I had forgotten about this little tidbit I had leftover from my spring training duties until I saw Andy Lane on television the other day.
Lane, who is an Ahwatukee Foothills resident, is the Chicago Cubs bullpen catcher for the second season.
He has plenty of duties including helping with strength and conditioning because that is where some of his background lies after working for Fischer Sports in Phoenix once his playing career ended.
At Fischer he got to know Joe Mather, a fellow Ahwatukee resident, a little bit where they discussed their meetings on the baseball diamond growing up in local little leagues and facing each other in high school.
Now, they are both on the Cubs as Mather made the club as a utility player.
It’s kind of hard to believe that two area kids are in the majors - albeit in two completely different roles -at the same time and on the same team.
“We’ve talked about it and playing against each other,” Mather said. “We were on rival high school teams from the same small town. It’s pretty cool,”
Mather played at Mountain Pointe and Lane was a Desert Vista before transferring to Chandler.
Contact writer: (480) 898-7915 or Jskoda@ahwatukee.com. Follow him on Twitter @JSkodaAFN.
