Major League Life

SUN CITY – In Major League Baseball lore, legendary slugger Ted Williams was famous for not giving visitors to the Boston Red Sox clubhouse the time of day, even after he retired as a player. He rarely had much patience with autograph seekers, reporters, and photographers.

Bob Campbell found a way, however, to surmount the superstar’s private wall. And he has a photo or two to prove it.

Campbell was a baseball fan with chutzpah who never met a ballplayer he didn’t want to meet. He decided he needed a prop in order to capture Williams’ attention one day in 1985. He also knew he needed to be prepared to talk about hitting, Williams’ favorite subject outside of fishing. A corporate representative for the deBeer Company, one of the nation’s foremost manufacturers of sports equipment, Campbell entered the Red Sox locker room during spring training day in Florida.

He held his own invention, a strange looking, foot-long “power bat” that he developed as an exercise tool for hitters.

“Williams stared at the weird bat as I approached, not at me,” Campbell recalled. “He was fascinated by it. He asked me about hitting, and we talked together, along with Red Sox manager Sam Mele, for 1 1/2 hours. When I was leaving, one of the Red Sox reps asked me, ‘No one gets to talk to Williams that long, how did you do it?’”

Such has been the life of Bob Campbell, a seriously fascinating sports guy/promoter/minister. This new Sun Citian (he moved into N-9 last fall), has a ton of chutzpah to help him teach hitting, sell sports equipment, and just spend his time “hangin’” with players, coaches, managers, and baseball/softball executives.

If you love to “talk ball,” Campbell is your guy. He’s got more stories than Yogi Berra, and they’re more logical. Don’t get into a sports trivia contest with him, however; he’ll probably beat you. He developed one of the first aluminum bats for softball and invented the power bat that has become a standard tool in teaching the challenging art of hitting a softball and baseball. At age 73, he has retired from the sports marketing business, but still conducts hitting clinics literally all over the world, mostly in softball. When he isn’t discussing swings and tees, he is sharing his Christian faith, all under the umbrella of Bob Campbell Enterprises.

A native of the Austin neighborhood on the border of Chicago and Oak Park, Campbell’s background and early life are a testament to overcoming obstacles, adapting to your strengths, and practicing and preaching a faith in God to guide him along the way. He was introduced to sports, and God, very early. He grew up playing softball, baseball, and basketball on school and park district teams in his neighborhood and on church teams. But it was not always easy. A learning disability resulted in his dropping out of high school before graduation, and he then served a short stint in the U.S. Marine Corps. “After I left school, I had a tough time finding work, but God gave me some other smarts,” he said.

As a young man, he recognized both his limitations and his talents in sales, advertising, and promotion. He started his own advertising business in Chicago while continuing to play the Chicago-style, 16-inch softball on the many city parks in the 1950s. “One of my good friends had a brother who said I should join the Windy City league playing at Clarendon Park on Montrose Avenue at that time,” Campbell recalled recently. “So not too long after high school and the Marines, I broke into the League.

“I was always a good hitter, and I learned how to teach hitting from the best hitters in the League, which is a part of the Chicago fabric and history,” he said.

Later a resident of Buffalo Grove, he played with the Bobcats, the legendary 16-inch Chicago team that won many state and national 16-inch championships. His biggest claim to fame, however, came when he formed the Buffalo Grove Bruins in 1969. From that year through 1986, the Bruins became one of the most successful 16-inch and 12-inch softball teams in Chicago history, compiling a 685-93 record and winning many state and two national championships. He also founded and was the player-coach for the Junior Bruins of high school and college-age young men, who fashioned a 101-21 record, won 4 tournament titles, 5 ASA Illinois state crowns, and 2 ASA national championships. He was a three-time All-American during his playing days with the two Bruin teams.

“I’ve been so blessed to be able to find a way to make something I love into a career,” Campbell said. “I’ve also been blessed in that I’ve found a way to make sports into a platform for my faith.”

On another national stage, Campbell has worked with such Major League Baseball hitting stars as Jim LeFevre of the Dodgers, Eric Soderholm of the White Sox, and Charlie Lau. “These guys are three of the best hitting instructors I have known, Campbell said. They also played a big role in preparing me to be a hitting instructor in so many places around the world.” Campbell has conducted hitting clinics throughout the continental U.S., made 16 trips to Hawaii to put on clinics, and even has combined international mission trips around the world, with teaching kids how to play the game of softball.

In 1975, two things happened that turned his life around, he related.

“That year, I re-dedicated myself to Christ, and God brought me a terrific career boost. I earlier had co-founded the Windy City League magazine, which brought me into contact with many sports equipment companies at trade shows in Chicago. One of them was Fred (Fritz) deBeer, president of the deBeer Company. We had talked a little sports marketing at shows in Chicago. He called me during that year and said he wanted to meet with me to talk about a project. We met and he offered me a job with his firm.”

Campbell spent the next 27 years as national director of promotions and sales for the deBeer Baseball and Softball Co., a leading manufacturer and distributor of athletic equipment. When he started with them, they weren’t into bats, preferring to leave that to Louisville Slugger. Campbell designed the firm’s first aluminum bat for softball, persuaded his company to manufacture and sell it, and aluminum bats are now staples of the sport at all levels. Campbell also served on Nike’s advisory staff for softball for 16 years. He also served on the International Sports Coalition Board, and the Trinity University Sports Advisory Board.

Today, Campbell’s Sun City home is literally a small sports museum. His basement and office are loaded with All-American and state/national championship trophies from the Bruins teams. Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter sent letters and telegrams of congratulation to two of Campbell’s Bruin teams.
Bob Campbell overcame and adapted and marched on to success, with the help of a lot of faith…and chutzpah.

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