Tom Anderson had no expectations.
Family members had been encouraging him, and the 2012 Hobart graduate took the plunge Wednesday, participating in the RailCats’ annual tryout at the Steel Yard.
“It was nice,” Anderson said. “I’ve never done anything like this. It was fun. It felt good for how long it’s actually been.”
Anderson was a catcher for the Brickies in 2011 and ’12. An EMT, he’s in his first season as an assistant coach at Hobart, having started in November.
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“It’s a little bit different being back on this side,” he said.
Anderson was among 16 position players and seven pitchers who tried out. Though the RailCats didn’t initially invite anyone back to spring training this weekend for further evaluation, Anderson believed he benefitted from the experience.
After the tryout, he was headed to the Hobart freshman team’s game at Crown Point. The Brickies’ roster includes his brother Tyler, a first baseman and part-time catcher.
“I learned some more stuff from some of the guys around here, guys on the team,” Anderson said. “I’m going to take that back with me.”
RailCats manager Greg Tagert theorized the brisk weather and the weather-precipitated rescheduling from Sunday suppressed the number of attendees. He joked about Wednesday at least not being as cold as his first tryout with the team in 2005, when it was 37 degrees and he lost feeling in his fingers.
“If you have to do it on a weekend to get people, it’s the wrong type of players — that means they have jobs,” Tagert said. “There were probably half a dozen guys that had to get to work.”
Still, there were a handful of players the RailCats could look at again during spring training as the team acquires additional information. If nothing else, they could be on the team’s radar if a need arises.
“With a small turnout, it’s tough to say how talented the group was,” Tagert said. “But like every year, there’s guys with good backgrounds.”
Ed Menaker, 70, had one of the more unusual backgrounds. In 1968, he went 1-3 with a 1.75 ERA in 24 games for Class A Aberdeen, the Baltimore Orioles’ affiliate in the Northern League. In 1986, he participated in a Cubs tryout camp in Winnetka.
He’s currently director of development at Chicago-based Terra Nova Films, having won a Peabody Award and television Emmys. His activities Wednesday, including striking out a batter during the simulated game, were recorded for possible use in a PSA on aging.
“I don’t want to give the wrong impression here that’s what’s it’s all about,” Tagert said. “Hopefully you’re finding Mike Coles. But the idea of an open tryout is exactly what it says — it’s an open tryout for anybody to come and pursue a goal, a dream, even a chance to be on the ballfield.
“It’s open to people, and it’s our job to hopefully find somebody here that can help us now or in the future.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff