Like so many kids, I dreamed of playing professional sports.

But in college, after leading our team in strikeouts – as a batter, not a pitcher – the reality hit me…I was not destined for athletic stardom.

That season, I had 97 plate appearances and accumulated a grand total of 2 hits.

However, just because you may not be LeBron James or Mike Trout, it doesn’t mean your sports dreams can’t come true.

There were other ways to stay close and even have careers in sports and the amazing stadiums where the games are played.

One of my first jobs was cutting the outfield grass at my hometown’s baseball field. A great job! I got paid $3.40 an hour to do something I would have done for free!

After that, I wrote about sports for several different newspapers, which gave me the chance to meet and talk to players and front office staff of some professional teams. That was fun, too!

For the past few years, I’ve devoted myself to writing my Stadium Adventure Series of books for young readers passionate about sports. Now, I’m living my dream of staying connected to sports while I work on getting my main characters – Hawk, Nestor and Michael – in and out of trouble.

Turns out they aren’t great athletes either, but that doesn’t matter. They still love sports.