But we’ll issue Tim a free pass ... an intentional walk.
His Hartland Arrowhead squad finished as the runner-up last week at the WIAA State Summer Baseball tournament as the Warhawks dropped the championship game to Marquette's Hilltoppers, 5-3. OMC contributor Bob Brainerd had a chance to chat with Wisconsin’s all-time winningest high school baseball coach during Arrowhead’s post-season run in Stevens Point.
OMC: This is your 32nd year at the helm in Arrowhead. What has kept you going?
O’Driscoll: The last time I played for Arrowhead was 1966. I was captain of the football team there, basketball team, baseball team, I have tremendous pride. And when people come into our place, kids and parents expect the very best out of themselves and out of the school.
Our baseball program has three cardinal rules.
Number one: Baseball better be fun. I think we’ve gone crazy in sports in this country where it’s not fun any more for a lot of kids. And you can talk to any one of them, they’ll say they had fun this summer... and it’s not just because we won a lot of ballgames. We try to do things to make it fun for kids.
Number two: That kids learn the basic fundamentals and play the game the right way. And I think we do.
And the final thing is, and this is the hardest thing, to learn to be a team player, to give up your own ego for someone else.
We’ve had a tremendous baseball tradition, I’m very lucky, I get great kids. I’ve had a lot of wins, but hey, I’ve got great players. My job is to mesh them together. My job is to make them better. My job is to try and bring juniors and seniors together, and these kids have meshed so well. It’s an honor for me to coach these kids. I mean that sincerely, I’m not just blowing smoke at you. Honestly, it’s an honor for me to say that for the past 32 years I’ve been the varsity coach at this high school. I have so much emotion about the high school it means my life to me, that’s where my life has been for 36 years as a teacher. I think kids pick up on that. If I was a phony, they’d know it in about two minutes. And they know how sincere I am, they know how much I care about them, they know how emotional I am about this game, even an old guy like me!
OMC: You’re going to hang it up, the teaching part, at Arrowhead, but the baseball part, you’re going to take that year by year?
O’Driscoll: I still throw batting practice every day, I’m 58. I’ve got a gifted arm, I pitched in college, I played at UWM. I throw about 350 pitches a day, and I don’t lob them, I still throw fairly hard. I’m still playing the game in my mind, because I can smell the glove, I hold the baseballs in my hand, I can still throw. If I can’t do that any more, I won’t coach any more. If that happens, I’m done. But the support I get from the community and the high school is just tremendous, and they make me want to stick around. I received over 400 phone calls and e-mails from former players from all over the country congratulating our team on going to state. It means so much for them to see us back trying to win a championship, and that means the world to me.
OMC: You’ve been the official scorer for the Brewers for 20 years, scored about 1,600 games. Do the kids ever give you grief about it?
O’Driscoll: Oh sure. All the time. They say "I went to the game, how come that was an error?" and they laugh about it. They say, "I heard the players were all mad at you, and Bill Schroeder was on the air saying this and that about you, blah, blah, blah!" Sure, they’re always giving me crap about it, all the time, and it’s fun. But they think it’s cool, too.
OMC: You’ve got 662 wins, but you seem to take just as much pride scoring major league games than you do winning them at the high school level.
O’Driscoll: A lot of pride. It’s not like I’ve just walked in and don’t know what a ground ball is, or don’t know what a pitcher goes through, because I’ve done that, and I know it, and I see high school kids and college players all the time. And I think I have an understanding, but the bottom line to me is, a hit’s a hit, an error’s an error. I don’t care if the Brewers hit it or the Cardinals hit it, I don’t care. And the players want me to be a homer, but I can’t be. When a ball is hit, I call what I see. I try to do the best possible job I can. I want to get the call right. Phil Garner came in and told me "You’re the best official scorer in baseball." It meant a lot to me. Ned Yost said "You are the fairest official scorer in baseball. I’m not sure I want you to be fair, but you are!" But, that makes you feel good.
Bob currently does play-by-play at Time Warner Cable Sports 32, calling Wisconsin Timber Rattlers games in Appleton as well as the area high school football and basketball scene. During an earlier association with FS Wisconsin, his list of teams and duties have included the Packers, Bucks, Brewers and the WIAA State Championships.
During his life before cable, Bob spent seven seasons as a reporter and producer of "Preps Plus: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel High School Sports Show."
And the joke is, Bob has a golf shirt from all four Milwaukee television stations. Sad, but true: Bob has had sports and news anchor/reporter/producer stints at WTMJ, WISN, WDJT and WITI.
His first duty out of college (UW-Oshkosh) was radio and TV work in Eau Claire. Bob spent nearly a decade at WEAU-TV as a sports director and reporter.
You may have heard Bob's pipes around town as well. He has done play-by-play for the Milwaukee Mustangs, Milwaukee Iron, and UW-Milwaukee men's and women's basketball. Bob was the public address announcer for five seasons for both the Marquette men and women's basketball squads. This season, you can catch the starting lineups of the UW-Milwaukee Panther men's games with Bob behind the mic.
A Brookfield Central graduate, Bob's love and passion for sports began at an early age, when paper football leagues, and Wiffle Ball All Star Games were all the rage in the neighborhood.
