Mike Foley Finds His Field of Dreams at the University of Cincinnati

Foley (aka “Lefty Heat”) is a pitcher for the UC Bearcats, who are enjoying their first full season in a new baseball stadium.

“People don’t realize how big this is for our program,” says Foley about the new stadium. “This is a major, major recruiting tool.”

The new baseball stadium has a seating capacity of 3,085 but unfortunately those seats often go unoccupied. Foley says being near a professional team hurts their fan draw, especially when the Reds’ bleacher seats were the same price. Now that the Reds have raised their bleacher seats to $9, maybe fans will appreciate the thrifty $5 ticket price for adults ($3 for kids 12 and under ).

Besides pitching for the Bearcats, Foley is a double major in marketing and international business in the College of Business and plans to graduate in June. He has been interviewing in the medical sales industry. Besides the baseball stadium, Foley sees advantages for other students looking to come to UC.

“Cincinnati does a better job of picking up transfer credits than other Ohio schools,” he says. “For example, Logan Parker came here from junior college and Mark Haske transferred from Alabama.”

Foley gives high grades to his courses in the College of Business.

“There’s a lot of group work and a lot of one-on-one communication with professors,” he says and cites Mary Welsh, Tom Innis and Ralph Katerberg as some of his favorite instructors. He also appreciated the small classes. “There’s lots of room for your

self

to learn, in consultation with your professors. That’s what you should be doing at this level.”

Foley expects to pursue an MBA, but wants to get into the business world before he chooses a graduate program. What about baseball? Will that be in his future? Foley says he will always be involved in baseball.

“I’ll probably attend some tryouts,” he says. “I’m definitely interested in coaching.” With the infrastructure of professional baseball (from the unaffiliated independents up through the rookie leagues to the majors), Foley estimates that there are 20 players back stage for every one you might see in the big leagues.

Foley spent seven weeks in France during the summer of 2004, working on business courses. He compares himself to a sponge.

“I’m soaking up what I like!” he says.

UC concluded the season 25-30 overall and 10-19 in its final season of Conference USA play. Check out the stats of the season.

About the Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village