It was only fitting David Justice was facing out to right field when he was addressing fans and alumni of Thomas More at their new ballpark Thomas More Stadium and home of the Florence Y’alls.
When Justice was at Thomas More in the mid 1980’s, there was no right field fence at the then known Thomas More College.
That’s just how far the the University has come over the last 40 years as they get ready to continue to make big changes, next academic year making the jump up to Division II.
Justice was back home on Saturday to throw out the first pitch for the Saints baseball team as they celebrate their inaugural kickoff celebration at their new confines. The day started with the three-year Saints basketball and baseball player talking to the baseball team as they prepared for batting practice and a doubleheader with University of Cumberlands starting at noon.
Justice was then a guest speaker for “Chalk Talk”, a past-to-present baseball themed discussion featuring Justice, Bobby Young, one of Justice’s former teammates, former baseball coach and current Thomas More Associate Athletic Director Jeff Hetzer, and former Thomas More baseball player George “Cubby” Lyon Jr., who graduated in 1951. The discussion was emceed by Cincinnati’s ESPN 1530 radio host Mo Egger.
Justice reflected on his days at Thomas More, including the days of no right field fence and hitting the ball a long ways. Hitting the ball a long ways is what got Justice to the next level, scouted by Hep Cronin of the Atlanta Braves, former University of Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin’s father. It was against Xavier when Cronin saw Justice play.
“The first pitch that came to him he hit the ball, I’m on third base and I look up and it’s probably 330 (feet) down right field. And then there’s about a driveway about 100 feet wide and then there’s a three story building and beyond that is the old Xavier football field. I think it hit on the 40 yard line of that field and that’s how far he hit it,” Young said.
Initially, Justice didn’t go to Thomas More for baseball, but was there on a basketball scholarship after graduating early from Covington Latin as a 16-year-old. But some fall conditioning changed his mind.
“They had us basically running to Cincinnati and back for conditioning. I’m a guard, I come in comfortably last and look over at the field and see the baseball team practicing. And I said, ‘You know what if I play baseball I can get out of this basketball conditioning,'” Justice said. “So the next day I got my glove and spikes and went out for the baseball team. Fall baseball was during all that unnecessary basketball conditioning.”
Justice played three seasons at Thomas More before being drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the fourth round to Atlanta in 1986, a Braves team that really struggled in the 1980’s. But when Justice and the core of young players were called up the Major Leagues in 1990, the Braves endured a dynasty for the next 14 seasons with playoff appearances every year and a World Series title in 1995 and five World Series appearances.
Justice endured a 14-year MLB career, winning another World Series with the New York Yankees in 2000. He was a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner as well as the 1990 National League Rookie of the Year.
His first pitch may have come up about 10-feet short of his teammate Young, but Thomas More hit a homerun on Saturday with the welcoming back of their alumnus and MLB star.
“It’s awesome for our guys to have someone that they can look up to. Like David said earlier, not a whole lot of people know about Thomas More outside of this little radius. So to have somebody that successful, do awesome things at the highest level, it gives the guys hope,” Hetzer said.
The Saints followed with a 9-6 loss to Cumberlands in the first game of the doubleheader, trying to win the series in the second game after coming out victorious on Friday night against the No. 9 ranked team in NAIA.
