From the Hill to College Life to Professional Baseball
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Billy Wagner coaching the next generation of student-athletes at MSA.
A look back at a story written in 2021 by Lindsay Barnes. We are republishing in honor of Coach Billy Wagner’s 2024 Hall of Fame candidacy.
About the Author
Lindsay R. Barnes, Jr., served from 1999-2008 as the 11th Headmaster of Miller School and also coached the middle school’s L’il Devils” baseball team for three seasons. An unabashed baseball fan, he now serves on the school’s Board of Trustees.
Billy Wagner, Miller School’s head varsity baseball coach and seven-time major league all-star, occupies a small office that overlooks Farina Field. It’s a cluttered space, a few cubic feet where lots of magic has originated over the years and in which much helpful advice — sometimes pointed, always passionate — has been delivered to Miller students, their parents, and others.
The universe of those who have achieved true stardom as high school baseball coaches after enjoying long and stellar major league baseball careers is small in number. Billy Wagner is one of these few, as confirmed by his many awards and eye-popping statistics (e.g., over 400 career saves, the highest strikeout average for any pitcher in major league history with at least 800 innings of service on the mound) compiled during his 16 MLB seasons and the extraordinary success (three state titles, seven state championship tournament appearances, three coach-of-the-year honors) of the Mavericks baseball program since he became head coach in 2013.
One might expect Wagner’s office walls and shelves to be adorned with numerous trophies, awards, and other other trappings attesting to his achievements as a player and coach. They are not. The primary decoration, the largest exhibit in Wagner’s office hangs on the wall closest to home plate. It’s a framed baseball jersey. The number is 32. The team logo stitched into is that of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Interestingly, Billy Wagner never wore No. 32 as a major leaguer, and he never played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It remains to be seen whether any of Wagner’s former players will reach the major leagues, succeed as Wagner did during his professional baseball days, or come to mean to baseball fans and others what the jersey hanging on Wagner’s wall symbolizes. Five former Mavericks have begun such a quest, however. Recently, Tanner Morris, Adam Hackenberg, Will Wagner, Ethan Murray, and Connor Gillispie were signed to professional contracts by major league baseball organizations, and each of these Miller School grads is now working hard for his minor league team, hoping — as Wagner once hoped — to one day progress to the major leagues, to make his mark in “the Show.”
Tanner Morris was the first these recent professional signees to arrive at Miller School. Enrolling as a junior in 2015, Tanner became a Maverick when the program was on the cusp of winning state championships. Several losses in the annual VIS state tournament would precede Tanner’s arrival, but that would soon change, “Tanner’s baseball IQ was off the charts,” remembers Wagner. “He loved to play, and he was serious! I never had to coach Tanner on the field. Never! That made him special.”
According to Tom Pallante, who was Miller’s assistant varsity baseball coach before assuming his current duties as the school’s Dean of Students, “Tanner had laser focus. He’d think, ‘This is my path, and no one is getting in my way.’ And yet, he had a silent kindness about him, too. He was always a great counselor to the other guys on the team.” Pallante recalls the many afternoons when Tanner would find himself all alone on the baseball diamond, hitting ball upon ball after ball off a practice batting tee. By the time he was finished, says Pallante with a smile, “the outfield would look like it had been covered by snowballs. I think Tanner even enjoyed picking up each and every ball covering the field.”
Tanner has been drawn to baseball since the age of six. Needless to say, the sport of baseball has been and continues to be a central element of his life, an element that’s deeper in meaning — much deeper — than the mere hitting, throwing, and fielding of a hard leather-bound ball. Observes Tanner, “I have grown to love the game of baseball, through the intricate details within the game, details that, if mastered, allow an average athlete to find a competitive advantage over people who have far better raw ability.”
Like Tanner, Adam Hackenberg loves the game and all that it entails. Adam joined the Miller School family in 2016, enrolling as a junior. To hear Wagner tell it, Adam’s impact on the program was immediate. “Thunder! That’s the word that best describes Adam. He changed everything for the better because, as a catcher, he could control the game as our leader, our commander behind the plate. I didn’t really know how good Adam was when he came to Miller. Only later did I find out that this guy was a dude! He was our rocket behind the plate and in the batter’s box.”
