Goldeyes manager Rick Forney started courting Bill Pulsipher in the middle of July. Even former slugger Pete Rose Jr. made a call, asking Forney to give Pulsipher a ring.
It’s been a few weeks, but big Bill Pulsipher, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound fireballer is now wearing a Winnipeg uniform.
On Tuesday, the big southpaw from Florida took the mound for his first Northern League start. It’s been a long, winding road for Pulsipher and yet he seemed as comfortable as could be in the Goldeyes clubhouse.
In the early 90s, he and fellow teenaged pitchers Paul Wilson and Jason Isringhausen were the next big things for the New York Mets. Now, nearly two decades later, the 35-year-old Pulsipher is still pitching, albeit in independent ball, but judging by the smile on his face, he remains happy just to be in the game.
“Baseball is in my blood,” he said, sitting in the Goldeyes training room before Tuesday’s start. “Baseball is who I am. It’s what I do. When I’m done playing, I want to stay in the game as a coach or a manager. It’s a gift and a curse, I guess. I just don’t see me doing anything else right now.”
Pulsipher has seen it all. He was 5-7 with a 3.98 ERA with the Mets in 1995, but at spring training in 1996, after feeling pain in his elbow, it was discovered that he had torn ligaments and almost immediately underwent Tommy John surgery.
In 1997, he had a horrendous year and wound up back in Rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League. When he signed with the Mets out of high school in 1992, he didn’t see action in the Rookie Leagues, but five years later, he was starting over.
From that point on, baseball was a struggle. But he never quit.
In the big leagues he went on to pitch with the Mets, Milwaukee, Arizona, Boston, the White Sox and St. Louis. In the minors, between 1997 and 2009, he has pitched in 13 different outposts in nine leagues at seven different levels in three countries. He has been a baseball gypsy who last pitched with Puebla of the Mexican League.
And now he’s in Winnipeg, hoping to help the Goldeyes win a Northern League championship.
“I called Bill in mid-July and he said he’d only been back from Mexico for a few days and wanted a couple of weeks to get into game shape,” Forney said. “He worked hard while we went on the road. He’s 100 per cent ready to play, he’s been following us on the internet the last two weeks and we’re glad to have him.
“I mean, he’s been around. I played against him. Back in the day, he was the man, one of the top prospects in all of baseball with the Mets back in the early-to-mid-90s. He knows what he’s stepping into and he’ll give us good, veteran leadership.”
Since Daniel Haigwood was signed by Oakland, the Goldeyes haven’t had a regular left-hander (Zach Baldwin has made a couple of spot starts) in the rotation. Pulsipher will be handed that role as the Fish head into the final 28 games of the Northern League schedule.
“I’m here because I still believe I can pitch and I really enjoy playing,” Pulsipher said. “I was also upset with the way things ended in Mexico. I hadn’t pitched that well and I wanted to do better. Rick has given me the opportunity and I’m excited to have it. Even my friend Pete Rose Jr. made a call to Rick and I appreciate that. I haven’t been here very long, but already I can see that this organization treats its players very well.
“I’m lucky, my kids tell me I shouldn’t be retired and my wife understands that I still need to be around the game. You don’t make a lot of money in independent ball, but it’s still professional baseball and I have to tell you, it’s great to be here.
“Rick put the ball in my locker this afternoon and I can’t wait to get out onto the mound and get started.”
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