As the calendar flips to February, the reality of live baseball games becomes larger and larger. Professional baseball’s Spring Training games are imminent, pitchers and catchers arrive early, collegiate teams moving from indoor facilities to their respective diamonds – the wheels of baseball operations everywhere are slowly but surely set in motion. The same can be said, for the most part here in the warmer climates, of interscholastic level baseball. Up North where I grew up, baseball was played indoors until almost Game 1 of your High School season. At Cox High School yesterday (here in Virginia Beach), I saw players on a field taking ground balls in shorts and T-shirts. Here is what else I saw…

Backing up a bit, I had learned about Cox High School through my research for professional baseball player, Chris Taylor. Taylor starred at Cox HS, played one collegiate baseball summer for my hometown Newport Gulls (NECBL), and has enjoyed a prolific professional career. So I was eager to visit the school and check out their field and see if there were any other cool items to learn about. 

It was a bright sunny day, a bit breezy when I pulled down Falcon Drive and found parking near the baseball field. As I passed the field, I noticed some players on the field and some adults hanging around on the street where there was an open gate. I was hoping one of them was a Coach or parent so I could speak to them about visiting the field. As luck would have it, it was two Dads, parents of players who were on the field. We chatted for a bit about Cox High School, its athletic prowess, the 2023 State Baseball title, and Taylor of course. I let them know who I was and they seemed cool with me taking a few photos of the field and surrounding areas. 

The first thing that caught my eye was the press box/concession stand/office type building behind home plate. A number of what looked like retired jerseys were hanging on the walls so I went to read up on them. Taylor #4, I knew about him. LaVigne #8, don’t know him but will look him up. Dubois #22, maybe I know him, sounds familiar. There were three others to the right of Dubois, two were a bit faded but I was able to make one out. 

“In loving memory of Kyle Profilet.” Wow, 28 years old, way too young to pass. His obituary online showcases his academic and athletic excellence at Cox High School, played 4 years on the Varsity baseball team. Cancer, it strikes every single community in every single state I visit. Sad, again way too young to pass.

When I walked over to the area behind home plate, I noticed that the players were receiving ground ball from a machine. With an automatic feed, the pitching/hitting machine was firing off ground balls to a few players set up at shortstop. Pretty cool, I have to get me one of those for my backyard!!

And how about these seats here, stadium seats right behind home plate. Not too shabby and a fantastic view of the field. I spun around and took a look at front of the building where I spotted the jerseys. Really impressive set up there behind home plate.

I took a walk down the left field line to get some photos of the field and I noticed on the outfield walls a series of banners. As the baseball Dads had mentioned earlier, there was the 2023 banner. Alongside it was the 2021 and the 1996 titles. Speaking of the 1996 title, I learned that the #8 jersey on the Cox HS press box was retired for Tim LaVigne, a key player in the success of that 1996 team. LaVigne would go onto to star at the University of Virginia, then pitched in professional baseball for the Mets, Yankees, and Astros organizations. His number 8 was retired by the Cox High School Baseball Team in 2009.

As I made my way back to the press box and eventually the open gate on Falcon Drive, I stopped to take a photo of a memorial with the inscription “In Memory of Ryan Staley #19, 1983-2013. Shine Make Every Moment Count.” Another sad one to read about and again, way too young to pass.

I thanked the two Dads for their information and wished their sons well in the upcoming baseball season. Before heading home to research LaVigne and #22 Dubois’ place in Cox baseball history, Rachel and I stopped over at the Great Neck Recreation Center and grounds. After a brief tour of the facility (we are VA Beach red members so we just wanted to see if compared to the ones we use around our house) we decided to walk the grounds and see if we could find any cool walking spots for us and the Weims. We ended up walking to the back of the parking lot, across from a community center type building and finding this plaque and walking trail.

We read the plaque and followed the path to a larger, covered structure in the woods behind the parking lot facing the Lynnhaven River. Another plaque was set in the woods and it listed the crew who lost their lives in the Navy helicopter crash, June 19, 1992. It was an incredible find, a moving tribute, and we took a few moments to pay our respects for these crew members and their service to our country.

By the way, Dubois #22 is Jason Dubois. Dubois was another star player for Cox, played his college baseball at Virginia Commonwealth University, was drafted in MLB in 2000 by the Chicago Cubs, and played 2 seasons in the “Big Leagues” for the Cubs and Cleveland teams. So that is at least 3 former players, and there maybe others, who played at Cox, then went on to play professional baseball. Very cool.

Finishing up on the Cox High School baseball visit – wow, what a facility, what a field, what a program. I loved reading the jerseys and the plaques at the field, and watching the fellas out there snag some ground balls. It was great chatting it up with some fellow baseball Dads. And learning more about the Cox Baseball program’s history and present day success. Cox High School Falcons baseball, definitely on my radar for the upcoming spring schedule of local high school baseball.