The softball field at Boonville Correctional Center sits inside two fences: a 275-foot outfield fence and a second barrier of taut barbed wire and circles of razor wire that separates the penitentiary from the outside. The minimum security facility houses more than 800 inmates. Lucas Erceg, a reliable relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, toured the grounds and admired the field during an off day. Chaplain Tristram "Sean" McCormack invited Erceg to speak to inmates after his trade to the Royals. The speaking date, June 9, coincided with the five-year anniversary of Erceg swallowing his last sip of alcohol.
BOONVILLE, Missouri -- The softball field at Boonville Correctional Center has two fences. The first is a standard outfield fence, 275 feet from home plate, stretching from foul line to foul line. The second, about 50 feet farther, is made of taut barbed-wire strands ringed by circles of razor wire, separating the state penitentiary from the world. It's a stark reminder that the field is, quite literally, a diamond in the rough.
Erceg had found purpose and meaning on the baseball field, and it brought him here, about 90 minutes east of Kansas City, Missouri, on an off day. Soon after Erceg was traded to the Royals last year, Tristram "Sean" McCormack, the chaplain at the facility, sent Erceg a letter asking if he would consider speaking to a group of inmates.
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