Benjamin Wayne Petrick ( ; born April 7, 1977) is an American former Major League Baseball player. A native of Oregon, he grew up in Hillsboro, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. After reaching the Majors, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and retired in 2004, returning to Hillsboro to coach at his old high school. As of 2013 he has been a consultant for the Hillsboro Hops, a minor-league affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, helping the team's young players acclimatize to life as a professional baseball player. He is the author of the book 40,000 to One.

Early life

Petrick, who was born in Salem, Oregon, was a highly accomplished athlete while attending Glencoe High School in Hillsboro, Oregon. He played football, basketball and baseball. Petrick opted to enter the Colorado Rockies' farm system when they drafted him in the second round (38th overall) of the 1995 amateur draft and agreed to a signing bonus of $495,000.

Minor leagues

His first season in the minors was for the single-A Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League in 1996. The next season, he spent with the high-A Salem Avalanche, and for the 1998 season he was promoted to the AA New Haven Ravens. He achieved the feat in a 15–11 loss to the San Diego Padres on September 20, 2000, allowing his teammates to score by way of two ground outs, a sacrifice fly and a bases loaded walk.

Later life

In May 2004, when Petrick announced his retirement from baseball, he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease after the 1999 season. He revealed that as time went on, it had become clear that despite the medication and treatment he was receiving, the effects of Parkinson's would no longer allow him to play baseball at a high level. At one point he stated that his symptoms were due to Lyme disease, but he has since returned to discussing Parkinson's as their cause.

Petrick did numerous interviews and spoke publicly about his story at various events and fundraisers in order to raise awareness of Parkinson's disease. His father Vern (former athletic director at Glencoe) also suffered from Parkinson's and died in January 2019.

Petrick has three daughters. He got remarried in Summer 2021, to Heidi (Springer) Petrick. Petrick’s aunt is Connie Ballmer, wife of Microsoft CEO and billionaire Steve Ballmer.

Petrick and Scott Brown have written a book called 40,000 to One (), a collection of short stories from his life; The book was a New York Times best-seller in 2012 after ESPN aired a short film about Petrick.The film rights to the book were sold later that year.

In January 2013, the Hillsboro Hops announced that Petrick would join the Hops coaching staff as a consultant, assisting team "acclimating to life as a professional baseball player."

Petrick has developed a motivational website and clothing line called Strength Through Weakness; www.strengththroughweakness.com

References

  • Faith In The Game at Tumblr
  • "Petrick's battles are off the field now" by Norm Maves Jr., from The Oregonian
  • "Under Our Skin" a film from Andy Wilson and Open Eye Pictures
  • Strength From Weakness - ESPN E:60