Former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Erickson, came out to support the Little League Opener this past Saturday. Now Habersham’s Brock Bennett sat down with Erickson for a one-on-one interview about his days in the Big League. Habersham County Little League opens
Background
Erickson was born on August 30th, 1956 and was raised in Springfield, Illinois. He attended and pitched for the University of New Orleans. Erickson was drafted in the third round by the Minnesota Twins in 1977. He played a few months in the AA league and was called up during spring training.
“The manager of the team, Gene [Mauch], basically said ‘There’s no way some young 21-year-old punk is going to make my team after coming out of college.’ Well, I did everything right and Gene said, ‘Well, I can’t keep him [Erickson] out of the Big League,” Erickson recalls.
Roger Erickson’s pitching career totals were 35 wins and 53 losses for the six years that he played. He played in 135 games and had an Earned Run Average (ERA) of 4.13. Of the 135 games that Erickson pitched in, he started 117 games and had 24 complete games. In his rookie season, Erickson had 14 wins and 13 losses, but he had 14 complete games. This was unheard of for a rookie in the Big Leagues. Erickson played for six years in the Majors. He played four years for Minnesota and finished up his last two years in New York for the Yankees.
When did you first start dreaming of playing in the majors?
“It starts like every kid. You start playing catch with your dad in the backyard and then play little league,” says Erickson. Erickson kept playing at every level until he got to high school. He got a little bigger and his pitching started to come around. His senior year, he says he was having a fantastic year until he broke his left arm playing first base. Colleges did not look at picking him up because of his injury.
Erickson went to a small junior college in Illinois where his brother helped coach. Erickson played there for a year until a good friend, an old Washington Senators players, saw Erickson playing summer ball for the junior college. Eriskson says, “My friend called the coach at the University of New Orleans and said, ‘I’ve got some punk kid hear that should be pitching somewhere else besides this junior college.’ They [New Orleans] gave me a scholarship on the scene and that’s how I ended up there.”
Erickson left the University of New Orleans after his junior year in college and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1977. He spent the next summer in Orlando for Spring Training.
Rookie Season
Erickson made his debut April 6, 1978, against the Seattle Mariners. He pitched his first complete game against the Mariners, winning 5-4. Erickson went on to pick up 13 more wins in the season, completing each game. He had 13 losses on the year with an ERA of 3.96. Erickson pitched a total of 265.2 innings allowing 129 runs, had 129 strikeouts, and allowed 268 hits for the year.
What’s Next
Erickson, who now lives in Habersham County, is currently looking for a building that he can rent or buy to set up indoor batting cages. He has 16 pitching machines that he’s willing to donate and adds he’ll be glad to give lessons. Why? Erickson says he wants to give back to the community, besides, he knows that Little League is where Big League dreams begin.
If you have information about an available building in the Habersham area that could be converted into batting cages, please contact Erickson by email at [email protected] or by phone, 217-522-5444.
