The man who helped Dave Parker find his way to the big leagues is here at Edgewood Middle School, signing autographs, selling books and stumping the cause of reading and writing.

His New York Yankees cap is perched on his head, and he scribbles his name on scrap pieces of paper, dollar bills and books. Two girls walk up and ask him to sign their hands. He signs hands.

For 21 years, Ken Beardslee was a scouting supervisor for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He discovered Parker, a slugger who played 19 years in the majors and hit .290 with 339 home runs and 1,493 RBIs.

Beardslee retired in 1977. He and his wife, Marilene, now live in between Leesburg and Milford in an 1875 home that has been completely restored.

When Beardslee retired in 1977, he retired from baseball. He did not retire from an active life. Now he pursues his career after baseball, and its path often leads him to places like Edgewood Middle School.

"I've been enjoying a second career in writing," he says. "I've always been interested in writing. I have five books out, also a poetry book. I have a book named "Partners" that's being reprinted now. It's a baseball fiction story.

"I do a lot of public speaking to sports groups, and I do a lot of public speaking on writing and reading in schools. I do some baseball work, but not very much."

He completed the baseball work in his first career. He grew up in the small town of Vermontville, Mich., where he set several state high school baseball records as a pitcher. He was 24-1 in high school. He threw eight no-hitters and two perfect games. He struck out 25 in nine innings and 26 in another 10-inning game. No one has broken either of those strikeout records.

His live arm lit up the scouts' eyes. He signed with the New York Yankees organization. His stock rose. He compiled a 64-24 record in the minor leagues. But he never made it to the big leagues. A back injury ended his pitching career.

A high school phenom. A minor league pitcher with a .727 winning percentage. A scouting supervisor for a big league club for more than two decades.

This is the man to ask. The labor strife, the three-hour games, the pitching that's gone to pot, Albert Belle making $10 million a year...this is the man who would know how to fix these things in today's game.

"Get a real strong commissioner, someone who can deal with the players and the owners and be fair," he says. "We don't need somebody who's an owner (Bud Selig, Milwaukee Brewers) as a commissioner, like we have now."

Then there is the game on the field, the one played between the white lines. Oakland's Mark McGwire hit 52 home runs in 423 at bats last season. McGwire has the body of a tree trunk, but a home run every eight bats?

New York pitcher Andy Pettitte finished with an ERA of 3.87, and that borders on outstanding today. Five to 10 years ago, that didn't put him in the top 15 in the league.

Hitters rule, pitchers suffer. Baseball fans often blame expansion teams for thinning out the pitching.

Beardslee blames a shrinking strike zone. Letter-high pitches used to be called strikes. Not anymore.

"The main thing I think is wrong with baseball today is the strike zone," he says. "A lot of people think that's a small matter. But that changes the entire game. Games are too long, too dull. If we get the strike zone back to

where it should be, games will move faster. We'll see better pitching, better hitting.

"It will improve the game and put it back to where it should be."

Baltimore Oriole pitcher Mike Mussina, who has won nearly 70 percent of the games he's pitched in, held up a paperback book when a reporter once asked him the size of today's strike zone.

Why did the strike zone change, Beardslee is asked.

"It happened because a bunch of people got together - probably the commissioner and the umpires - and decided pitchers had an advantage," he says. "They wanted more runs, so they changed the strike zone.

"It's caused all kinds of problems. Pitchers are just getting killed right now in the big leagues. Everybody needs pitching. Most pitchers cannot throw the ball in that strike zone.

"I blame that on everything. There's nothing more boring for a baseball fan than base on balls. Nothing's happening. It drags and drags. We need more action.

"A larger strike zone will do that."

Beardslee can always take with him his fond memories, the marks he left in the game.

"Some of the nice things about signing these ballplayers is what they go on to do afterward," he says. "For instance, I signed Terry Collins, who is now the manager of the Anaheim Angels. I signed him as a player, and he's gone on to do tremendous things.

"I signed Doug Melvin, who's now the general manager of the Texas Rangers. He's filling one of the best positions in baseball right now.

"When you sign a ballplayer - like Eddie Whitson, Parker and Doug Bair - and he gets to the big leagues, there's a lot of satisfaction."

And that's why Bearslee, an author in his second career, does what he does now. That's why he travels around speaking at schools, urging kids to take an interest in reading and writing. That's why he writes books like "Home Is Where You Hang Your Spikes," or "Little Field On The Corner," or "Partners."

"Whether you write for a sports magazine, short stories, poetries, novels or whatever," he says, "there's a lot of satisfaction." [[In-content Ad]]