchburg, Va. “I’ve seen some real good starting pitching and I’ve seen several games won in the last at-bat.

“Danville scored six runs against Bristol in a game that I saw in the top of the ninth inning and Kingsport scored 10 against Johnson City in the ninth.”

Bachman was impressed with both of the local parks.

“I didn’t know anything about this (Bowen Field). I think they told me it started in ‘39 and somebody said it burned down to the floor and they rebuilt it,” Bachman said. “Just looking at it with the trees in the background, it’s a beautiful stadium, it would probably be beautiful in the fall.

“Hunnicutt, you had the little walkway above the dugouts and steel things and the press box. They’re all unique and different in their own way.”

He’s not finished. There’s more stadiums to see.

“I’ve got 25 or 40 more to go yet, next year I am going to try do Maryland,” Bachman said. “Baltimore is the only major league city I haven’t been to so it will be a little cooler in April so I can tie in Frederick and some of those others in there.”

Bachman has a room at his Michigan home full of memoribilia from his trips, including an autograph of a security guard at the Women’s College World Series who gave him a hat, and then later gave him a Pacific Coast League baseball at an Oklahoma RedHawks game.

“It’s just things like that are just priceless,” said Bachman, who finds time for non-minor league activities such as an NCAA baseball regional in Wichita, Kan., to seeing the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in the NCAA Tournament and even has memories from the Western Hockey League.

“I’ve got a little wall at home with things like that, it’s just too perfect. You have a super time with it.”

Bachman takes the time to get a few autographs. Who knows, he may meet the next big name in the game.

“I really have met some great players,” Bachman said. “It’s just fantastic to see them and you hope that all of them can make it.

“I’ve got a picture of a guy from Danville and he said, ‘You will see me up in the majors’. It’s all about confidence like that. It’s just something that is great. It’s nice to see them grow.”

Bachman isn’t one to tell others about his trip unless you ask. He’s not looking for publicity, just a good time.

“Usually, to be honest with you, I try to be a little quiet about it,” Bachman said. “Nobody knows unless it’s been word of mouth ahead of me.

“I don’t write ahead and tell anybody I am coming. I’m there that night, they can accept me for what I am, that’s the way that I am.”

A graduate of Central Michigan, Bachman has an autographed photo of Chippewas’ softball coach Margo Jonker. They share a philosophy on life.

“She said ‘Live your dream’ and that’s what I’m trying to do,” Bachman said. “Live your dream.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

        

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