Hummel was put in touch with Valparaiso parks director John Seibert, and the two video chatted about two years ago while Hummel was playing in Milan. (She worked for the band.
"It's fun to be back here, it goes really fast. Allowed 69 extra-base hits (37 doubles, eight triples and 24 home runs) this, which were the sixth-most among National League pitchers. Went at least 6.0 innings in eight of his final nine starts dating to August 13 ... recorded five quality starts in that stretch. "They have video games, so many things to do. Was masterful on June 17, tossing a complete-game four-hitter as the Giants defeated the Rays 5-1...he was one strike away from a shutout when Brad Miller drilled a 3-2 pitch for a shutout-spoiling homer. Jeff Samardzija moves on from the Chicago White Sox on a reported five-year deal with Giants. Went 9-15 with a 4.42 ERA in 32 starts in his second season with the Giants...Among league leaders he ranked fi rst in innings pitched (207.1), tied for fourth in quality starts (20), sixth in strikeouts (205) and fi fth in WHIP (1.14)...Reached the 200.0 inning mark for the fi fthconsecutive season...joined the Nationals' Max Scherzer as the only pitcher in the Majors to throw at least 200.0 frames in each of the last fi ve seasons...Struck out 205 batters, reaching the 200 strikeout mark for the third time in his career (2013 and 2014)...Posted 6.41 strikeouts per walk, which ranked as the second-best mark in the NL (Clayton Kershaw, 6.71)...Faced a career-best 154 batters without issuing a walk from April 28-May 25...had four consecutive starts without allowing a walk from May 3-20, the longest such streak of his career and the longest by a Giants starting pitcher since Bill Laskey had fi ve starts from June 7-25, 1984...Samardzija walked the Padres' Jabari Blash on April 28 then went 154 batters without issuing a walk before giving one up to the Cubs' Ian Happ on May 25 at Wrigley Field...Allowed a career-high 30 home runs, which ranked as the fi fth-most in the NL...Surrendered 82 extra-base hits, which were tied for the fourth-most in the Majors...Was named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending Sept. 3...he compiled a 1-0 record with a 0.56 ERA (1er, 16.0ip) with 14 strikeouts in two starts.Made 32 starts in his first season with SF, posting a 12-11 record with a 3.81 ERA (86er, 203.1ip). With the Valparaiso court, the Samardzija connection for the baseball/softball field especially made sense.
"There's just not a lot of places for kids to play basketball," Hummel said. "I'm so happy to see Tower Park coming back," Hummel said.
Hummel, the former Vikings and Boilermakers star whose professional career included parts of two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, recalled playing park league baseball and pickup basketball at Tower Park. Hummel was in town Thursday for ribbon-cuttings for Purdue University and Valparaiso High School themed basketball courts.
Went 7-2 with a 2.54 ERA (20er, 71.0ip) in his first 10 starts of the season...threw 7.0-or-more innings in six of his 10 outings, including four games with 8.0 innings.
"It's easy to have tunnel vision with what I do and only care about the results on the field and how to improve those, and all of a sudden you're 32 and still grinding hard. I'm really excited about it."
That water tower has seen some things," Samardzija said. Samardzija starred for the Vikings and Notre Dame in football and baseball before choosing baseball. That same October I was laid off by my law firm, was married to my first wife and had two preschoolers at home so, um, yeah, life was a bit different in 2008.
The accessible turf field was expected to open next summer. Nice stadium, the lights, the high-end things around them — I just want to inspire kids to play not just baseball, but any sport, any outdoor activity that gets them having fun and excited for the future."
Robbie Hummel and Jeff Samardzija both spent considerable time as kids at Tower Park. I remember talking with my brother, with my wife a couple times, just really unsure where you go out of the gate last year,” said Samardzija, who pointed to the biggest discovery being “maybe swallowing my pride when it comes to
Hummel recommended Valparaiso to Cardinal, whose previous projects included two courts in Lafayette and one in Fort Wayne with another upcoming in Indianapolis. Jeff Samardzija with a spicy reply when asked about playing in fan-less ballparks: "I wouldn't put the carriage before the horse. Struggled from May 30-Aug. 5 (12 starts), going just 2-6 with a 6.30 ERA (49er, 70.0ip) while allowing 12 home runs...his 6.30 ERA during this stretch was the third-highest in the NL.
Sometimes you need people around you to slow you down and turn your attention elsewhere and understand how important other things are, community and where you came from. Just getting into that is exciting and to see the returns you get from it is unlike anything else."
As part of the Purdue Cardinal Community Hoops project, former Boilermakers star and NBA champion Brian Cardinal reached out to Hummel about Region possibilities.
Pitched well over his final 10 starts of the season, posting a 3-3 record and a 2.45 ERA (17er, 62.1ip). As a player, I took huge amounts of pride in playing for both."
Samardzija credited his wife Andrea for "softening" him and his brother Sam for doing much of the legwork.
"I'm really excited about the Purdue logo and the Valpo logo.
Thursday's scene, the product of a public-private partnership, was dramatically different. Samardzija, a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants and the reigning National League Player of the Week, spent part of his off day ahead of Friday's start of a series against the White Sox for a groundbreaking of Samardzija Field.