Former Bradley Baseball All-American and current Chicago Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman was inducted into the Bradley Hall of Fame this past weekend. He accepted the honor during a special dinner on January 19 at Alexander’s Steakhouse
Uh I got a lot of great memories um at Bradley you know I was here for 4 years um all my friends are from Bradley uh I met my wife here so I kind of owe my life you know kind of as it is to
Bradley I think this is a great night a great event um for a great young man uh a great ball player uh in the history of Bradley baseball this this is really a uh a special evening here that we’re having for the celebration of Mike you
Know it’s great we um my wife and I got down here a little bit early and tried to walk around campus it was a little chilly but uh you know tried to see you know where I used to live and went for the place where we met and uh you know
That was special well I mean when you look at it I mean he’s the first consensus All-American um he was just you know he’s my first recruit that I ever signed here when I first got the job he’s uh he’s really just been an epitome of of
Hard work and dedication and what it takes to be successful it was such a crazy time for our team because we knew we had this stretch uh going into the trade deadline that um we had to we had to you know see some results on the win
Loss side and we had a we had a nice win streak going so to keep that going um and just keep ourselves in it and you know there was a lot of talk about some guys maybe getting traded and and we thought we had a we had a playoff
Caliber team and we wanted we’re like no like get us some guys like we’re ready to so um I was just happy to make a play for the boys there when Mike before he went to the Yankees we were in U on spring break playing down in Florida uh
We just got done with a series excuse me and um I get a a phone call well during the game I get a phone call during the game and it’s from a from my former coach uh but his name is Jim Hendry I get back to you know our
Hotel and so on finally call him back I said Jim what’s going on and so on he says uh Mingo I I I played for Jim in high school played for Jim in college and then worked for him in college as well and he goes Mingo your boy talkman
He says love him all my guys love him we know he can hit he goes can he play center field I said Jim I’ve never seen him play play center field he never played center field for me I said is this tray going to go down if I say no he goes ah
We’ll figure it out you think he can play the other two I said absolutely long story short next thing I know like a couple days later he’s wearing and I’m a Yankee fan he’s wearing a Yankee uniform he’s and he’s that tray was made so it’s a small world the way and michae
Will tell you this it’s just a very small tight unit when it comes to uh professional baseball but here’s the GM about to pull the trigger on him but the one thing was can he play center I said Jim I I can’t tell you he never played
Center for me I don’t know what to tell you but I will tell you this son of a gun can hit in the sleeping in the dark I don’t know what else to tell you he he can Flat Out Swinging I’d like to thank the uh Hall of Fame committee um for
This honor my four years at Bradley were so important not only to my athletic career but my life as a whole so to be able to come back here today my friends and my family um it’s just it’s just really special thank you again so much for this honor
And enjoy the rest of your dinner have a great night
