Oldham another talented player produced by Connellsville youth program
Bob Oldham is another outstanding baseball player out of Connellsville.
Oldham was a product of the outstanding Connellsville youth baseball system that nurtured some fine talented players through the years.
“I played Llittle league all the way through teener league in Connellsville,” Oldham said.
When he got to high school Oldham did not go out for the baseball team. Connellsville was a powerhouse back in those days.
“I didn’t think I was good enough to make the team,” Oldham offered. “My gym teacher, the late Lou DeSimone, thought I could play. I was throwing a dodgeball in gym class and he told me I should go out for baseball.”
Oldham went out for the team and made it.
“My first year all I did was pitch,” Oldham recalled. “My second year I played mostly first base and pitched a little bit. My senior year I was 5-0 with a two-something ERA.”
The Falcons were on quite a roll in those days. Longtime Falcons coach Tom Sankovich retired and Bob Renzi took over in 1991 and guided the Falcons to their seventh consecutive WPIAL playoff appearance. The Falcons finished with a record of 19-4 and lost North Allegheny, 11-1, in the WPIAL quarterfinals.
Connellsville made it eight playoff berths in a row in 1992 and posted an outstanding record of 21-2 before they were knocked off by Butler in the semifinals, 4-0. The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak for the Falcons.
“It was very disheartening to lose that game to Butler,” Oldham stated.
Looking back, Oldham was part of a solid pitching staff at Connellsville.
“I was the number three starter,” Oldham said. “It was Clint Weibl, then Nick Tzan and me. I had good numbers at the plate as a third baseman.”
When Oldham graduated from Connellsville in 1992 he wasn’t thinking about going to college.
“I was pitching Legion ball against Smithfield Masontown and pitching real well, and Mark Edenfield, who played at Odessa College, saw me and asked me if I thought about going to college,”Oldham explained. “I said, ‘No,I don’t think I’d do any good in college.’
He said if I can get college paid for, would you go to school? I said absolutely. He said what if it was out of state and I said if you can get college paid for me I will go anywhere. He got me hooked up with Coach Rich Zimmerman at Odessa College in Texas.
“The reason why I didn’t go that year was because he didn’t have any scholarships left. I wound up playing at Odessa in 1993-94.”
Odessa was a top notch Junior College program. The Wranglers went 40-18 in 1993-94 and lost in the district playoffs.
Two other Connellsville players were at Odessa at that time, Weibl, a star pitcher, and Jeremy Miller, who did not play because of a sports hernia.
“I played one year at Odessa,” Oldham said. “I went in when Coach Zimmerman was doing cuts and the first thing he said to me was I don’t know what I’m going to be able to do with you this year, but you throw the ball too hard for me to cut you.
“I was used as a starter, the only time I was not a starter was in the loss to Galveston in the state playoff game and I pitched well.”
“Some scouts saw me. It rained and we had practice in the swimming pool and I fell off the diving board and ripped the callus off my toe,” continued Oldham. “The Indians had come to see me pitch and I didn’t pitch. The scout asked me to throw in the bullpen, which I did to a first baseman. They were interested.
“Bob Mayer, an Indians scout from Somerset, took over. I threw up in Somerset and then at Jacobs Field and they said they were going to draft me. I touched 98 on the radar gun, but was normally about 94-95 and had a decent curve ball. They selected me in the 12th round of the 1994 draft and I signed.”
Oldham pitched in the Indians farm system for three years. The 6-foot-5, 200 pound Oldham compiled a 6-22 record with an 8.20 ERA. He recorded 201 strikeouts. He was released after the 1996 season at age 22.
“The minors were a different experience,” Oldham stated. “I wasn’t used to throwing that much and I think I got tired my first year. The second year I was stronger. But, I never really adjusted and I was released.”
Oldham came back to Fayette County and bounced around at several jobs and started pitching in the Fayette County League. In 1997, Oldham, pitching for Connellsville, went 9-1 with 111 strikeouts. His win total and strikeouts led the League.
“He was almost unhittable,” said then Connellsville player/manager Dan Kupets.
Unfortunately, Oldham sustained serious injuries in an auto accident in January 1998. It spelled the end of his baseball career.
“I had a brain injury,” Oldham explained. “It ended pitching for me. I was 23 years old. It was so disappointing.”
Now 50, Oldham has been working for Sensus in Uniontown for seven years. He and his wife Kristen have been married a year and have three older daughters from other relationships.
Looking back, Oldham feels he missed an opportunity in pro baseball.
“I just wish I had someone behind me talking to me and helping me and pushing me,”Oldham said.
Oldham is back doing some Little League baseball coaching.
“I really enjoy coaching,” said Oldham. “I like to see the kids get it when you are teaching them. I like to see it when they get it and understand, and their eyes light up.”
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Sunday editions of the TikTok˰. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.