Meeting Cousin Jared Hoying in Person - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.

Meeting Cousin Jared Hoying in Person

After Jared Hoying was called up to the Texas Rangers from his AAA Round Rock assignment last week (click here for interview), and since the Rangers were visiting the Tigers this weekend, a bunch of fans from the Loramie area traveled to Detroit for the Saturday night game. My son and I also attended and met with many of them at the game, which the Tigers won 9-3, breaking the Rangers 10 game winning streak.

The following "Go Rangers" banner was signed by all the kids in Loramie elementary school, wishing the best for Jared.

Before the game, Jared came out to talk to all his hometown fans, giving autographs and taking pictures. Since it had rained before the game, there was no batting practice, so he spent a lot of time with everyone. However, once the tarp came off the field, he was all business as shown in the following photo of him alone in the dugout before the game trying to get focused after all the pre-game activities with family and friends.

Jared started in center field, batting 8th in the line-up. The scoreboard showed he had batting average of .333.

Meanwhile, the many Jared supporters were getting back to their seats for the big game.

Jared batted three times against future Tiger Hall-of-Fame pitcher and Kate Upton fiancé, Justin Verlander. Unfortunately we didn’t see Kate at the game. But we did see plenty of baseball action. Click here for the highlights. Note Jared, #31 in CF, looking up at three consecutive HR’s by the Tigers in the first inning. 

Recall last May when Jared was called up to the Rangers for the first time, I posted this blog about my famous cousin whom I had never met. Well, that ended Saturday night before the game. He’s a big fan of the Fish Report, because that’s what I yelled out to successfully get his attention! Last Wednesday’s Fish Report included a video of Jared hitting his first Major League home run the day before his 28th birthday and was witnessed by former President George W. Bush along with Jared’s wife, Tiffany and baby daughter, Carly. After the game, he was rewarded with a kiss from his wife and a hug with his daughter as pictured below, but only after he was thoroughly drenched with Gatorade by his teammates for the HR accomplishment.

Saturday night, every time Jared came to bat, big cheers went up surprising the Tiger faithful seated nearby, wondering why there were so many people cheering for a rival ball player; with one avid fan (my sister!) even holding up the sign pictured below saluting Jared. Overheard one conversation by a fan asking one of Jared’s supporters what part of Texas they were from. He responded “Ohio”!

Beyond baseball, Jared is a dedicated family man as reflected by the number of family members in attendance at Saturday’s game as well as in the photo above from Jared’s twitter account from a game last summer. One family member who would have loved being there is his 90 year old grandpa and my uncle Lindy, pictured below in his Ranger attire. Lindy was quite a baseball player in his day as well. He could hit, play defense and run fast just like Jared.

Jared is also an avid outdoorsman, loving to fish and hunt. Maybe the catch shown below will earn him a spot in Fish Report Wall of Fame.

Well Jared didn’t have quite as successful night Saturday as earlier in the week, going hitless, with a line drive out to center, a couple ground balls that were close to infield singles because of his speed, and this video of his last at bat with two outs in the 9th inning.

The entire family is really proud of Jared and his accomplishments, wishing him continued success. It was indeed a real pleasure to finally meet Jared and watch him play.