While certainly impressed with Adam on the field, Pallante also fondly remembers the Adam Hackenberg he came to know away from the diamond. “A brilliant mind. Always thinking. Sharp and keen. Almost to a comedic degree, Adam would question everything — not negatively but innocently and purely as a function of his deep sense of curiosity.” Baseball lore is full of stories of commanding, intimidating personalities whose statistics soared but whose concern for the well-being of others was miniscule. Not so with Adam Hackenberg. Remembers Pallante, “For someone as physically imposing as he is, Adam probably had the biggest heart, not only in caring for his teammates but for many other Miller students.”
A caring heart and a curious, philosophical mentality. That’s “Hack.” “I love baseball because it’s a game about life,” observed Adam recently. “There is so much that is out of your control, and it is such a hard game. You have to keep the game simple and then control the controllables. That’s it. Like life, the game will eat you up if you let it control you and your emotions. It’s a game that requires a ton of skill but also patience, discipline, and a high work ethic…the same skills required for success in life.”
Will Wagner knows all about learning how to control the controllables, even those that, for a time, are resistant to any control. As his MSA senior year approached, those who had taught and come to know Will since he joined the Miller community as an 8th-grader began to notice some pronounced developmental changes. Remembers Tom Pallante, “I’ve not seen a student in my time here at Miller transform himself on every level — especially physically and socially — like Will.” A six-inch growth spurt late in his Miller School tenure was especially noticeable to Will’s teachers and friends.
Also evident to baseball fans was Will’s new approach to batting. Until his senior year, a hereditary lumbar condition restricted Will’s movement and, hence, his effectiveness in the batter’s box. This all changed, however, after Will sought the advice of a back specialist. Soon a revamped, adjusted Will Wagner swing was unveiled. No longer was his swing of the bat either impeded or painful. It was full, and it was powerful. Will was ready to join Tanner and Adam as a stalwart in the Miller School lineup.
Particularly since Will already possessed his father’s commitment to hard work, high baseball IQ, and dedication to the principles of the game, Will’s star quickly began to ascend as his newfound offensive prowess caught up with already developed steady-as-you-go emotions and emerging maturity. “Will always had to work harder than the other boys,” says Pallante. “His work ethic was second to none, and his super-respectful, soft-spoken demeanor made his presence all the more special.”
For Ethan Murray, the phrase “work ethic” can be captured in one word: “grit.” Ethan remembers this overarching quality as something that was stressed time and time again to him as a Miller School student and athlete. According to Ethan, who arrived at Miller as a 9th-grader in 2014, “Grit is a character trait that always separates players as they progress through the levels of baseball — whether that be a willingness to do the little things, an unmatched attention to detail, or simply giving 100% in effort regardless of the circumstances. These things may sound like simple pointers, but when executed at a high level, ‘grit’ is what separates good teams from great teams and, likewise, good players from great players.”
But while grit was surely a fundamental aspect of Ethan’s athletic personality, Ethan did not rely on this quality alone. His natural abilities on the field set him apart. According to Wagner, “Far and away, Ethan is the most athletic player I’ve coached. He played with a moxie that no others played with. He did so many things for us. When playing the game, he was always confident that he could do something good.” Adds Pallante, “Yes, Ethan was a fierce competitor and super confident in his abilities. But he was also the most gentle, the kindest young man I’ve worked with here. You could always trust that fairness would — no matter what — be Ethan’s way.”
And fairness is something Ethan sees as a central element of the sport he loves. He recognizes that you get back from the game what you genuinely and determinedly put into it.
According to Ethan, “To me, the beauty of baseball lies in the fact that, if you play the game the right way, the game rewards you. It may not be in your next at bat or your next contest, but playing the game the right way and treating the game with respect is a special reward in and of itself. If a player does things the right way and devotes his heart to the game, the game will — sooner or later — reward that passion.”
