Mike Trout’s alma mater names baseball field after soaring second-year slugger
It's hard to know where Mike Trout can go from here. After all, you're supposed to have fields dedicated to you after your Hall of Fame career ends, not as it moves through its second stanza.
As reported by MLB.com, Millville (N.J.) Senior High renamed the school's baseball field Mike Trout Field in a dedication ceremony held atop the Empire State Building. Trout starred at the school from 2006-2009, leading Millville Senior to the state finals as a junior and belting a state record 18 home runs as a senior.
Still, it was Trout's efforts as a charitable pitchman that inspired the Thunderbolts to name the school's field after the 2013 American League Rookie of the Year. As noted by MLB.com's Paul Casella, Trout and one of his primary sponsors, BodyArmor, upgraded the school's batting cages and refurbished the school's field before the 2013 season. The entire field renovation process included both improving the school's infield grass, installing the new batting cages and sprucing up other parts of the facility.
While BodyArmor made a significant contribution to those efforts, Trout's financial donations were even more notable on a personal level: The Angels superstar donated his entire bonus from winning the Rookie of the Year award to improve the school's field.
"For me, being able to give back is something special and an honor," Trout said. "So to give the kids, the coaches and my high school every opportunity to succeed with a better field, better cage, it's very important to me. And then having them all here today for this just makes the whole thing even better."
In addition to Trout's parents, his high school coach Roy Hallenbeck, and members of both former and the current Millville squad traveled to the Empire State Building to celebrate with the slugger. That served as a fitting capper for an athlete who keeps shooting up into the MLB stratosphere, a fitting trajectory for a player nicknamed the Millville Meteor.
For Trout, even the ceremony was a chance to genuflect and share the spotlight with his former school, where his father, Jeff Trout, had been a coach before giving way to Hallenbeck.
"I just hope the whole process has been as great for the kids and my school as it has been for me."
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