Bode Miller dazzles on defense in minor-league baseball game

Bode Miller dazzles on defense in minor-league baseball gameNASHUA, N.H. — “Bode Ballgame” struck out twice at the plate but hit a home run on defense … and at the box office … and for Lance Armstrong’s cancer research foundation.

Bode Miller, the reigning world downhill and super G champion — who conceded he hadn’t played baseball for 15 years of more — started in left field Saturday night for the Nashua Pride of the independent CanAm League. Miller, who parked a couple of pregame batting practice pitches over the fence, struck out in two plate appearances before leaving after three innings.

But Miller energized the sellout crowd and his teammates with a tumbling, over-the head, leaping catch in the second inning at the warning track, stifling what appeared to be an extra-bases hit by one of the Brockton Rox from south of Boston. His teammates congratulated him profusely and went on to snap a six-game tailspin, winning 12-2 on an ideal summer night.

Miller had signed a one-game contract with the Pride, a promotional gimmick worth $5,000 to his Turtle Ridge Foundation, which then turns into a $5,000 grant to Armsrong’s Livestrong foundation. He posed for photos and signed countless autographs, hats, shirts and assorted items before and after the game.

It’s the latest elite-level sport for Miller, a star soccer and tennis player for Maine’s Carrabasset Valley Academy, who has gone on to play tennis against Steffi Graf before the U.S. Open and Johan Kriek at New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Hotel, a central part of Bretton Woods Resort, where Miller is the director of skiing. The 2002 winner of the made-for-TV SuperStars involving other professional athletes in a multi-event competition, he also has played in several celebrity pro-am golf tournaments in the last few summers.

But, he told reporters, he hadn’t played baseball since he was a catcher and third baseman for a Babe Ruth league. He had some long shots in batting practice, but said he didn’t have enough experience to expect any such success during the game. Still, he wasn’t concerned about looking foolish, he said, noting, “I do embarrassing stuff skiing all the time.”

He called his catch “sweet” and added, “Those are the things you hope for. I struck out twice — that I was expecting…

“It’s fun to watch — it’s even more fun to play. I’d do it again,” he said. And with their attendance doubled from the normal 1,500 at Historic Holman Field to nearly 3,000, the Pride may be in the market for a repeat performance by the semi-hometown star.

– Paul Robbins