PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Kevin McGovern's baseball pitching dreams were delayed for nearly a decade.
Finally, he is taking advantage of his long-awaited chance to pitch for a Major League Baseball organization.
McGovern, a graduate of Archbishop Ryan High School, played college baseball at NCAA Division II Thomas Jefferson University.
Starting in 2012, the 32-year-old left-handed pitcher bounced around independent leagues in the U.S. and beyond.
Finally, earlier in June, the St. Louis Cardinals organization signed him. He is currently pitching for the Double-A Springfield (Missouri) Cardinals.
McGovern started this season pitching for the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks of the independent American Association.
He was dominating to the point where it was finally time for him to get his shot in affiliated baseball.
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McGovern remembers when he found out from his manager - amazingly a former Phillie who travelled a very similar road in Chris Coste - that he was getting signed.
“I didn’t know that I was going to get signed that day, but the entire team for the Fargo Redhawks and my manager, Coste, called us all to the leftfield line," said McGovern.
"We had lost two or three games in a row, so I thought it was going to be a little pep talk. He says, ‘I don’t really get to this too often, so it is going to be pretty special.’ And then he comes over and gives me a hug and everybody starts cheering.
"I go, ‘What is going on? We lost a few games. Why are we happy?’ After that embrace, he says, ‘St. Louis Cardinals, start packing your bags.’”
McGovern also felt powerful emotions during the immediate aftermath.
“Once that sunk in and I then got to make that call to my dad to let him know the news, it was really hard not to get choked up," McGovern admitted.
"Then I told my brother, and then he posted that thing all through social media, and he called every single person he ever knew. Then my phone starts blowing up in waves, so that was pretty fun and an amazing experience.”
Entering Friday, McGovern made two appearances so far, a scoreless relief appearance and then a start where he allowed just a single run in five innings of work. He has compiled a 1.42 ERA in 6.2 innings.
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