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A Baseball Season That Never Ends
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Baseball players are fondly known as the Boys of Summer. For Durham Bulls outfielder Jon Weber, you can throw in Fall and Winter as well.
Durham Bulls outfielder Jon Weber loves the game of baseball. In fact, he loves it so much that the regular season isn’t enough to satisfy his appetite.
“I play year round,” Weber said. “11 months out of the year. I’ve played in Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. But I think I’ve made a home in Mexico.”
This season is Weber’s 11th season of minor league baseball and he said playing year round is necessary to support his family.
“When you don’t have millions of dollars like these other guys, and you’re married like me with two kids, you have to make ends meet,” Weber said. “You don’t want to be having your kids asking you for stuff when you can’t provide for them. That’s why I work so hard at what I do”
2009 is Weber’s third season in Durham, and he hopes to improve over last season when he hit .265 with 15 homers and 51 runs batted in.
Weber, who is originally from Lakewood, Calif., said he enjoys playing in Durham because of the nice community, the warm summers and the organization.
“I like Durham,” Weber said. “I’ve never had a problem here. A lot of times you go to cities and you play different places and you always run into different problems, but you don’t run into that in Durham.”
In the locker room, Weber isn’t the most experienced guy on the team, but said he is always trying to help the younger guys be successful.
“There are guys in the clubhouse who have been here longer than I have and have been in the big leagues for four, five, 10 years,” Weber said. I give a lot of advice to help guys succeed at this level. I want to see these guys succeed and go on to the big leagues.”
Weber hasn’t gotten a shot to crack the major leagues yet, but he won’t be complaining to get his way into the league.
“I just go out here and work hard and try to be a good teammate,” Weber said. I’m not bragging, but I know I’m a good baseball player and I know I’m a good teammate so it doesn’t bother me.”
Thanks to Bulls intern Andrew Cummings for this capcom story.
