Published: November 24, 2009 11:57 pm      

Former Pirate reaches Upper Deck

Jeff Wallace was 21 when he made his debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It was August 1997 when the young left-hander took the ball on a big league mound for the first time. The Pirates were clinging to a 5-3 lead over the San Francisco Giants, who had runners on second and third with two out in the eighth inning.

As Wallace was completing his warm-up tosses, the hitter’s name was announced. It was none other than Barry Bonds, the former Pirate who four years later would set the all-time single-season home run record.

If Wallace hadn’t realized before then just how much Bonds was detested by his former fans, he found out on that summer day.

“They announce his name, and 45,000 people started booing,” Wallace said.

At that moment, Wallace endeared himself to every one of them.

“I struck him out with a 101 mile-per-hour fastball,” he said. “I will never forget it. I felt the place explode. I was 21 and I was loving it. He went down looking. I set him up.”

Bonds faced Wallace 11 more times and never got a hit off him. That’s quite a resume in itself, but Wallace’s career didn’t last long. He worked three seasons with the Pirates before signing with Tampa Bay as a free agent in 2001, and that’s where his active career would end. He spent a couple seasons with the Boston Red Sox, but Tommy John surgery kept him off the field.

He was selling orthopedic equipment when he got a call recently from longtime friend Jeff Waggoner. The Marshall baseball coach and Wallace were teammates at Minerva (Ohio) High School.

“Jeff let me know that there was something special going on in Beckley, so I came and checked it out,” Wallace said.

Waggoner was referring to the Upper Deck Training Center, owned and operated by former WVU Tech and Liberty High coach Tim Epling. Not only the center, but also the new baseball stadium that is expected to be complete in February.

Visitors are greeted by Bible scriptures on the stadium’s facade, which hit home with Wallace.

“I am a big-time Christian,” he said. “When I pulled up to the field, I knew I needed to be here.”

Now Wallace is aboard the staff at Upper Deck, thrilled to be working in baseball again. The chance to be part of Epling’s vision is an exciting prospect for him.

“When I walked into the academy and saw their way of training, I was amazed,” Wallace said. “The new age things they have going on, the scientific training to get strength and velocity for the kids was amazing.”

While Epling works with players on things such as velocity, bat speed and arm speed development, Wallace will teach them about the game’s mental approach.

“I work on mechanics and the chess match between pitchers and hitters,” he said. “How to set hitters up.”

Wallace is a master of that subject.

Just ask Barry Bonds.