FORT LORAMIE — Jared Hoying stayed connected to his hometown of Fort Loramie despite an active professional baseball career which has taken him across the U.S. and Canada, as well as overseas to South Korea.
Hoying has been actively giving back to the Fort Loramie community through various organizations such as booster clubs, gym committees, and volunteering for “Livery Days.” So it was a natural extension for him to want to work on the DugOut Club (a subsection of the Fort Loramie Athletic Booster Club). The DugOut Club would help create new softball diamonds and maintain the new Redskin Memorial Park, located near the high school, which may help to foster the next generation of Fort Loramie baseball players, who may consider Hoying their role model.
Hoying, now 32 and at the height of his baseball career, graduated from Fort Loramie High School in 2007, attended the University of Toledo, and was drafted into the MLB in 2010 by the Texas Rangers. Hoying was drafted by the Hanwha Eagles in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and lived and played professional baseball in South Korea from 2017 to 2020.
Hoying made time to be a guest speaker during all four years of the fundraiser’s history, donating jerseys, bats, autographed baseballs, collectables, and sports memorabilia from other players, and also signing collectable items at the events. Hoying was also a speaker each year. During this year’s talk, Hoying discussed the unusual past two years of his baseball career.
In 2020, COVID hit. Hoying explained the impact of COVID on Korean baseball was tremendous.
“We were not allowed to have any fans in the stand the entire time I was there,” he said.
After being released from the Hanwha Eagles, Hoying spent 2021 bouncing around among Canadian and U.S. teams. In mid-May 2021, he signed late with the Toronto Blue Jays, was in the AAA for a week, then was moved up to the Big Leagues for a few days and was moved back down again.
Korean baseball is a bit different than in the U.S., Hoying explained, “There’s a lot more hit and runs, bunting, and small ball. Teams don’t rely on the home run as much. Another big difference is their playoff. Whoever won the regular season gets an automatic ‘buy’ into the championship series.”
When the KT Wiz team offered him a spot, Hoying said he jumped at the chance to return to Korea, knowing his team would be a first seed in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) playoffs. Hoying went on to play with the team for four months and they won the 2021 Korean Series championship game, which was open to fans — roughly 20,000 of them. Currently a free agent, Hoying is awaiting the conclusion of the “lock down” to find out which team he will be playing with next.
No matter where his job takes him, though, Hoying considers Fort Loramie home. He has a house, and farmland, and plans to return when he is ready to retire.
“I was born and raised in Fort Loramie, and I can’t imagine myself living anywhere else. Multiple generations of families are friends, who are born here, and will be buried here,” Hoying said. “Some day when I’m done playing baseball, I’ve got some land in the country, and I’ll put a barn up, throw some turf down, add a batting cage … I’ll be in Fort Loramie full-time and living the dream by having fun and raising my kids.”
“I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to play baseball professionally for 12 years and make a career out of it,” Hoying said. “Hopefully I can open some eyes for kids who love baseball enough and want to keep playing.” He says he encourages kids to “dream big and shoot for the stars, and if you come up short, it’s probably still going to be pretty high.”
A park is a great place to hone your baseball skills, Hoying said.
“That’s the best part about baseball, you can turn yourself into a really good player. All you need is a wall and a baseball to work on your pitching, or, with a net and a tee, you can work on your hitting. There are so many ways to improve playing baseball outside of organized practice and games to make yourself truly a good player. The park is also a great place to play catch with your dad.”
Bill Hoying, who has also been active in the fundraiser for the last four years, said he played catch and practiced baseball with his son in Fort Loramie’s older park. Jared said it is important to continue this American tradition. He hopes one day to play baseball or softball in the new park with his three children, though it is a bit too soon — his eldest is currently just 5. But it is important to him help build up a community and its sports resources, for the future of his own kids and other children in the community.
The Hoyings basically started the park fundraising events through the Fort Loramie Athletic Boosters after Hoying was invited by fellow baseball player, Craig Stammen, a 37-year-old Versailles native who currently pitches for the San Diego Padres, to be a speaker at the Versailles Diamond Club fundraiser, so that when the Fort Loramie DugOut Club fundraiser eventually emerged, it was modeled after the one in Versailles.
Stammen, a pitcher from Versailles who plays for the San Diego Padres, in turn, also was a speaker, along with several other notable Fort Loramie alumni sports players and athletic individuals. This year it included Steve “Dutch” Van Horn, a Navy Seal from Botkins who spoke about the SEALKIDS program, and Carla Siegle, Fort Loramie High School’s varsity girls’ basketball coach.
Over four fundraising events, the DugOut Club project raised a total of $200,000 to benefit the new park in Fort Loramie, and $1,000 will be going to the SEALKIDS program (sealkids.org).
In addition to the four speakers who helped draw attendees to the event, the funds resulted from a range of community donations for live or silent auctions (a few examples included cottage rentals, hunting packages, picnic tables, cinnamon rolls, and a 1973 autographed Johnny Bench photo) led by the DugOut Club committee.
Despite their huge success, these two baseball players have not forgotten their roots. They continue to give back to the communities that gave so much to them in their youth. They are doing their part today to help keep “America’s pastime” alive and well for the next generation.