Of the five Miller grads celebrated in this article, perhaps Connor Gillispie is the one for whom a passion for baseball was not immediately apparent to those meeting him for the first time. As described by Pallante, “Connor was probably the least ‘baseball is my thing’ of these five guys. He had so many interests outside of baseball and could communicate so well with others, particularly adults, on a variety of topics.” Also, Connor’s physical build — like Coach Wagner’s at the same age — did not immediately conjure up thoughts of Connor as a future professional athlete.
But when it came to suiting up for a game, Connor was one “tough dude”, according to both Wagner and Pallante. Phrases like “bulldog mentality”, an “undeniable desire to win”, an “I’m- gonna-show-you mentality”, and “dirt dog” routinely find their way into descriptions of Connor Gillispie in competition. And yet, so do other phrases such as “quiet confidence”, “unselfish demeanor”, and “comforting approach” to the sport and to his teammates. [Interestingly, these same words could aptly describe Connor’s uncle, David Coleman, a Miller School baseball star in his own right who, on October 6, 2001, became the first player to hit a home run at Farina Field.]
Says Connor, “I love baseball because one player can’t define a game. One player can make the coolest plays and hit three home runs, but the team can still lose. Success is only through the team. And the best teams in baseball aren’t always the ones with the best prospects. The championship teams are often the ones that have the most fun and whose players are the most selfless.”
Two men from whom Billy Wagner learned the value of selflessness and many of life’s other most important lessons are the late Lucian Peery, Wagner’s high school baseball coach, and Sandy Koufax, perhaps the greatest left-handed pitcher of the 20th century, the gentleman whose No. 32 jersey is displayed on Wagner’s office wall. For Peery, a local coaching legend who took a 14-year-old Billy Wagner under his wing and guided him like a second father, fundamental values such as family, faith, passion, and hard work were always front and center. And from Koufax, who became a friend early in Wagner’s pro career, the values of genuineness, humility, care, and emotional balance registered deeply with the young, aspiring pitcher from Tazewell, Virginia, to whom Koufax took a liking long ago at a spring training session in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Tom Pallante has borne witness to the admirable effects that mentors like Lucian Perry and Sandy Koufax have had on Billy Wagner. “Our players ultimately recognize that Billy truly cares about them as young people. He shows them what you have to be if you want to move forward. Everything we do here — the intensity of the practices, the 100% commitment to the craft, the building of unity within the team — it all pays dividends for the athlete, but, more importantly, in many of life’s later roles at home and in the workplace.”
The current workplaces for Miller’s five young professional ballplayers are diamonds and minor league training facilities sprinkled across the country. In beginning their careers, each must devote eight to ten hours per day to skill development, strength and aerobic conditioning, and situational tactics. The days can be a grind, as can the travel from town to town. Counsels Wagner, “Always realize how hard this game is. It is so tough, so very tough. Show up every day. Be on time. Be in the moment. Mentally, treat yourself well. Know that, if you fail in one moment, the next is going to give you the option to be better, to continue to work toward your goal.”
Treat yourself well. Learn from missteps. Respect each endeavor. Appreciate each moment. And continue to work diligently and smartly toward a worthwhile goal. In baseball and in everyday living, that’s the kind of advice that, if followed, can pay real dividends. It’s also the kind of advice imparted regularly to these five MSA graduates by members of their families and also by their “other” family members: their teachers and coaches at Miller School.
Time will tell whether such sound counsel helps in propelling any of these five young men to the big leagues of baseball. But it can easily be seen how such advice is already benefiting and will continue to benefit them as they grow and mature. Both on and off the diamond, it’s clear that their minds are willing and able, their hands are nimble and adept, and their hearts are inviting and open. Those who know them best can have confidence that, thanks to the foundations they have in place, the journeys for each will be marked by that which is good, principled, and maybe even inspirational.
Best wishes to Tanner, Adam, Will, Ethan, and Connor! May “the Show” one day be yours! However, no matter what your athletic future holds, be assured that your Miller School family already views each of you as an emerging bright light in the biggest show of all, in that most “major” of majors: life itself.
