Lennon holding no regrets from maligned pro baseball career

Patrick Lennon (right) is pictured with Rev. Tracey Troy (center) and WNBA player Tynesha Lewis during last week’s basketball tournament held in conjunction with a youth convocation sponsored by Victory in Jesus Ministries. Lennon and Lewis were among the guest speakers for the event.

At age 39, Patrick Lennon is out of professional baseball ... a much-maligned journey that began 21 years ago when he was the first-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners, fresh off a sensational athletic career at Whiteville High School.

“I didn’t come close to having the type career I had planned on having when I signed with Seattle,” the former WHS All-State baseball, football, and basketball player said. “As I look back, it was probably best that I didn’t.”

Lennon returned to Whiteville and his old high school last week to be part of the Joshua Generation Conference, a youth convocation conducted by Victory In Jesus Ministries at the WHS gym. He was one of several speakers, who gave motivational addresses to participants and supporters of a youth basketball tournament that was part of the weekend celebration. Rev. Tracey Troy is founder and pastor of Victory In Jesus Ministries.

“When I was drafted in the first round and signed, I felt I was on my way to earning millions of dollars and playing in the spotlight everyday,” Lennon said.

“I was selfish in every way possible,” he said. “The way I tried to do things was usually the complete opposite of the way they needed to be done.”

Throughout the first five or six years of Lennon’s professional career, doors that appeared to be wide open for him started closing quickly.

An incident involving Lennon firing a pistol in a Williamsport, Pa., nightclub parking lot (alledgedly to protect himself) led to a short jail sentence. The entire ordeal seemed to leave an ever-present scar on the rest of his career.

The shortstop-turned-outfielder had short major league stints with the Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Oakland A’s and Toronto Blue Jays, but each time, he made it to “The Show,” he was soon sent back to the minors or released for no clarified reasons. In 91 major league games between 1991 and 1999, he had 189 at-bats, had 50 hits, scored 25 runs, knocked 14 doubles and clouted two home runs. More than half of his major league games were in 1997 with the A’s.

During his career, Lennon signed contracts with so many organizations that he says it is now easier to count exactly how many by naming teams he did not sign with.

Much of his time was spent playing at the AAA level and he helped lead teams to several league championships and received several individual awards at that level.

He also had some outstanding seasons playing winter baseball in South America.

Lennon and his wife live on New York’s Long Island with their seven-year-old son. His oldest son Josh is heading into his senior year at Whiteville High where he is a starting linebacker on the Wolfpack football team.

Lennon played the 2006 baseball season with the Long Island Ducks, an independent team, before deciding to hang up his cleats for good.

He is currently involved in a program that provides recreational opportunities, equipment and facilities for underpriveleged children and youth in Long Island communities.

“It is the type work I need to be doing,” he said. “I get rewarded everyday. I loved baseball, but this gives me the chance to help others all the time.”

Lennon has relied greatly on his Christian faith since suffering the major pitfalls of his playing career.

“I think that everything that happened to me, even the most harsh, happened for a reason,” he said. “I really don’t think I was meant to be the baseball player who could hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases every year, signing multi-million dollar contracts. I don’t think the real Patrick Lennon was cut out to be that.

“I have realized that the Lord can use me elsewhere,” Lennon said. “That’s why I told Rev. Troy that I would love the opportunity to be back in Whiteville for this event.”

Lennon said that Rev. Troy’s ministry is one that he strongly supports. Like Lennon, Tracey Troy was a standout athlete at WHS in the 1980s.

“She is all about people and bringing them to Christ,” Lennon said. “She creates activities that are fun, healthy and meaningful.”

Lennon graduated from Whiteville High School in 1986, having played major roles on the Wolfpack’s state finalist football team of 1984, the 1985 state finalist basketball team and the 1985 state champion baseball team. He was recognized by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association as the top male high school athlete in North Carolina in 1986.

When Lennon was drafted by the Mariners, he was the second WHS baseball player to become a first-round draft pick in as many years.

In 1985, WHS pitching sensation Tommy Greene was the first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves, Greene went on to pitched several major-league seasons with the Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies.

“Looking back on those days is really something special,” Lennon said. “It was incredible the number of really strong athletes that Whiteville High School had then.
“I mean there were the Threadgill brothers, Chet McGlockton, Rickie Shaw, Joe Reaves ... the list goes on and on.”

Other speakers at the Joshua Generation event included former N.C. State University women’s basketball star Tynesha Lewis who is headed to medical school after a career in the WNBA, and former University of Tennessee basketball standout and current Wilmington SeaDawgs coach Kevin Whitted.