Softball: A whisker short of a major league dream

Travis Wilson is back on the diamond at the national club tournament after being forced to call time on his professional baseball career because of visa difficulties.

The 27-year-old former Black Sox softball star has reluctantly accepted his eight-year dream of a Major League Baseball career in the United States is probably over. He has not ruled out a more regular return to softball's ranks.

"Things are looking pretty unlikely for me to get back and play baseball this year," he said yesterday from Albany, where he is playing for Auckland club Ramblers at the national inter-club tournament.

The Cantabrian, who had seven years with the Atlanta Braves organisation and a season with a Cincinnati Reds farm club, said he had had a recent offer from an independent league baseball team for 2005.

But it was proving increasingly difficult for foreign players to get international visas to play in the United States.

Wilson said he had needed to apply for a visa by mid-December so all the paperwork could be dealt with in time for the baseball season.

"If I had had an American visa I would be confident I could have got another job with a club."

Wilson said the visa problem was the main, but not the sole, reason for the stalling of his baseball career.

He went to baseball aged 19 after helping the Black Sox win the 1996 world softball series in Midland, Michigan.

He was tantalisingly close to becoming the first New Zealander to play in the major leagues in 2001 but was the last player cut from Atlanta's 25-man roster, after hitting 0.415 in spring training.

It was an outstanding effort for a man who had never played baseball before he was signed by the Braves - major league baseball's glamour club in the 1990s.

"When I look back I can say I gave it a good shot, and I should be happy," he said, while admitting it was frustrating to get so close to the top league.

Wilson would have achieved his dream "if I just could have got to the major leagues for even one day and played just one game".

He was the rising star of world softball before switching codes and has been welcomed back into the New Zealand fast-pitch fold.

He guest-starred for the All Stars international invitation team at the Evodrive tournament in Rotorua this month and has since played in the Vic Guth Memorial and Dean Schick Invitation tournaments for a Ramblers side, coached by his friend Ricky Earley.

Ramblers received a special dispensation to allow Wilson to play for them at the inter-club nationals.

Tournament participants are required to have played for their clubs before Christmas but Wilson is held in such high regard Softball New Zealand was happy to grant a dispensation.

Wilson, a staunch Cantabrian, said he enjoyed playing at Ramblers.

As for future plans, one option may be to play softball in the United States, or he might return home to Christchurch "and find a winter sport to play".

He will be re-evaluating whether playing for the Black Sox was an important goal.

Wilson has found returning to softball an easier transition than taking up baseball.

- NZPA