Matt Zachary, former pitching ace of Wood River High School's baseball program, has taken the mound at nearly every level of baseball, from just about every corner of the U.S.
He has experienced injuries, brawls, famous teammates and his own personal success. Zachary pitched for three college teams, in Hawaii, Oregon and Idaho. He started his pro career at Laredo, Texas, in 2006.
This season, Zachary's second of professional baseball, has offered something totally new—homelessness.
Zachary, a 6-4, 240-pound righthander, is the eighth-inning relief specialist for the Can-Am Grays, the name given to the "Road Team" Grays playing in the Can-Am Independent League system up and down the East Coast.
The Grays have no home field and no sponsor. They're in a different hotel room every fourth day. The good thing is they get their $18 meal money each day and don't have to pay rent or travel expenses.
Such a nomadic situation was so unique that the New York Times did a feature article about the Grays, written by Peter Applebome in July when Zachary's team barnstormed through Little Falls, N.J.
The Grays have spent the entire summer literally on the road in the 10-team Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball league. The longest distance is 637 miles from Atlantic City to Quebec. The shortest is 33 miles from Brockton to Lynn, Mass.
For the past 81 games—with 13 more to play—and roughly 90 days, Zachary has shared hotel rooms and bus rides every day and night with his teammates, all while making a name for himself as a dominating arm out of the bullpen.
Zachary, known as "Moose" in his Wood River career, said with a smile: "I've got an ugly wife and life partner (in my roommate) Jerry Dunn. He's the closer. I'm the eighth-inning guy. We basically spend 23-and-a-half hours a day together, in the bullpen, on the bus and in the hotel."
After a 6-0 loss to the league-leading North Shore Spirit last Saturday in Lynn, Mass., Zachary, whose parents still live in Hailey, pointed at the team bus and explained: "That's where we live, right there. Guys have grills in there, mini-TVs are set up, anything you can think of. It's like we each have our own little room in that bus."
Evolving as a pitcher
Don't let the lack of a home field, sponsor, stadium, mascot, or fans fool you. Zachary is playing at a high level of professional baseball.
The Can-Am Independent League is non-affiliated, meaning it has no direct ties to any major league baseball organization.
However, the league is considered on par with "Dubs", the term used for Double-A, major league-affiliated pro baseball. And it's giving the 25-year-old Zachary a chance to pursue his dream of pitching at the major league baseball level.
"Hopefully I'll get picked up sometime this year or at least get some spring training invites next year," Zachary said. "That's the goal of all this."
Moose is putting up the numbers to get a serious look.
On Tuesday, Zachary was leading the Grays (37-44) in appearances (31) and was surrendering a meek .252 average to hitters in 40 innings. His 16 walks are the second fewest on the staff. And his 3.12 ERA was second only to his roommate, ace closer Dunn (0.86 ERA in 31 innings with 14 saves).
He has evolved as a pitcher.
For anyone who remembers Zachary peering in from his Founders Field perch during the Wood River days, he was a power pitcher with a live arm.
He regularly hit high 80s on the radar gun and had a reckless abandon making hitters uncomfortable in the batter's box. His out-pitch was any fastball faster than the last. The strikeouts came in bulk quantities during his starts.
With maturity and tougher competition, Zachary is no longer the dominating strikeout pitcher he once was. Having recorded only 20 whiffs in his 40 innings, Zachary admits to becoming more skilled.
"In high school I was more of a thrower," he said. "I really started to learn to pitch in college, but even then, you're facing aluminum bats and you're still trying to light up the (radar) gun. Now I know how to pitch, not just throw."
Even so, Zachary in Saturday's outing against the North Shore Spirit was still touching 91 mph with his fastball.
Another big difference for Zachary on the mound has been his pitch selection.
His main pitch is a two-seam fastball, as opposed to the four-seam fastball he threw in high school. A two-seam fastball isn't thrown as hard, but it usually has more movement on it. It rides into right-handed hitters and rides away from left-handers, inducing more ground balls. Zachary also throws a hard slider.
"These days, I would rather wear out my shortstop with grounder after grounder than strike people out. As the saying goes, 'strikeouts are fascist'," Zachary said, smiling.
