As far as big league debuts go, Grzanich’s wasn’t bad. The walks led to two runs and helped Pittsburgh blow the game open, but he did follow those up by getting two flyouts before allowing an RBI single, and got out of the jam relatively unscathed.

The aftermath, however, couldn’t have been much worse.

Worried about the 10 straight balls that started his career, the Houston coaching staff tried to get Grzanich to tinker with his mechanics. It was a disaster.

“After that, they were concerned with my control. They broke everything down,” Grzanich said. “They tried to correct a lot of stuff and I was like, guys, I’m a small boy from a small town. What do you expect?'”

When Magnante returned from the disabled list, Grzanich was sent back to New Orleans. He developed some more control problems later in the year, and was waived after the season.

He signed with the Detroit Tigers, but the control problems continued. He was designated for assignment in the last week of spring training, and visited three different doctors before finding out the real cause of his problems an elbow injury.

He had Tommy John surgery in 1999, and was out of big-time baseball for the forseeable future. He bounced around several independent leagues, eventually landing with the Yuma Bullfrogs of the Western Baseball League in 2001.

Although he had been out of baseball for a while, it was still too soon to come back. During a game in June 2001, disaster struck again.

“I went in a game and threw a slider and Pow! That’s the first time I knew I hurt my arm. It swelled up like a grapefruit here,” Grzanich said, pointing to a spot on his elbow. “I thought I was ready, and just tore it up again. I was like, can’t I just have one little bit of luck?'”

He was released by Yuma two weeks later, and made his way from Arizona back to Mississippi, and started on his path from playing to coaching.

Friends meet again

As he spent the long months rehabbing his elbow, Grzanich returned to Jackson and met up with Griffin again. Grzanich’s wife and Griffin’s fiancee are close friends, and after they introduced the two former baseball players, Grzanich and Griffin hit it off immediately.

“We know what we’ve both been through. It’s like you’re coming from the same place,” Grzanich said.

They often talked baseball and basketball when Griffin was an assistant basketball coach at Belhaven. When Griffin took the head coaching job at PCA, his first thought for an assistant was Grzanich.

“I guess it’s strange. It’s a small world and you never know who you’re going to meet. He’s one of my closest friends, and we complement each other coaching. I’m intense and he’s laid back,” Griffin said.

Ironically, Grzanich said he never dreamed of coaching basketball. He played in high school, but describes himself as an average player.

“It never crossed my mind, ever,” Grzanich said with a laugh. “I love the game of basketball. Baseball, to sit and watch, it’s pretty boring.”

Over the past two years, Grzanich has caught the coaching bug. He still throws when he gets the chance and wants to make one last stab at a baseball comeback, but knows the clock and his body may be against him.

“That flame is still burning, but the moons aren’t aligned right yet for me to pursue that at this point,” Grzanich said. “I’m skipping a tryout on Jan. 15 because I’m just not ready.”

So, for now, he’s left with his memories of those two weeks and one glorious day in the Astrodome. His future likely lies in coaching, and he’s fine with that, he says.

“It’s not my time yet. If it is, I’ll know. If not, I’ll teach what I know,” Grzanich said.

After basketball season, he has a part-time assistant baseball coaching job lined up with Mississippi College. If he isn’t playing baseball somewhere by the fall, he said he’d like to return to PCA for another season.

Whatever happens down the road, he said he’s thankful for the experience baseball has already given him.

“I know I’d take a different approach at it,” Grzanich said of another shot at the majors. “I’d be thankful I got the opportunity to get there again, but I would work that much harder to make sure it never slipped away again.”

Grzanich’s Career statistics

Team Games W L ERA IP H ER BB K

1998 Houston Astros 1 0 0 18.00 1 1 2 2 1