It was 25 years ago, but Brandon DuBois still remembers his first game with the Beecher Muskies.
“About halfway through the season, they needed a pitcher,” DuBois said. “Todd Sippel reached out … they brought me out to pitch against a team called Prairie Gravel. I ended up playing outfield, too.”
Now, DuBois holds every career pitching record for the Muskies and he’s back throwing full-time after missing almost all of last season due to hip replacement surgery.
On June 14, DuBois turned in a vintage performance, pitching five shutout innings and striking out four in a 3-0 win against the Oswego Cats.
He’s 2-0 with a 4.50 earned-run average in four games (three starts) for the Muskies, who began the week at 8-3 overall and 3-3 in the Chicago Suburban Baseball League.
DuBois pitched only twice last season, once before his hip surgery to keep his streak of consecutive years played alive and once at the National Amateur Baseball Federation World Series when the Muskies needed every arm they had.
Now? “I feel good,” he said. “I’m in better shape than I’ve been in the last few years.”
He thinks it’s a bit ironic that hip troubles are what almost ended his playing career.
“I always thought my arm would fall off before anything else,” DuBois said.
But his right arm has been remarkably durable and effective over the years. He was the MVP when the Muskies won the NABF World Series in 2010 and his career line is amazing in the here-today, gone-tomorrow world of semipro baseball: 110-48 with five saves over 255 games (204 starts) with a 3.21 ERA. He has 849 strikeouts and 241 walks across 1,235 innings.
“He’s gone through different stages,” Muskies manager Fred LeSage said. “When he started, he was still in college at Illinois Wesleyan. He was a young guy trying to find his way.”
Now DuBois is 42, married with four children and the athletic director and baseball coach at Beecher, his alma mater.
He doesn’t know how long he’ll keep playing, but he’s not ready to stop.
“I always thought my body would tell me it was time,” DuBois said.
The hip replacement wasn’t done to prolong his pitching career, however.
“When I finally got the surgery, it wasn’t because of baseball,” he said. “I was having trouble playing catch with my kids.”
So now, new hip and all, he’s back playing for the Muskies.
“At a certain point, it’s part of who I am,” DuBois said. “I love the game and the guys are awesome. It’s something you can’t get anywhere else.
“You can’t get the same rush playing bags in the backyard.”