MANDAN, N.D. (AP) – Robert Schulte was one of the best hitters on the South Dakota State College baseball team in 1959, and his skills at the plate and behind it as catcher didn't go unnoticed.
His hitting percentage in the North Central Conference was .659 that season, his junior year, and he followed it up by hitting better than .500 for the Jackrabbits the next year. The Chicago White Sox offered him a contract after his senior year, but a military commitment dashed his dream of playing in the big leagues.
Sixty years later, the White Sox invited the Mandan man back. And again, circumstances outside his control – this time in the form of a global pandemic – kept him from donning White Sox catcher’s gear, The Bismarck Tribune reported.
First chance
The White Sox asked him to a tryout after his junior year at State, today known as South Dakota State University. The test pitted him against former major league pitcher and future Hall of Famer Dizzy Trout. He handled Trout, notching several hits, including a couple of home runs, and was headed back to the dugout when Trout called him back. The White Sox brought in another pitcher – a young powerhouse – and told him to throw Schulte nothing but fastballs.
“And he was bringin’ ‘er,” said Schulte, now 83.
He pounded out hits against the young pitcher, just as he'd done with the veteran. That was enough for the White Sox. They wanted Schulte, but the major league club couldn’t sign him because he had a year of college to go. The scout left him with “see ya’ next year,” and kept his word. The club offered him a contract with a nice signing bonus, and Schulte thought his childhood dream had come true.
“For a young man, it don’t get any better than that,” he said.
All that stood in his way was his commitment to the military. He’d completed four years in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and was set to enter the Army as a second lieutenant. The Army wouldn’t let him out, even though he offered to repay the cost of flight training and fulfill his obligation in other ways. He met with his commanding officer and told him he was considering resigning his commission. The officer sat him down and said “you don’t want to do that.”
Those were words Schulte didn’t want to hear, but the argument behind them was pretty strong. Resign his commission and go play baseball, the officer said, and he’d likely get drafted. As a private. That would have made life tough enough, even more so when he added his wife and two children into the calculation.
So ended a professional baseball career and started a military career, one that would last 39 years and end with Schulte as a major general in the North Dakota Army National Guard. During his active military career he shook hands with the queen of England and played baseball for the 3rd Armored Division at the request of Gen. Creighton Abrams. At one point he was deputy commanding general of the 6th Army.
Through the years, Schulte stayed competitive playing on championship softball and amateur baseball teams. Still, that missed White Sox opportunity gnawed at him. He’d grown up poor, he said, and thought he’d end up working at a packing plant in his hometown of Sioux Falls. Through some hard work and a little luck he got to play football and baseball in college. Letting go of the offer from the White Sox came with “a few tears,” he said.
Second chance
His second chance – or what would have been his second chance – came last December, when he got a letter from White Sox Vice President of Community Relations Christine O’Reilly-Riordan. She offered him the chance to suit up at a spring training game. The club wanted to recognize his military service and his connection to the White Sox, having received a "scouting report" from his son, Bob, who relayed the story of his father's college career and decision to serve in the military. Bob Schulte told them his father had completed his military obligation and had two new knees.
“You might want to give this kid another chance,” he wrote.
O’Reilly-Riordan in her letter told the elder Schulte to “get your arm ready” and that more details would follow. Schulte and his family started making plans to be at a March 19 spring training game against the Cleveland Indians. But as the day approached and the number of people planning to attend grew – family, former softball and amateur baseball team members – Schulte had to face another reality. The new coronavirus was spreading, and more than 30 people were planning to be at the game with him. He couldn’t stand the thought of others getting sick because they traveled to an event organized in his honor.
“He kept saying he was worried,” said his wife, Euella Schulte.
The family leaned toward calling it off a few days before the game. Then Major League Baseball made the decision for them when it shut down spring training. The disappointment reminded Euella of 60 years ago, which she called “a fun time and yet kind of sad” because Robert couldn’t fulfill his baseball dream.
Third chance?
This second chance isn’t gone yet, though its future is uncertain. The White Sox club – which Bob Schulte said has been “a classy organization” during this time – said there might be another opportunity for his dad to go to Chicago.
“It could still come about this summer,” Robert Schulte said. “I don’t want to drop it.”
He’ll cling to that, for the time being anyway, and eye the trip as the one where he finally puts on White Sox gear. He hopes to catch a few from a major league pitcher, watch, observe, and maybe hit a little bit.
“Give me a feel of what it would have been like,” he said.
