Zupcic content to hang up glove

ORONO – Bob Zupcic didn’t look like a guy who had just decided to give up his dream of returning to the majors as he happily watched Sunday’s game between the Bangor Blue Ox and Adirondack from Mahaney Diamond’s stands with his family.

Just over 24 hours earlier, the Blue Ox outfielder had decided it was time to call it a career after playing 11 years of professional baseball. Zupcic said it wasn’t a tough decision.

“Actually it’s not. I don’t miss it… At all. Last Friday I knew it was over. I didn’t have the patience anymore to battle it,” said Zupcic, sporting a T-shirt and pullover jacket with the logos of his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers on them. “I haven’t played in a week, but it’s almost like a relief.

“The last two years have been a struggle as far as trying to get consistent with my play. With my back this year, I couldn’t even hit 75 mile-an-hour fastballs.”

Zupcic was hampered by injuries and a back problem for much of the first half of the Northeast League season as he batted .195 with three home runs and 16 RBIs in 25 games.

“It’s a swollen disc that’s causing a pinched nerve and my whole right side has been pretty numb,” he explained. “It’s nothing serious. I’ll be golfing and playing basketball soon.”

Zupcic batted .250 with seven homers and 80 RBIs in four major league seasons.

After four years with the Boston Red Sox (1991-94) and Chicago White Sox (1994) and two years in Triple A, he hopes to extend his involvement with baseball.

“If I could have stayed and coached, I would have liked to have done it, but you just can’t do it with the salary structure and all that. And I understand. They’ve been real good to me,” he said.

The 30-year-old Zupcic said he hasn’t decided yet what he will do now that his playing days are over.

“I’d like to start my own baseball school with a Christian emphasis. I like teaching and I like talking – I may go into the ministry. I’m just praying about it right now,” he said.

For now, Zupcic, his wife Becky and their two children, Drake and Tyler, will visit Zupcic’s family in Philadelphia before heading home to Charlotte, N.C., with no regrets.

“I can look back and say I’ve given everything I’ve had and I’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “Now it’s just time to move on.”

University of Maine alumni Chad White and Gabe Duross both took Sunday off to rest some nagging injuries.

White is being bothered by a sore throwing shoulder, which has partly resulted from his switch from center field to shortstop and the slight change in throwing motion it entails.

White’s `day off’ lasted only five innings though, as he went into right field in the sixth to replace Tim Morrow, who was ejected in the fifth for arguing a called third strike. White later moved to short after second baseman Steve Hine left the game in the sixth with a bruised heel.

Duross has had a partial tear of his right anterior cruciate ligament almost all season long, but has decided to play with the injury, take a day off periodically, and have surgery in the offseason.

Also on Sunday, Bobby Murray went off the disabled list and into the starting lineup while lefthanded starter Andy High went back on the D.L. with recurring back pain.