For Garfield graduate Eric Geddes, his four years with the G-Men’s athletic programs went by in the blink of an eye but he treasured every moment. The right-handed pitching ace will continue his athletic career by playing baseball at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus.
“With baseball I feel like I have a better opportunity to do something in baseball maybe like, sign for a team and play in minors,” Geddes told The Weekly Villager on June 7. “It has always been the dream to get to the majors.”
In only two seasons as the G-Men’s ace, the 6-foot-3 right-hander recorded a 1.88 ERA across 111.2 innings, compiled a 16-2 record while striking out 170 and walking only 44 batters. He graduates from Garfield as a four-year letterman in football and baseball while being a three-year starter in basketball. Geddes will continue pitching but will also get work in the field on days when he is not pitching at Ohio Dominican University.
According to him, when he first received collegiate offers in the summer after his junior season, he had opportunities to go to schools and play football and baseball. Geddes said he decided to hang up his football cleats and focus on baseball because he sees a better opportunity to carve out a professional career on the diamond.
He chose Ohio Dominican University because of its rich baseball culture and the familiar small-town atmosphere that resembled the community he grew up in while living in Windham and playing for Garfield.
“We went down on a visit to Ohio Dominican University on a Sunday and I really liked the school,” he added. “They had my major which is most important and they had a small campus, which reminded me of Windham and then Garfield. Everything is there at Ohio Dominican University so it just reminds me of where I am from.”
Geddes has been around sports ever since he was a child, with both of his parents being high school athletes and his father having played football at John Carroll University. He was also inspired by his two older sisters, Madisson and Ashlyn, who played basketball and softball while at Garfield.
He said that when he was younger, he tagged along with his sisters to their basketball practices and they would usually scrimmage before practice started. Geddes added that he enjoyed the competitiveness of their scrimmages.
Geddes became the back-up quarterback on the football team, earned the job of starting catcher and also pitched in some non-league games when he was not catching in his freshman season. According to him, being a quarterback and pitcher went hand-in-hand.
“In football you are the leader of the offense,” he noted. “You have to know everybody’s job and then that carries over to baseball, you have to know the situation as a pitcher on what to throw and when to throw it and who is at bat and just so you know people are behind you in baseball.”
Geddes’ love of baseball could be traced back to when he competed on a travel team and was coached by Jake Eye, Windham’s football and baseball coach. He said that Eye had a tremendous impact on shaping his baseball career.
“He was my first real coach and he coached with my dad so that was a big learning experience being around him and the knowledge that he had and all of the other coaches that he helped,” he added.
Geddes said that Eye usually joked that he expected to be present at his signing day and coming from him, someone who was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1997 as a pitcher, that meant something.
“He has been around baseball and knows good baseball so if he would say that to me, I knew I had a shot to go play at the next level so that just stayed with me for my whole career,” Geddes said.
In his first two years at Garfield, Geddes was the back-up quarterback and starting catcher but earned the starting job in football and became the team’s number one pitcher on the baseball team in his junior season.
Geddes had a memorable two-year arc as a quarterback and pitcher, leading the G-Men to a regional semifinal in football in his senior season and propelled the baseball team to the district title games in both his junior and senior seasons.
The Ohio Dominican University commit acknowledged it was a tough decision to stop playing football after his high school career but will carry the memories of being Garfield’s two-year starting quarterback forever.
“They were unforgettable,” he said. “That goes back to the coaches and the community for making it just a great atmosphere to play in.”
Geddes’ football playing days may be over, but his athletic career is far from over and will turn his attention to pursuing a professional career in baseball when he finishes his collegiate career.
