Mitchell Boggs’ message was clear Monday night: keep supporting the youth of Dalton and more stories like his will be written.
Dalton native Boggs was the keynote speaker Monday at the Whitfield/Murray Fellowship of Christian Athletes Banquet at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center. The annual event, in its 13th year, highlighted Boggs’ rise to becoming a “hometown hero,” per the event program.
Boggs, a relief pitcher for the 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, played high school baseball and football at Dalton and donned the Catamounts logo.
“There’s never been a more decorated athlete in Dalton’s history,” Mayor David Pennington said, noting that Feb. 6 would be celebrated as “Mitchell Boggs Day” in Dalton.
Boggs’ father, Tommy, introduced his son and told stories about when the World Series winner was a kid.
“Mitchell, as soon as he was old enough, was at the ballpark,” Tommy Boggs said, adding that he liked watching professional wrestling and grew a “little bit of flair and showmanship” and told a story about Mitchell Boggs playing tee-ball.
“If you get a hit in tee-ball, you’re usually going to run around all of the bases,” the elder Boggs said. “Well, he got a hit one game and ran to first. The other team threw the ball away, and Mitchell ran to second. They threw it away, and he ran to third and ran home and had this big slide. The ball was nowhere near him, but he had this big slide. His mom was always videotaping the games and Mitchell ran to her after and said, ‘Did you get that?’”
When Mitchell Boggs took to the podium, he tried focusing more on others and less on himself. Boggs said it’s “hard” for him to imagine being Dalton’s hometown hero considering he remembers having his own hometown heroes. But he wants people to focus on the next possible heroes in Dalton — the kids participating in the Whitfield/Murray FCA program.
FCA is a non-profit, interdenominational Christian organization which uses the influence of coaches and athletes to impact the world through God. The organization has chapters in different schools across the country and has a chapter in many local schools, including all of the high schools in Whitfield and Murray counties.
“To see these kids, to see how much they want God in their life, it’s powerful,” Boggs said. “What I want them to hear is about them, that they are worthy and capable of the greatest things in life.
“God has a plan for you,” he said. “God wants you to be great. So believe in him and be great.”
Boggs thanked the coaches who helped him as a kid and said he was “fortunate enough to have some of the best coaches anyone could have ever dreamed of.” Those same coaches and others will be the ones to help the kids of today, he said.
“So here is my challenge,” he said. “There are young men and women in all of these schools just like me with goals as big as mine. ... The teenagers in this community are worth it. So continue to be an amazing source of inspiration for these kids.”
Boggs said he has visited many local schools and preached the same message about believing in themselves and their dreams.
“(Great things) happened to me, and this community is a big reason for that,” Boggs said.
The baseball player did give a little bit of insight into the World Series season.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to describe 2011 than a ride,” he said, noting there were many highs and lows and the season started great but had a few bumps and eventually led him to being sent down to play for the Cardinals’ Triple A team in Memphis.
“It was something I wasn’t ready for.”
He said he was “lost and confused” as he tried coping with the change but realized he had not prayed in a while.
“I thought, ‘all this has happened in the past five days and I haven’t even prayed one time,’” he said. “I learned more about myself in those two weeks that I had in any other season combined.”
Boggs, whose number has been retired from the Dalton baseball program, played at the University of Georgia. The 27-year-old Dalton native will celebrate his birthday on Feb. 15.
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