Foley's Winning Season a Lesson in Hard Work for Troy Second Baseman

Baseball has taught John Sheehan the value of hard work.

“We don’t want the championships given to us, we want to take it,” the Troy resident said Sunday, recalling the words of his Madison Heights Bishop Foley coach, Buster Sunde.

On Saturday, Bishop Foley took the state’s Division 3 title in Battle Creek for the first time in the school’s history with an 8-2 win over Bridgman High School. Sheehan, who plays second base and designated hitter for the Ventures, said the win drove a lesson home for him.

“I have to go take it,” Sheehan said. “That it won’t be given to me.”

Winning the championship changed how Sheehan conceived of the sport his dad coached him through every summer since he was 9.

“I just made me realize how great of a sport it is,” Sheehan said, who went 3-for-5 in the two final games, with three runs and two runs batted in.

Bishop Foley, which finished the season at 39-3, earned its shot at the championship after closing out Oakridge High School 11-0 on Friday. But Sheehan said the highlight of the season for him was eliminating Catholic League foe Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, who had knocked the Ventures out of the state semifinals last year.

He cites the rigorous practices as a reason or the successful season.

Sheehan, who graduated from Bishop Foley last month, said practicing up to three hours every day also helped him become a more focused individual, the long drills and runs leaving him less time for “lying around” and more time to concentrate on finishing homework.

Sunde, a former pitcher at Western Michigan University who headed the South Oakland A’s before joining Bishop Foley in 2009, made the difference in work ethic, Sheehan said.

In rain or cold weather, most baseball teams cancel practice. However, Sheehan said Sunde had access to a baseball warehouse and the practice time spent there gave them a competitive advantage many teams lacked.

Despite his focus on baseball and looming graduation, Sheehan said he only suffered from a “mild case of senioritis,” meaning he was still doing homework, but studying a little less for tests.

Sheehan’s mother, Sherrie Sheehan, a teacher at Bishop Foley, corroborated his story, and said he only had a “touch” of senioritis. In fact, his grade point average increased last year.

She said Saturday’s win was special when she saw her son —who she said rarely gets emotional — hugging his senior teammates, his eyes noticeably damp.  “To see these big, strong senior boys let it all sink in a little bit,” she said. “This is their last hurrah.”

The championship season also brought a close to something a little more special, her son indicated. After the win against Bridgman, after nine consecutive summers of baseball coaching from his father, Tim Sheehan, shook his son John’s hand and congratulated him.

“I thought that was a real special moment,” John Sheehan said.