Quite a trip from Atkinson Park
It's been quite a trip for Zachary from the Little League field at Ketchum's Atkinson Park to professional baseball.
Zachary and Hailey's Christian Nickum are the most intimidating and successful pitchers to come out of the Wood River Valley. Moose left behind a legacy of memorable pitching for Wood River.
He was the starting pitcher in arguably the most memorable game in Founders Field history, back on May 12, 1999 when host Wood River beat Buhl 14-13 for its first-ever district tournament title. He went 21-5 during his high school stint.
"That was definitely one of the most meaningful games I've ever played in," he said. "Our whole team was clicking by then, it was a lot of fun."
Zachary went 9-2 with a 1.43 ERA as Wood River repeated its district championship in 2000 when he was a senior. Then he had an incredible American Legion summer with a 10-3 record and 1.72 ERA.
That team, the first guided by current Wood River coach Matt Nelson, went 37-15 including a two-week stretch when it went 10-0 and won two tough, out-of-town Legion tourneys. Zachary was huge in the span, winning five of the 10 games.
He threw a no-hitter at Brigham City, Utah, in the championship game of the Twin Falls Invitational. One week later, he was the winning pitcher in 2-1 and 6-5 semi-final and final victories over North Ridge, Utah, and Marsh Falls in the Marsh Falls Invitational held in American Falls.
"I remember the last game in the Twin Falls Invitational when we beat that Utah team," he said. "AB (Andy Beck, catcher and close friend of Zachary) threw out three guys on the bases, Max (Paisley) drove in the winning run to 10-run them and I was even throwing a knuckleball, which I had never thrown and haven't thrown since. It was a fun summer."
That particular team built the foundation of further success for Wood River baseball.
Three years later, behind the bat and arm of Ryne Reynoso, now playing for the Single-A Rome, Ga., Braves, the Wood River High squad gave the Hailey program and co-founders Lars Hovey and Larry Lloyd its first state championship.
Zachary takes tremendous pride in the high school program he comes from and the opportunities he was granted in baseball while growing up in the Wood River Valley.
"I feel like I owe it to the valley to do something in professional baseball," he said "I owe it to Atkinson Park and Terry Tracy, Hovey, Gooch (Larry Lloyd's nickname), Jeff Cordes, all the Nelsons, everyone who has been there for me.
"I play the game because I love baseball, but I also want to make my hometown proud. Hopefully I'll get the opportunity to play at a higher level and do just that."
Waiting for the phone call
Zachary got a college education out of his baseball abilities. Actually, it was three colleges.
After spending his freshman year at Hawaii-Pacific, he transferred to the junior college power Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore., for his sophomore year. He joined the Albertson College squad his junior year, where he red-shirted with a sore elbow and shoulder, and competed his senior year.
He graduated with academic honors from Albertson in 2005, took a year off and talked briefly with the Boston Red Sox about signing a free agent contract, only to have negotiations fall through.
He spent a winter as a personal trainer in Boise and then signed with the Independent League Laredo Broncos in Texas the next spring.
Now with the Grays, the next step is affiliated professional ball, if things go well.
Working his way through the minor leagues, Zachary said he is enjoying the competition and waiting for the phone call to an even higher level.
He keeps a baseball given to him by his late grandfather, who told Zachary that he knew his grandson would one day play professional baseball.
This summer has been a learning experience, in patience for being on the road all the time, and in maintaining a sense of humor in all he does.
"From our bus driver in his cowboy hat who rides the brake, to my ugly wife Dunn, you just have to have a sense of humor to make it through this," said Zachary.
"Half of the time, our uniforms are wrinkled from the other team doing our laundry. I mean, who in professional baseball has wrinkled uniforms?
"But the team chemistry we've built is great. I can tell you everything about everyone on this team. Even when we have time to be alone, we aren't. We play cards in the clubhouse and on the bus and video games in the hotel. We are each other's family, friends, and psychologists.
"Just without a home."
Matt ?Moose? Zachary, former fearsome fireballer for the Wood River Wolverines, poses in his Can-Am Grays uniform in Lynn, Mass., last Saturday during the Grays game with the league-leading North Shore Spirit. Zachary got to pitch the ninth inning of a 6-0 Grays? loss.-Express photo by James Cordes
