Jim Miller is not your average senior citizen. With zest in his body and mind, he lives each day to the fullest.
One way he stays active is his job as a crowd controller at the Sam Lynn Ball Park.
“As you get older, you want to keep your body and mind active,” he said. “I do it to keep myself up with the new generation. It makes me feel good. I have a lot of fun with young people.”
According to Miller it’s not the money, or simply the love of the game that makes him stay. It’s the interaction with the fans and the community.
“It’s these people,” he said. “I’m not here for the money. This is actually the lowest paying job I’ve had over the years. I can be a part of all this.”
He described some of the most enjoyable moments of his job. At times, he sees the smaller children trying to “shag” balls, and they never make it in time.
So he’ll stroll up to them and ask, “Do ya think you can catch this ball?” and then he tosses them a professional Blaze baseball as they put huge grins on their faces.
He said, “I know then that they will remember the night for the rest of their lives.”
He spoke of when he was a kid, and would come and stand outside of the fence and try to catch balls.
“I used to come out here and shag balls. And after two months of faithfully coming, I finally caught a ball,” he said.
Reflecting on his times of youth freedom and romance, he said, “I feel very sorry that the younger generations can’t be as free as I was. They are handcuffed. They have so many rules.”
Although recently disabled and unable to really work, he has always felt “taken care of” by the Sam Lynn management.
“If any dispute were to arise, they’d back me up. They take care of their employees,” he said.
And it is this family atmosphere that makes him stay.
“There’s too much negativity in the world, so I would rather see this,” said Miller.