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Sean Bard enjoying opportunity to play baseball again with Capahas
Sean Bard didn’t expect to return to the Cape Capahas this season but is enjoying the opportunity to play baseball again.
“I was umpiring at a little league game, and Tom Bolen, the head coach, his son was in the game,” Bard said. “He saw me there and he’s like, ‘You still look good and young, why don’t you just come out and play.’ I hadn’t really thought of it and when he mentioned it, I just kept thinking about it and I just wanted to play. I’ve been coaching over at Jackson and I just kind of got the itch to play again, so I just decided to get back out there.”
Bard is 22-for-46 at the plate for the Capahas (8-8) so far this season.
“I’ve just been having fun playing this year,” Bard said. “I’m just really relaxed and am enjoying it.”
The 35-year-old Bard graduated from Cape Central in 2004 but didn’t have the opportunity to play much during his high school career. He was even cut from the team his freshman year during tryouts.
“I didn’t play a lot my junior or senior year, because I had a couple of guys ahead of me,” Bard said. “That kind of pushed me. I love baseball, and it pushed me to work harder.”
Bard walked on at Mineral Area College, before transferring to Mississippi Valley State.
“I went to Mississippi Valley State and some things really clicked,” Bard said. “Mississippi Valley was really good for me, my junior year was the best year I’ve ever had. I got All-Conference in the Southwest Athletic Conference, and they named me pre-season conference player of the year for my senior year before I ended up getting hurt.”
Bard had some back issues but never had to have surgery because of them.
“I just did a lot of rehab and stuff like that, and they gave me a couple of epidural shots,” Bard said. “It just took a lot of rehab and stuff like that, and I finally came back for my final year in 2009, which I did pretty well.”
Bard also played for the Alaska Goldpanners in the Alaska Baseball League in 2007.
“I played in Fairbanks, Alaska, and it was a really big league back in the 80s and 90s,” Bard said. “It was so good when I played in it because guys like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and some other big names went through there.
“It was really cool, we had a midnight sun game where we played at 10 p.m. with no lights because it doesn’t get dark in Alaska. It was a very cool atmosphere and I got to play with a lot of really good players.”
Bard is the sophomore team head baseball coach at Jackson, and feels like the opportunity to play for the Capahas again is beneficial to him as a coach.
“It’s kind of helping me remember what it’s like to play,” Bard said. “I feel like that can help me with my coaching because I realize how hard the game is. It will help me to not be as hard on them and realize everybody makes mistakes.”