Nick Derba was living his dream, playing professional baseball as a member of the Memphis Redbirds, the Class AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.
As part of the organization’s community service, players made weekly visits to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which specializes in pediatric cancer research and treatment.
“It was kind of an eye-opener for me, going from being a professional athlete to seeing kids who, some of them, may never play baseball a day in their lives,” Derba said.
“I couldn’t believe the things I saw there in the hospital,” added Derba, who became choked up when recounting his experiences.
The visits gave him a new perspective on being fortunate enough to be a healthy ballplayer. As a result, the University of Maine’s associate head coach has spearheaded the team’s efforts to visit pediatric patients at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.
“It puts your 0-for-10 [batting] slump in perspective,” Derba said.
“Our guys are athletes, they are college students, but they’ve been given a platform that they can make a difference in somebody’s life,” he added.
Several times in the last two years, a few Black Bear players and a coach have gone to spend time with young patients at EMMC.
“It was really sad and it really hit home for me,” said junior Tyler Schwanz. “It kind of made you feel like wow, I’m so lucky to have this opportunity to do the things I can do. I thought it was a pretty good experience.”
The players handed out T-shirts and autographed them for the patients. They elicited lots of smiles.
“You don’t want to say the wrong thing and make them sad so you try to stay as positive as you can and you get a little nervous about it,” Schwanz said.
This weekend, UMaine baseball is working to reach a goal of $7,000 through a fundraising effort with the Vs. Cancer Foundation . The organization, founded by former University of North Carolina baseball player Chase Jones, who is a brain cancer survivor, partners with many teams and schools across the country to support cancer research.
“They reached out to us about getting involved with other colleges,” said UMaine head coach Steve Trimper. “We thought we could build off what we were already doing at the [EMMC] children’s ward.”
For Sunday’s 1 p.m. America East series finale against UMass Lowell, UMaine is hosting local children and families dealing with cancer at Mahaney Diamond. Before the game, Zak Mills of LaGrange, who has successfully battled bone cancer, will throw out the first pitch.
The donations from UMaine baseball’s Vs. Cancer Foundation effort will be split 50-50 between the EMMC children’s cancer unit and national research.
Trimper praised Derba for taking the initiative with that project.
“I give a lot of credit to Nick Derba,” Trimper said. “He took the lead on the hospital visits and he’s been spearheading this.”
Fans and supporters can donate by visiting the UMaine team page at the Vs. Cancer website.
UMaine started doing more outreach projects in 2014, when baseball team members formed a leadership council made up of two student-athletes from each class, along with the Black Bear captains.
“They talk about how practices are going, communication between the team and the coaches,” Trimper said, “and we also have some initiative programs and team bonding activities that they come up with.”
The leadership council set in motion an effort it named “Pitching In,” which identified ways the team could make contributions off the field.
Last fall, the UMaine baseball team arrived at the Hampden home of Black Bears fan Linda Mosley. Trimper knew she was in need of assistance with a handful of projects.
“I am on the wrong side of 50, all by myself with the house and the yard,” Mosley said. “I work a full-time job and a part-time job, and there are just certain things that are really a struggle.”
The Black Bears were eager to put their “Pitching In” skills to good use. They have split and stacked firewood, cleaned out the gutters on the house and even painted the eaves for Mosley.
“It feels good as a player to do something like that and help out the community as much as we can,” said UMaine senior Logan Fullmer. “We try and be a presence in the community because they support us, they go to our games.”
“For me, it makes a huge difference. That was a huge gift of time [to be able to work on other things],” Mosley said.
Mosley, who calls herself “a pretty good Black Bear athletics supporter,” is a longtime fan of UMaine baseball and men’s hockey. Her interactions with the baseball players on her home turf have left a lasting impression.
“They’re so gracious and they’re fun. They’re always incredibly polite and personable,” Mosley said.
“Except for the ruts in the yard where the wood splitter was, you would never know that there had been 20 20-some-year-old men racing around my yard and doing all this stuff,” she added.
Mosley is most impressed by Trimper’s perceptiveness in discerning that the Black Bears could make her life a little easier.
“He just looked and said, here’s somebody I know who’s in a little bit of an awkward circumstance, how can I help? That to me is what really jumps out,” she said.
UMaine baseball has participated in other community service initiatives. Last October, UMaine joined the Bangor Fire Department to promote Fire Prevention Week.
The team made an appearance at Central Fire Station, played a charity doubleheader against Husson University of Bangor and held a free youth baseball clinic.