A Special Father’s Day Gift By John Kocsis Jr.
To many, they see their dad as Superman. He’s often a child’s first hero and a forever role model. There are three 2024 Fireflies who have taken after their fathers in more ways than just how they look or act. Chris Brito, Josh Hansell and Milo Rushford are all following in their father’s footsteps in their careers.
While Chris, Josh and Milo were too young to remember most of their father’s playing days in the Majors or in independent and Minor League Baseball, they still have been able to learn from and take their next steps in the game after watching and playing with their dads. Milo’s dad, Jim Rushford, may have set a special example to his son and others who watched, about not giving up on a dream. Jim was a kid from the suburbs of Chicago who had a one-track mind that he was going to be a professional baseball player. Some die-hard fans may remember his story. He made his Major League debut with the Milwaukee Brewers at 28 years old, a year after he signed his first affiliated contract. Jim writes in-depth about how he went from a Division I college player to taking a gap from playing independent baseball while delivering pizzas to making his debut with Milwaukee in his book, The Pizza Man Delivers. It’s an inspirational story that any baseball fan can enjoy, but within the pages there’s also a great message as a parent: Work hard and you will be rewarded. Never give up on your dreams. But don’t just listen to Jim, listen to R.C. Lichtenstein. He’s the pitching coach for the Charlotte Knights and Fireflies fans may recognize him from his days as the Charleston RiverDogs pitching coach in 2021-22. R.C. has been in and around the game for over 30 years, and near the beginning of his career, his path overlapped with Jim’s. In 1996, Jim tried out to play for the Dubois County Dragons. Rushford made it to the show as a first baseman and corner outfielder but was primarily a left-handed pitcher when he started in professional baseball. That was his pinhole when he started under Lichtenstein. He tossed 66 innings and collected a little over 40 at-bats in a Dragons uniform that year, but his hard work stood out. “We had key cards to a 24-hour fitness center, and I would go in after games to work out and Jim would always be there,” Lichtenstein remembers. “That’s one thing, but then you’d watch him in pre-game at 3 o’clock, sprinting down balls in center field and taking big swings at the plate. He was always drenched in sweat, and he was always one of the hardest working guys I had ever seen.” After that year, Jim and R.C. parted ways for a few years, but that impression of hard work and the want to be in the League left the door open for a future opportunity. Lichtenstein found himself working in the Brewers instructional facilities in 2001. Jim wrote in his book that the Brewers were cleaning house and wanted to get a few veterans to help set the tone in the minors. “It’s obviously easy to root for him, but what made it easy for me was that it was easy to recommend him,” Lichtenstein relayed. “The one thing I knew even if he fell on his face was that I knew his work ethic and I knew he was never going to do anything that would embarrass me for was that I knew his work ethic and I knew he was never going to do anything that would embarrass me for recommending him. In other words, I knew that by recommending him, he was going to make me look good and that was whether he performed well or not.”
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