Zach Urness Leader Staff

Since the late half of the 19th century, the dream of virtually every American youngster who has strapped on cleats or fielded a ground ball has been to get paid to do it.

And 2001 Polson High School graduate and ex-Mission Valley Mariner Tyler French has made that dream a reality. After graduating from Western Oregon University in the winter he tried out for the Philadelphia Phillies, and, after an encouraging meeting with a scout, French was invited to a try out in Salt Lake City, where he was offered a chance play professional baseball for an Independent League team called the Texas Heat.

Independent league baseball isn’t exactly the majors, and it doesn’t pay its players nearly as handsomely (French makes roughly $700 a month including rent for an apartment) but it does make him one of those rare and privileged individuals able to go work at the ball field.

“Getting paid to play baseball has been a dream my whole life,” said French. “I’d play ball for any amount of money really, I just love being on the road and out with the guys.”

But getting to this point has been a journey for the 24-year old French, who played his first baseball for the little league teams in Polson and continued with the American Legion Mission Valley Mariners.

“It all began on the little league fields around Polson and with the Mariners,” he said.

After graduating from Polson and the Mariners, he played for two years at Spokane for the Community College and semi-pro Riverhawks, and was named the college’s most valuable pitcher in 2003. French then transferred to Western Oregon University where he played two more years and graduated this past winter with a degree in sports and recreation management, and a minor in health.

Although his collegiate baseball career was an impressive one, French didn’t get drafted to a major league farm system after graduation. But he still wanted to play baseball.

“I was searching for a pro team to play for after trying out with the Phillies and a few other teams,” he said, “but at a tryout in Salt Lake City I caught the eye of the Heat’s coach, and a few weeks later I signed a contract.”

The Texas Heat are a Independent league team that plays as part of the Continental League in Lewistown, Texas. The team is composed of players who’ve been through the minor league system before, players who were drafted but let go by their team, and players, like French, who are just looking for the opportunity to get noticed.

French is now more than a month into his one-year contract (with an option for a second year), and, although he has endured a few forgettable starts that pushed his ERA to 6.65 on the season, he currently leads the league in strikeouts and has helped the Heat to a first place record of 13-5.

“It took me a while to get the rust off,” said French, noting that after playing two years at Western he took some time off from baseball to concentrate on graduating. “I had a few rough starts, but my last game was a pretty good one, and I am optimistic about the rest of the season.”

The goal for French and his teammates, like hundreds of other Independent league ball players, is to impress one of the many scouts who populate the stands during games and hopefully catch on with a major league team.

“There are tons of scouts at our games,” said French. “You just hope that you can make a good impression on one of them over the course of the season and maybe get noticed by a big-league club.”

Whether or not French does accomplish his goal and get noticed by a major league team remains to be seen, so for the moment he’s just concentrating the fact that he’s getting paid to play baseball, a game he’s loved his entire life.

“I am having a great time so far,” he said, “and hopefully I can have some success.”

In fact, French’s only complaint thus far has to do with the fact that Texas, unlike the Pacific Northwest, is excruciatingly hot all season long.

“You’re just dripping with sweat anytime you take batting practice or do anything,” he noted.

But of course that’s what you get when you play for a team called the “Texas Heat.”