Luke Hagerty Is Coming Back Hot.

Hartsell Dodrill, Bretta Hagertys father, worked afternoon shifts in a coal mine when he was playing college football and basketball.

Gene Hagerty, John Hagertys father, worked in the steel mill in Steubenville.

John Hagerty still works, the past 23 years as a journeyman millwright at the GM plant.

Before his senior year, when Hagerty was going to quit and focus on basketball, his high school baseball coach, Tom Held, told him that standing 6-foot-7 and throwing left-handed was unique.

He could play baseball in college if he worked, Held said, so Hagerty did, and Ball State offered him books and a spot on the team.