In a league of his own: Lock's life in the minors

Six years ago, after leading the Elis to three consecutive Ivy championships and winning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, baseball player Dan Lock, JE '00, left Yale a year early to enter the draft. He went to the Houston Astros in the second round and, after five years of playing in the minor leagues, he has returned to Yale to complete his senior year, not as an athlete, but as a chemical engineering major.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Former Bulldog pitcher Dan Lock, JE '00, played in the minor leagues for five years before returning to Yale to finish his degree.

The Yale Herald: What first sparked your interest in entering the draft?

Dan Lock: I was contacted by some of the sports agencies around Boston and New York because I started sliding up in the ranks in the draft previews and it looked like I was going to be a high pick. I was contacted by an advisor [who] gave me an idea of what kind of money I should be looking for and what the process would entail. Manny Patel, who had played at Yale and also played pro baseball, had worked with my advisor and told me he was someone who would look out for [me].

YH: Why did you decide to enter the draft after your junior year rather than after graduation?

DL: When you're drafted as a junior, you have more leverage as far as contract negotiations go, because there is always that threat that if the team doesn't make the offer that you want, you can return to school for your senior year and they will have lost that draft pick. Because of that and the round and number of the pick that I was, the Astros came up with a pretty nice financial package for me.

YH: What was your first year like?

DL: I wasn't particularly challenged. I thought it was going to be more difficult than it was. I think I was 4 and 1, with about a 2.50 ERA. The hitters were a little less mature, because a lot of them were out of high school, or it was their first year using wooden bats. Adjusting to life on the road and bus rides—it's just different all around. It was interesting, because I was thrown together with a group of guys who I'd never met before. The only thing we had in common was baseball. There were [some] kids from Latin American countries who were a lot younger and had [only] been in the U.S. for a few years. It was a different mix of people, and it was interesting and fun at the same time.

YH: Did you keep track of the Yale baseball team while you were on the road?

DL: Definitely. When you're on the road, you pick up a copy of USA Today and get all the college sports scores. [My teammates and I] liked to rag on each other, because I was playing with guys from Louisiana and Texas A&M. They looked down their noses at Yale.

YH: Did you ever feel you had to prove yourself to your teammates because you went to an Ivy League school?

DL: It was comedy most of the time. If ever anybody had any sort of question, they would always come to me, because I had to know the answer since I went to Yale. But it [was also] hard, because a lot of people felt I didn't deserve it, because not only did I go to Yale, but I was also given the term "bonus baby," because I was the second round draft pick—anyone who is in the first three or four rounds gets a decent amount of money. But I actually started to wear that more as a badge of pride than anything. It left me with a little something to prove on the baseball field, but I think I held my own.

YH: Did you retire because your feelings towards the game had changed?

DL: My feelings actually changed within the first two months of playing professional baseball. Once you start playing for a business, you lose the idealistic view that it's just a kids' game and we're out there having fun. You play to develop talent, to try to take the job of the other guy who is ahead of you. When I first signed my contract, I had always told myself that if I ever looked myself in the mirror and didn't think that I was going to be able to play major league baseball, I'd retire. To play minor league baseball until you're in your thirties and not make it to the big leagues, for me that would be just like spinning my wheels. There were some guys that might not have been the best students so this was their only chance. For them, it was either this or back home and work for Dad or work in one of the local mills. But since I had something to fall back on, I was always wondering, "Am I going to make it into the big leagues?" And once I had a pretty good idea that I wasn't, it wasn't a hard decision to make.

YH: How did you get yourself to admit that you weren't going to make it into the Major League?

DL: I've called it "honest self-evaluation." Who are you trying to kid if you're trying to kid yourself? Going to the park wasn't as much fun anymore, because I felt like I was just going there to waste time. I felt like there was something missing in my life [on] the academic side. Plus, just being on the road puts a strain on your relationships, whether they're romantic or family. So really it wasn't that tough a decision to make.

YH: If you wanted to, could you play on the Yale team?

DL: No, because [according to NCAA regulations] once you sign a contract with a professional team or take on an agent, you're ineligible in that sport.

YH: What is it like to come back to Yale five years later and not have baseball be a part of your life?

DL: It's great that the campus itself is relatively unchanged, so it wasn't like being thrown into an entirely new place. Socially, it's a lot different. I went from being a pitcher on a championship team that had a lot of recognition to basically not knowing anyone. The only people I really knew were the professors in my major. My college Dean and Master both changed, so it's a lot different. But you try to get back into it. You pick and choose the activities you want and meet a lot of people that way. Although [the other students] are four or five years younger than me, I still look at myself as a kid because I played baseball for five years, so it's not like I come in with a snooty, older-and-wiser-than-you attitude. I just enjoy myself and try to have fun.

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