Cashing In On Sports
Diamond In The Rough
By Guy Junker

Like many of us in the Pittsburgh area, Ryan Ellis found himself pumping water out of his place of business in September. The remnants of Hurricane Ivan made life miserable for thousands of Pennsylvania residents. But like he's done with everything else that's gotten in the way of his career, Ellis rolled up his sleeves and went to work. With a lot of help from his partner, Mike Kosko.

Ellis and Kosko operate the Diamond Academy of Baseball and Softball in West Mifflin. Ivan nearly gave them a permanent rain out.

Ellis met Kosko when both were working at the baseball training facility, previously known as 'Batting Practice.' He invested about $17,000 to become a partner and to continue chasing a dream that has had him trying to make a living from baseball ever since he was drafted by the Montreal Expos.

The former Steel Valley and Point Park star played class A ball in Vermont and Florida for a few years, but like many other low minor leaguers, he was suddenly released. The Washington Wild Things threw his career a life preserver when they were established three years ago. As a second baseman, Ellis led the Frontier League in fielding percentage in 2002. After a year and a half, though, back troubles put an end to his playing days.

So he started to coach. He is the Wild Things hitting instructor, and is currently in the process of negotiating a new deal with them.

But, as you can imagine, salaries at that level are meager. And in the winter they don't exist at all. Enter career choice number two. If there is one thing Ellis loves almost as much as baseball, it's teaching. So he uses his degree, working as a substitute teacher during the winter at Steel Valley High School.

At the Diamond Academy of Baseball and Softball, Ellis gets to combine both of his passions. He teaches baseball and softball mostly to younger kids.

'We have camps and clinics for various teams and age groups but mostly it's individual instruction with younger kids between 7 and 12.'

The facility houses three indoor batting cages, two pitching machines, and enough space to have full infield practice even in the dead of winter. In fact, that is when they do nearly all of their business. They even have leagues in the winter where kids play games hitting against the machines, getting rewarded for singles, doubles, triples and homers based on where they hit the ball.

Kosko has a lifetime love of baseball as well. He is a former baseball coach at Penn State-McKeesport, and he's had two NABF National Championship teams made up of players 18 and under. While neither expects to become a millionaire, they would someday like to expand to a larger facility. For now, overhead is fairly low rent and utilities and that's about it. Kosko's wife does most of the bookkeeping and paperwork, and they get help from some parents who work as volunteers. Both are happy with the way things have gone. They were hoping to break even the first year, but actually have made some money. In the second year they hope to double what they paid to get into the business in the first place. Still, it's mostly a labor of love.

'I love teaching and I definitely love kids. I really would like doing it all year long,' says Ellis. So he teaches baseball to grown men who still hope to make the major leagues in the summer. And the rest of the year he teaches baseball to young kids who still haven't tried out for their high school teams.

What he would eventually like to do is land a job as a coach with an affiliated minor league team. He's only 26 and building some great credentials, having played and coached with former major league stars like Kent Tekulve and Joe Charboneau in the Wild Things' organization. For now, he takes it month-to-month. And at least this month has been drier than September. The rains actually did little damage to the Academy.

'It ruined the carpeting and some TV's, VCR's and instructional videos, but that's about it,' he says. It's just another temporary setback in the baseball career of Ryan Ellis, who has survived the transition from player to entrepreneur. He may not know it yet, but he may be at the beginning of his baseball career, not the end.

Guy Junker can be heard on ESPN Radio weekdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.