Why do they call wilhelmsen the bartender

I don't want to come home at four in the morning to her, especially if we're going to have kids. I don't want to smell like beer all the time. He also was smoking a pack or so of cigarettes a day, but one June day in , he says, "I went outside, lit a cigarette, smoked it about three-quarters down and said, 'What the hell am I doing?

Just like that, Wilhelmsen quit smoking. Then he celebrated Father's Day by calling up his father and repeating a question from "Field of Dreams" that has accounted for an estimated 43 percent of all American male tears shed since When Wilhelmsen's story is turned into a movie, this is where the music will swell and you will see a montage of Wilhelmsen John Krasinski from "The Office"? There will be lots of shots of his pitches popping into his father's catcher's glove. Tom mixing Fat Men behind the bar and curveballs on the mound.

The montage will make it look easier than it probably was, but the return was quick. By , Wilhelmsen was ready to pitch again. Wilhelmsen was just rounding back into form with the Toros when he suffered a biceps injury that ended his season. He received some workers' compensation and returned to The Hut. While the arm healed, his agent called up Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik, who had been Milwaukee's scouting director when Wilhelmsen was with the Brewers.

Canter told Zduriencik that Wilhelmsen was pitching again and asked whether the Mariners would take a look at him.

When Zduriencik did, he was impressed enough to offer Wilhelmsen a minor league contract in February Now he wants to play baseball, and I think he'll tell you he lost that desire somewhere along the way. And now he's a grown man with a wife, and he has responsibilities. He's experienced some things in life. He's fortunate that he still has a live arm. That doesn't happen every day where a guy moves on with his life and is able to come back five years later and pitch at this level.

Says Wilhelmsen, "I'm just older now, and I have more responsibility and understand what it is to have responsibilities. Maybe not to the fullest extent, but a hell of a lot more than I did when I was younger.

I just have more life experience in general and understand how to go about your life. He was so thrilled by it all that he occasionally was seen asking teammates and coaches for autographs this spring. Given little chance to make the team out of Arizona, he just kept pitching and getting better. And when the Mariners announced their final roster, he was on the team. He quickly called his father. Wilhelmsen made his major league debut in Oakland, striking out one batter in a scoreless inning.

His next appearance was Friday's home opener after he added to the dreamlike nature of his comeback by running onto the field with his teammates through a fog machine while 48, fans cheered. With his wife and his father watching from the stands and dozens of friends watching on TV at The Hut, Wilhelmsen entered that night's game in the fourth inning with Seattle trailing , one out and one runner on.

But right there? It was gone. I looked at it and I was just like, 'Hole-ley, bomb! But I watched that one the whole way. But now I know where his sweet spot is. He won't see another one there if I face him again.

But he also has walked five batters, given up eight hits and allowed six runs not so good. After missing so many years and returning in so swift and breathtaking a leap, he needs experience in addition to the lively arm. Mariners pitching coach Carl Willis likens Wilhelmsen's path to the majors to the way a lot of athletes wind up getting their college degree after they leave school for a pro career. And then years later I said, 'I want to go back and finish college.

If there was a page paper assigned, I wrote Because I wanted to do it. And I think when he started as a young man, maybe he wasn't percent sure baseball is what he wanted to do. Now, he's experienced different facets of life and says, 'This is what I want to do.

And because he's experienced the other side of life, he appreciates this opportunity so much more to be able to go out and play the game. Wilhelmsen says his odd path to the majors has affected him in ways he probably doesn't realize yet. It helps me understand there are other things in this world than baseball," he says.

You live it, breathe it, you eat it. There are other things, but that's your focus if you want to get to the highest level. But there's a bigger picture. I'm very glad I was able to live a normal life away from baseball and then come back to it. If I had made it when I was playing ball, I definitely wouldn't be the same guy. But in many ways, Wilhelmsen still is the same bright, optimistic, genuine personality whom people say he always has been.

Last season, in early April, Wilhelmsen was warming up by swinging his arms back and forth while rotating his torso.

While he was doing this, fellow Mariners reliever Danny Farquhar ran through hit the back his arm, causing it to hyper extend. Wilhelmsen was placed on the day disable list. In , Wilhelmsen threw the final inning of a six-pitcher no-hitter for the Mariners. Kevin Millwood started the outing, going six innings before leaving the game with a groin injury. Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge and Brandon League all threw less than inning before Wilhelmsen came in for the ninth inning and finished the feat in a game.

After it was over Mariners catcher Jesus Montero told reporters that Wilhelmsen didn't realize what he'd done. And then it's like, 'Holy cow, we just did it. SportsDay Staff. Get the latest news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox.

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They faced plague. Then floods. Now, for this DeSoto church, a sweet day of thanksgiving. After his first year in the lower minor leagues, he tested positive twice for marijuana and was suspended for the entire season. He spent some time in a treatment facility, but when he returned for spring training in , Wilhelmsen decided baseball was no longer for him. So he quit. Those were my interests at the time. I was just fulfilling my own dreams. Luckily, they took off after a little stare down.

Luckily, too, Wilhelmsen reconnected with his high school girlfriend, Cassie, who helped him quit smoking cigarettes and pot. He started training again in and after marrying Cassie, he tried out and signed with an independent league team.

You enjoy that and you enjoy those moments with them.