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| Windham High graduate Cody Dube pitches for the Aberdeen IronBirds, an affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, during a minor league baseball game. Dube spent two seasons pitching in the minors for the Orioles after playing college baseball. He is now the varsity baseball coach at Windham high School. COURTESY PHOTO |
After Windham High varsity baseball coach and WHS graduate Cody Dube graduated in 2012, he attended Keene State in New Hampshire and as a pitcher, he caught the attention of several Major League Baseball scouts. After college, he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles at age 22 and would go on to play for their affiliate teams, the Aberdeen Ironbirds and Delmarva Shorebirds. Dube spent two years in the minors before he made the personal decision to give up professional baseball.
During his college senior year, Dube was in touch with the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies and Oakland Athletics. While Dube had communicated with many teams, he was picked by the Orioles as a 10th round draft pick in 2016.
Dube’s ultimate goal when he entered the Minor leagues was to see where he could end up.
“I didn't want to end my baseball career with any regrets or thinking that I could've (or) should've done something differently,” said Dube.
He added it took commitment from all aspects of life; you need to train, eat, sleep, practice, repeat. You have to be the best you can be.
During his time, Dube had some of the most memorable experiences he will ever have. He’s played in front of anywhere from 3,000 to 12,000 fans in beautiful stadiums and got to hang out with great athletes from all over the world.
“I will always remember the major leaguers who rehabbed with us, the guys we played against who are now in the big leagues, the teammates who are now in the big leagues (and) talking to the guys from other countries about what their home life is like,” said Dube.
He got to go play against some baseball greats like Pablo Sandoval, Pete Alonso, Juan Soto, and Bobby Dalbec; and even Tim Tebow. It brings back good memories for Dube when he sees them today on TV.
Dube also got to play with current Orioles like Alexander Wells, Austin Hays, Ryan McKenna and Hunter Harvey. Of each player, Dube said they were very talented and hard-working individuals. Wells was Dube’s spring training roommate. Dube described him as an awesome, laid-back Australian with a love of the game.
Playing in the minor leagues required a lot of hard work. Some aspects might not be so fun: sleeping on a bus, eating gas station food, being away from friends and family, the day-to-day workouts, coupled with practices can be taxing, Dube said.
They started in Florida in February and returned home after Labor Day Weekend and throughout that time, Dube said they might have maybe 14 days off total during that span.
One of the most impressive ballplayers Dube met was former Orioles’ pitcher Zach Britton who spent a couple games in the bullpen with Dube’s team. Dube said he was a great teammate and one of the coolest guys he played with. Dube got to warm up in the bullpen with Britton and got pointers from him.
Dube also got to play with retired Orioles first baseman Chris Davis and also met former Orioles’ star Brian Roberts and Hall of Fame legend Cal Ripken Jr.
One of the hardest decisions Dube ever had to make was when he decided to forego his professional baseball career. The day before he was to report for 2018 spring training, Dube told the Baltimore Orioles he was done.
“I enjoyed playing when I was on the mound, there was nothing better than competing like that,” said Dube. There are a lot of factors that went into this decision (to leave), like realistic probabilities of being promoted, spending too much time waiting to pitch; we had 14-plus pitchers for nine innings a day. You experience many highs and lows on a daily basis.”
Once he left minor league baseball, he did not have much interest in playing again. Dube said does not plan to return to the minors.
To anyone who is pursuing a career in baseball, Dube says you should work harder each day so that you can say you gave it everything you had once you reach the end. It can end so quickly and you will never have another chance.
When Dube became Windham’s varsity baseball coach he said it was a cool opportunity to coach where he grew up. Since Dube had Rich Drummond as his Athletic Director in high school, it made the transition to coaching easy.
Dube has a lot of nice memories from the Windham program. It’s been cool for Dube to now experience the game from the coaching side.
He is a Project Engineer for Langford and Low Construction in Portland and enjoys snowmobiling and skiing in the winter, hanging out around Sebago, playing softball, and chasing his new puppy Revvy in the summertime. <
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