The little boy dreams of being a winner. One day he pictures himself winning a purple ribbon at the county fair, and maybe the next day he imagines himself as a major league pitcher, throwing strikes in the big leagues.
Today we’ll meet a young man from rural Kansas who is living that exact life. Thanks to Montgomery County Chronicle editor and publisher Andy Taylor and sportswriter Brian Thomas who are the sources for this story.
Jace Kaminska is a baseball player from Montgomery County. Andy Taylor first met Kaminska at an unlikely place 10 years ago: The 4-H baking championship at the Montgomery County Fair.
Kaminska was a little boy from Tyro, Kansas. He was proudly displaying his homemade bread loaf which had earned a purple ribbon. Taylor’s newspaper photo of the smiling little 4-H kid would stay in his mind for years.
Taylor next heard about Kaminska in a totally different context. Kaminska’s interests had transitioned from baking to baseball.
Kaminska was a teenager at Caney Valley High School and the word was out that he could throw a baseball like nobody’s business. Kaminska was coached by his father, Mike, who had played baseball collegiately at Northwest Missouri State. Mike’s mother Carrie had played softball there as well.
Because of Jace Kaminska’s torpedo-like arm, Taylor termed him the Tyro Torpedo.
