VALPARAISO, Ind. – Crusaders senior second baseman Tanner Vavra has spent his entire life in baseball.
“My parents told me the first place I went after I was released from the hospital [on his birth date], I watched my dad where he was managing in Great Falls, Mont.,” Vavra said with a laugh.
The junior college transfer had just gone 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a sac fly in a tune-up game against NAIA Roosevelt on Wednesday afternoon as the Crusaders prepared for a trip to Tempe, Ariz., for a weekend series against No. 24 Arizona State. Valparaiso beat the Lakers 15-3 and Vavra had been substituted for after the sixth inning.
It was business as usual for Vavra, who is batting .328 in a team-high 35 games. And it only seems natural for someone who literally grew up in the game – his father, Joe, has coached throughout organized baseball and is currently the third base coach for the Minnesota Twins.
“When [baseball] is somebody’s profession, every day is a take-your-kid-to-work day,” Vavra said. “Even if we didn’t get to go in early with him because of his managerial duties, we went and watched him coach and we watched nine innings every night. That’s been life from Day 1, and it just kind of grew from there.”
The family moved around a lot before Joe Vavra settled in with the Twins. Tanner was born in Montana; his younger brother, Treysen, was born in Arizona when Joe worked in the Instructional League. Only the youngest son, Terrin, was born in the family’s home state of Wisconsin.
“Give my mom (Lesa) a lot of credit because she put up with 24/7 baseball,” Vavra said. “It was just a way of life and I’m very thankful for it.”
For the Vavra family, baseball continues to be a way of life: along with Joe coaching in the big leagues and Tanner starring for the Crusaders, Treysen plays at Eastern Illinois.
Tanner Vavra’s journey to baseball stardom was nearly derailed, though, as he suffered a pair of injuries in freak accidents nearly a decade apart from each other. He is now completely blind in his right eye.
In a sport that depends so much on depth perception – with a hard, tiny object travelling toward players at high speed – how does Vavra excel?
“I go back to my parents again,” Vavra said. “They never allowed me to use the eye as an excuse. They told me, ‘Until you tell yourself you can’t play, just play.’”
The hardest summers, Vavra said, were when he had to have surgery on the eye and was unable to play.
“I couldn’t move around because the eye was healing, but everything else felt fine,” Vavra said. “That was the only time my parents didn’t let me play, because I needed to let the eye rest.”
The rest of the time, Joe and Lesa encouraged their oldest son to give baseball – and other sports – everything he had. Vavra also lettered in football and hockey in high school and he debated which sport to pursue in college.
“I had a tough time deciding between hockey and baseball, and initially I kind of leaned towards hockey,” Vavra said. “But I came back towards baseball because this is a dream I’ve had forever and hockey was just something I did because it was fun. I always enjoyed [hockey] but when it comes down to it my first love was always baseball. I just went with my gut on that.”
That gut instinct has paid off for Vavra, who spent two years at a community college in Madison, Wis., before transferring to Valparaiso. It has also paid off for the Crusaders, who won their first Horizon League baseball championship last year and played in the NCAA Tournament.
Vavra said he chose Valpo because he liked the academic program and because head coach Tracy Woodson offered him a starting position right away.
“Coming in as a junior, it was one of those things were if they didn’t believe in me right away then it wasn’t really worth it” Vavra said. “I look at those schools now, and our program here has been more successful in the past year. I think I’ve played a decent part in that and I’ve really meshed with my teammates well.”
In addition to the support his family has given him throughout the years, Vavra is thankful for the opportunity all of his coaches have given him, in high school, in Madison and at Valparaiso. He noted that it has been obvious that, by giving him the chance to play, they’ve been able to overlook the fact that he has only one functioning eye.
“But you’ll always have your naysayers,” Vavra said. “And I wouldn’t really have it any other way because they really put a chip on my shoulder and I think that’s why I’ve been so successful, because I just get tired of people telling me I can’t. I’m just trying to prove that I can.”
In addition to having doubters serve as an inspiration for him, Vavra hopes he can serve as an inspiration for others who have gone through similar ordeals – especially children. He relayed a story of a young boy from Virginia who is also blind in one eye and whose family surprised him with a trip to Tampa this year to watch Vavra and the Crusaders in a series against South Florida.
“We got him on the field and he got to hang out with me for a few days,” Vavra said, and it’s obvious that the encounter meant as much to him as it did to the little boy.
Vavra said he’s gotten several phone calls and emails – including a call the night before the Roosevelt game – from families and children both look for encouragement and looking to provide encouragement. Being in athletics, he said, has allowed him to grow into a person who can shoulder those phone calls and emails.
“I feel that being an athlete, you’re better off,” Vavra said. “At some point, you’re going to have to work with people; you’re going to have to have that team chemistry. I think it’s helped me as a person, to develop into a more sociable person.”
Now, with his senior season entering its second half, Vavra is looking toward his own future. A sports marketing major, he wants to pursue a master’s degree.
“I’m looking towards graduate school, maybe be a graduate assistant at some program somewhere,” Vavra said. “Or, maybe go into coaching right away and take a few years off until I get that second degree.
However, Vavra still has dreams of following his father’s footsteps into the playing ranks of professional baseball. Joe suffered a pair of devastating injuries during his playing career that kept him from playing above Triple-A and eventually ended his career. Tanner Vavra is hoping some professional organization will overlook his own injuries and give him the chance to fulfill his dream.
“Obviously, I’d really like to play baseball still, and I think that’s a good possibility at some level, whether it’s in independent ball or with some minor league affiliate,” Vavra said. “I’ve still got most of my eggs in that basket and I’m still keeping a positive attitude towards that.”
