Former major league pitcher Jason Dickson is making a New Brunswick Senior Baseball League comeback with the Chatham Ironmen.
The right-hander, a former American League all-star, is a decade removed from a major league career which saw him go 26-25 over four seasons with the Anaheim Angels before arm miseries curtailed his career. He also played for Canada at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, an experience which ultimately sowed the seeds in his decision to come back after two seasons away from the senior game.
"My oldest daughter sat and watched the Olympics with me and for her, it kind of sunk in that "My dad did this."
Dickson, who turns 37 at the end of the month, played three seasons with the Ironmen after the professional portion of his career ended, winning 17 games and losing 8 over that span. In 2007, his last year, he struck out 53 men and walked just six, went 6-2 and posted a 2.64 earned run average.
He said he stepped away after the 2007 season because "I needed a break more than anything. I have two little ones that I wanted to spend more time with. I talk to Greg (Chatham coach Morris) all the time anyway and he had always sort of brought it up in conversation, but he knew where I was.
"When I talked to him the last time, I just sort of said to my wife 'Greg is looking for me to play.' And for the first time in a while, she said, 'that sounds like a good idea. The girls are getting older now, and they've always been around, but I don't know if they understand what it means to see you play. They might like to see it.'"
His daughters, Alex and Ava, are seven and four years old.
"They understand that I played baseball and they see the cards and they see the pictures, but that's a big part of it," he said.
"They're getting to that age where it's easier to travel with them," he said.
That's a factor too, because for Dickson, who grew up in the Miramichi but lives in Fredericton, where he's the executive director of Sport New Brunswick, every game is essentially a road trip.
But he said joining the local Peterbilt DQ Royals, the four-time defending league champions, was not something he considered.
"Chatham is where I've always played," he said. "You play this game for some of the friendships that you have. There are still some guys kicking around the team that I've been around with for a long time. The commuting part is not appealing. But Chatham is Chatham. The other part is, they might crucify me if I was ever to put on another uniform."
He said Morris had always left the door open for a possible return, but never pressured him to do so. They had planned to meet at the Miramichi Sports Wall of Fame ceremonies in late February, but never got together.
Days later, they had a phone conversation and Dickson told him 'I am thinking about it. Give me a couple of days. I wanted to talk to my wife, because it is a family decision. I asked Dana and she said 'I think it's a good idea.' So I called Greg back and said I'm in."
It was music to Morris ears. Dickson joins a solid staff which figures to include Matt Jenkins, who went 7-1 last season and Derek Wilson, J.F. Neveu and Ryan Barry, each of whom won three regular season games for the Ironmen. The solid pitching helped Chatham finish first in the regular season standings with an 18-13 mark.
The Ironmen were upset by the Moncton Mets in seven games in the league semifinal.
"He's going to give us a boost for sure," said Morris. "Here's the way I look at it...last year on August 1, we had the best team in the league, and our pitching fell apart. J.F. Neveu had to go out west to work, Ryan Barry got hurt and Derek Wilson hurt his back, and what was potentially as good a 1-2-3-4 as anybody in the league was down to a good one. We wanted to prevent that from happening again."
In addition to Dickson coming back, Perry Deveaux, a five-foot-nine, 165-pound right hander who went 2-1 with a 2.57 earned run average and struck out 51 in 42 innings, will pitch for the Ironmen after relocating to the area.
The Ironmen will host the Canadian senior baseball championship tournament in 2011. Dickson hasn't looked that far ahead.
"I'm going to see what happens this year," he said. "If everything's good and I can contribute and do stuff, I'll definitely think about nationals. At the same time, it's a long way away. I guess if you're drawing up a storyline, who wouldn't want to play in a national, host it at home and have one last kick at it?"
That wasn't part of the thought process as recently as three months ago.
"I'd bump into guys and they'd ask me and right up until around Christmas it was 'Absolutely not,'" said Dickson. "I had no interest.' But the more I started talking about it, the more I missed it. When I retired two years ago, it was because mentally, I needed to step away. I had been going at it since I was 18 years old, and if you weren't playing, you were getting ready to play. I just needed some time off."
Dickson has stayed in shape, but he hasn't begun throwing yet.
"That's the part you're always nervous about," he said. "It's been a two-year hiatus. Maybe it's good to knock some cobwebs off and see what comes out. It wasn't a real great polished product two years ago anyway. It will be a challenge to try and be crafty and figure out a way to get people out. I think I'm pretty realistic with where I am and knowing what I have to do to get people out. As much as I'd love to blow fastballs by guys to get people out, it's not there all the time. You've got to work them around, set them up and pick and choose your spot to throw that good fastball. The other part is realizing that you're going to get beat around sometimes. That's the game."
The competitive juices are starting to flow.
"I'm excited for it," said Dickson. "Now that I've committed to it and started thinking about it...it's the competition part that has me excited. I've got to dig through the basement here and see if I can find my glove and some cleats and start playing a little bit of catch."
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