Former Rocket's fire still burns for pro baseball
By Zachary Dzurick
Sports
Published June 22, 2005

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The love of the game still drives Bay Village resident Joe Kilburg. Nearing his 30th birthday, the Bay High graduate is still chasing his dream of playing professional baseball.

Drafted by the hometown Indians in 1987, after his junior year at Stanford, Kilburg is now in his 9th year of professional baseball playing for the Nashua Pride in the independent Atlantic League. It is his second stint playing for the Pride. In 2003, the second baseman hit .314 in 117 games. That performance got him signed by the Boston Red Sox and spent 2004 split between Double A Portland and Triple A Pawtucket.

This season Kilburg is hitting .326 with 42 hits in 129 at bats. He is happy to be in Nashua but he still is working hard to make sure his career doesn't end there.

Joe Kilburg

"I can't complain," Kilburg said. "I played here two years ago and how I played here is what got me to triple A. I am not ready to hang up my cleats yet. I want to give it one more try."

Just because the Atlantic is an independent league doesn't mean the quality of play is low.

"It is a high quality league that gets a lot of scouts," Kilburg said. "The play is at the same level as Double A and Triple A. It is a good place. Last year 50 guys were taken and 90 percent went to Double A or higher."

After his release from Boston's organization, Kilburg was drawn back to Nashua because of the manager, a former Boston Red Sox.

"I am in Nashua for one reason and that is Butch Hobson," Kilburg said. "I told him when I was here before that I would play for him anywhere and at any time. He is an amazing guy and a wonderful manager. He was a good ball player too but he is an even better person in life. I can't speak highly enough about him.

"I admire the way he approaches life and the game. He knows how to control a clubhouse. He is an Alabama country boy but he has been in the majors. He shows up every day and works hard. All he asks is that you give maximum effort."

One advantage of being an independent team outside of the Major League organizational system is that a team can be independent and sign only the type of players it wants rather than who the big league club sends.

"Here Butch and the general manager determine the roster," Kilburg said. "There is no scouting director and no high draft pick the organization has invested a lot of money in that has to be pushed through. The guys are all hand picked."

Kilburg is having a solid season and while he is enjoying his time in Nashua, he still strives for more.

"I am happy with how the year has gone and I am content that I am still getting better every day," Kilburg said. "But I am not content to finish my career here. I want to get back into organizational baseball. I want to get back to triple A and then see how it goes from there. But I understand where I am now at. I am not old but I am getting older for a baseball player. But I still have goals and aspirations."

Kilburg's determination to keep improving is part of his family heritage.

"Even 20 years from now when I am playing in the old timers league I will still try to be better every day," Kilburg said. "It is just how I was raised."

Family is important to Kilburg and their support has allowed him to continue to pursue his baseball career.

"My parents still travel to four or five home games a year then they try to make four or five more when I am on the road closer to home," Kilburg said. "It has been much easier when your own parents say don't quit until they take the uniform off your back. It is a huge advantage to have the family I have where everyone from my parents to my brother to my aunts and uncles still support me."