You never know who you'll run into at the gym...

I went for an early-morning workout at the gym the other day. There was this guy, a lot younger than me (that's no big surprise), jogging on the treadmill next to me.

I, of course, was doing my customary 3 1/2 mph walk, while looking up every now and then, to check out the ESPN channel on the TV screen above me. I took a few deep breaths and exchanged a few pleasantries with the man. During our "baseball" conversation, I recalled him saying, "I played a little in the major leagues."

That's about all he said about it, although he did say his older brother played in the majors as well. Of course, I did ask his name and I left the workout room and headed home. A few days later, I checked him out on the Internet. I had trouble with the spelling at first (it's an age thing), but I finally got it right. It was P-a-c-i-o-r-e-k, first name Jim.

To my surprise, my temporary treadmill buddy, played for the Milwaukee Brewers and followed that up with a short, but very productive, career in Japan. What was really interested for me is the fact I saw his older brother, Tom, play at Hi Corbett Field close to forty years ago. Yes, his brother, Tom Paciorek, played 18 years in the majors. Jim also has an older brother, John, who has the distinction of playing one game in the major leagues and that was with the Houston Colts, back in 1963. Not only did he play, but he came up five times, walked twice and went 3 for 3 in the game. And that was it. John Paciorek ended up with a back injury and never played in the majors again. He batted 1.000 at the "big show". A nice claim to fame.

As for my treadmill buddy, Jim. He was drafted in 1981, in the 14th round, by the Cleveland Indians, but did not sign with the Indians. He was chosen in the 8th round by the Milwaukee Brewers the following year, and signed with the Brewers in 1982. He spent most of his career in the minor leagues, but played 48 major league games in 1987. He signed with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales in 1988. He ranked second in the league with a .332 average. Jim played baseball in Japan until 1993.

As I recall, I did tell Jim Paciorek that I've been playing with the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball team since 2008. I couldn't tell if he was impressed that I still played baseball at the age of 64, or that I had just completed one hour on the treadmill and had survived the grueling workout.