your eye on the prize. Just ask Jeff Reynolds, who
graduated from Harvard.
to be a professional baseball player," he said. "He was
100% supportive of my goal. We called 1998 the sum-
mer of baseball because we went to so many games at
Al Lang Stadium."
at Fossil Park and Northeast Little League; and at
Shorecrest from Middle Division through graduation.
main passion, he does have
some good non-sports memo-
ries of Shorecrest.
was Mrs. Meinen. I had her for
first grade and third grade, and
I remember that she treated us
like adults, not like little kids."
He singles out Mal Ellenburg,
Emerson Littlefield, and Brad
Moore as other teachers who
made a great impression. But
Reynolds reserves his highest
praise for Coach Reed.
fifth grade, when I asked if I
could be his gofer," Reynolds
recalls. "He was a huge influ-
ence. Coach Reed is what made
and I give him a lot of credit for my baseball career." It is
a fact that Reynolds connection to Reed helped him to
achieve the first post-Shorecrest step on his career path.
Harvard because it was a good school. It was Division I
and it gets guys drafted regularly. Coach Reed had a
really good relationship with the Harvard coach, so I
knew a lot about the program."
minored in economics. He pitched briefly but mostly
played shortstop, second base and third base. After
graduating in 2012, he waited for the major league draft
in June.
you can listen in on the Internet. My parents and I sat
there and stared at the computer. I was just hoping to
be drafted at all, and I'm certainly happy it's the Mets.
When they said, `In the 38th round the Mets choose
Jeff Reynolds from Harvard University,' we were all just
jumping up and down."
that he was to play for the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Class
A Short Season affiliate of the Mets, from mid-June to
mid-September.
believe they're paying me to do this.' There's nothing I'd
rather be doing."
classmate, and they went to Tulsa where she had gotten
a Teach for America assignment. In an effort to fill his