UC - Springboro High Grad Makes Majors With Chicago Cubs

Tony Campana looks more like he should be riding a horse in the Preakness than playing the outfield at Great American Ball Park.  The 5'8" 165 pound ball of energy rolled into the Cubs dugout and was warmly greeted by teammates.

The odds were staggering.  At Springboro High the speedy Campana moved to left field because Zach Hurley was the center fielder.

"People told me that I was too small to play division one baseball," Campana said as he put on a major league uniform for the first time.  "After I got out of college, they told me I was too small to play in the major leagues.  This is a dream come true."

The uniform had number 41 on it.  It was the number worn by former Reds and Cubs manager, Lou Piniella.

As minor league managers tend to do, Bill Dancy called the lefthanded hitter into his Iowa Cubs office 13 days before Campana's 25th birthday, "We're sending you to Double A."

It was totally believable, since Campana wasn't on the Cubs 40-man roster and had never been invited to a major league camp since the Cubs took him in the 13th round in the 2008 draft.

Not only was he not going back to the Tennessee Smokies, where he played last year, hitting .319 with 48 stolen bases, he was joining the Cubs 35 miles from his home.

He and Scott Maine were on an airplane to the Greater Cincinnati Airport.  His mother and father, Mark and Faye, who are among the 50 ticket recipients for his possible debut, picked them up at the airport.

"I expected that if I played well at Iowa that I might be a September call up.  I never expected this," Campana said.

The texts and phone calls haven't stopped.  "It had gotten so far out of hand that I had to turn the phone off," Campana said.  "I had to cut the ticket requests off at 50.  I told some of my UC buddies that they could buy their own tickets."

At least six of those calls were from Dan Osterbrock, who played with Campana at UC and played against him in high school as a Colerain High pitcher.

Campana moved to Springboro in the seventh grade and although he was a Cleveland Indian fan, he visited Riverfront Stadium and Great American Ball Park.

"I had to sit in the nosebleed section," Campana said.

He has a better view now but thinks he can contribute.

"I'm going to come off the bench.  I think I can be a valuable guy.  I can hit some, run some and play defense."

General manager, Jim Hendry agrees which is why he sent the struggling Tyler Colvin and Marcus Mateo to recall Maine and select Campana's contract.

"Campana's played really well," Hendry said.  "He brings another dimension.  He's a very good defender. He can play all three outfield positions.  He swings from the left side and lay down a bunt.  He runs really well.  He is a high energy guy.  It bodes well for our system to not be in a big leaugue camp.  We're always looking for guys like that."