Tom Wilhelmsen stepped outside his home in Tucson, Ariz., and lit up a cigarette when life threw him a brushback pitch.
"I just looked at the cigarette and said, 'What the hell am I doing?'" said Wilhelmsen, a 2002 Brewers seventh-round pick who walked away from baseball. "I stubbed it out and quit smoking. about a week later, I said, 'Man, if I can quit smoking cigarettes, what else can I do?' I started running and changing things about my lifestyle."
Seven years after posting a 5-5 record and 2.76 ERA for Beloit and lighting up radar guns with a 97-mph fastball, Wilhelmsen is back in the Midwest League with the Mariners' affiliate in Clinton. The 6-foot-6, 200-pound right-hander is still throwing 97 mph, and he boasts a 2-0 record with a 0.69 ERA for the LumberKings.
"I saw a couple of guys in the big leagues throwing on TV, and I thought, 'I'm as good, if not better, than these guys,'" Wilhelmsen said of his epiphany. "I decided I would give baseball a legitimate shot, seeing how I never had before."
Wilhelmsen pitched for Beloit in 2003, but developed arm problems. there were two suspensions for drugs, and soon, Wilhelmsen was no longer in baseball.
"I got busted for smoking grass," Wilhelmsen said. "I went to rehab in 2003. after that, I requested a year off, so the Brewers suspended me. I used that time to go on a three-month journey by myself. I went to 10 national parks and went hiking and camping, trying to figure out what I wanted."
Wilhelmsen hiked as many as 16 miles a day in places such as the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Yosemite and Sequoia national parks while trying to figure out life.
"There was a time when I didn't think I was ever going to touch a baseball again," Wilhelmsen said. "I didn't watch it on TV. I didn't throw any. My girlfriend, now wife, and I did a month of backpacking. I bartended until I got enough money for us to go see the world.
"I never regret quitting," he added. "Those years are some of the best of my life, being away from baseball, but I'm glad I made the decision to go back and give it 100 percent."
after Wilhelmsen stubbed out his last cigarette, he decided to try out for an independent team in Tucson.
"There were a couple hundred players there," Wilhelmsen said. "It was a little intimidating, thinking that all these guys were probably playing baseball nonstop for as long as I had been away. But once I got on the mound, the fastball just flew out of my hand, and they signed me up."
Wilhelmsen struck out 13 batters in 11 2/3 innings when the Brewers found out their prodigal pitcher was in independent ball.
"When I quit the Brewers, they never released me," he explained. "They still owned my rights. Once they found out I was pitching, they said I needed to pitch for them. I said, 'OK, but I need to pitch this next game [for Tucson].' During warmups, I blew out a nerve between my neck and shoulder. I drove up to the Brewers' complex and told them about the injury."
after a few weeks and no progress with the injury, the Brewers released him.
"That was a setback," Wilhelmsen said, "but shortly after, the Mariners contacted me and their doctors wanted to take a look at my arm. this was in December, and it was already starting to heal, so they signed me in February. Jack Zduriencik, the GM with the Mariners, was with the Brewers when I was with the Brewers. he decided to give me another shot, and I'm forever grateful for it."
Wilhelmsen said his coaches and teammates have been great about helping the 26-year-old feel a sense of belonging.
"Since I got here, everybody has been outstanding as far as making me feel comfortable," he said. "I was away from the game for so long, I knew I was going to have to pick up the pieces, but Rookie ball [Arizona League] was great. I never felt out of place or silly being 26 and so much older than the other guys there."
Wilhelmsen knows his second chance is a rare one.
"I was young and was thinking I could live the way I wanted to and still throw the ball," he said. "I thought everything would fall into place. I wasn't professional at all. I learned that if you want it, you have to go get it. to be able to come back after five years of doing nothing except smoking cigarettes and bartending and living that lifestyle, and be able to throw the ball the way I did when I was 18 years old ... I count my blessings.
"It feels great to be back," Wilhelmsen added. "It feels like I never left. I'm able to throw the ball without any physical problems. there are plenty of parts I forgot, as far as the situational part of pitching goes, what pitches to throw and when, how to set people up. I need to get more command with my fastball. The hardest part has been trying to get that back, but it gets easier after every start."
In brief
Coming close: it took a single in the ninth inning for Bowling Green to break up Fort Wayne's bid for a no-hitter Monday night. Ty Morrison singled, but was thrown out at second to end the game. Jose de Paula started for Fort Wayne and pitched three perfect innings. Josh Spence walked two in three innings, Jeff Ibarra pitched a perfect seventh, Stiven Osuna walked one in the eighth and Jackson Quezada pitched the ninth. Bowling Green's Jason McEachern, Scott Shuman and Deivis Mavarez combined for 10 strikeouts.
Long gone: The Clinton LumberKings handled the adversity of a 4 a.m. bus trip and a heat index that soared above 100 degrees to pound out five homers in a 14-5 victory against Quad Cities back on Aug. 3. Clinton whacked Quad Cities' pitching for 19 hits. James Jones, Matt Cerione, Nick Franklin, Tim Morris and Blake Ochoa went yard for Clinton. Morris ran out an inside-the-park homer on a play in which Quad Cities' center fielder Frederick Parejo smashed into the outfield wall. Franklin's homer was his Midwest League-leading 19th blast. Daniel Carroll ended up a homer short of the cycle.
Home-field disadvantage: The Dayton Dragons have suffered 21 consecutive losses at home, the longest home losing streak in the Minor Leagues since 2005. The last time the Dragons high-fived after a home game was June 28, when Dayton knocked off Fort Wayne.
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