'Respect The Game': Bethel Coach On A Life In Baseball
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Another former Twins infielder is coaching a local college team.
Brian Raabe played in the Majors for the Twins and the Seattle Mariners. He also spent some time in Japan and built up a Forest Lake high school's program.
Then he got an offer at Bethel University, and he took the team to the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. So far, it's been a perfect fit.
Rabbe has never left baseball; he just changes venues. He brings with him a big league background, but certainly not a big league bravado.
"I hope [my background] gives me some credibility," he said. "I've been where they've been at. I've had the 0-4 games, I've had the 0-10 slumps, I've struck out big situations, I've made errors in big situations."
Rabbe says that although he's been successful in baseball, he understands the feelings that failure and struggle can bring.
He left a day job in the banking field to take care of Bethel's field. It's a full time job coaching and tending to his field of dreams. But he loves the atmosphere.
"You drive here – we're right in the middle of the metro – but you come here and you think you're in the middle of nowhere," he said.
He is in love with the process of teaching and developing through an old school approach. Having played for some of the best at every level, he's learned from some of the best.
"Respect the game," he said. "That's how I teach it and coach it, you have to respect the game."
And with that mindset, he takes baseball and makes it the ultimate teaching tool. The game becomes a simple metaphor at his fingertips.
"We have things that go very well in life for us and things that don't go well," he said. "Well, guess what: That's baseball."
He said baseball is a way he can coach young people on both sports and life.
