Schwartz, Tropics ready for 'special' encore season of baseball

If you want to go ahead and put a date on your calendar for the future, in the summer of 2039 (or so), the Southeast Tropics will be battling the Charleston Fighting Squirrels (probably at Hillhouse Park, and it will more than likely be a doubleheader), and the game will feature starting pitchers Callen Minner for the Squirrels while Jovi Schwartz will be throwing for the Tropics.

The two pitchers are the firstborn (or yet to be born) to youth baseball managers Michael Minner (of the Fighting Squirrels) and Dustin Schwartz (of the Tropics), and in all likelihood, they’ll be playing baseball for their fathers.

“Now that I have a kid in the program,” Minner said recently, “I’ve got to make sure that whenever he is there, in like year 2035, that this thing is still rocking.

“Here in a couple of years, there is probably going to be a 6-under team. He is definitely going to grow up in the program.”

Callen will turn three years old on May 31 this year, so he has a head start on Jovi, who will be taking the field “in about two months,” according to Schwartz.

Dustin and his wife, Allison, are expecting their first child this spring, and they already know the gender and selected “Jovi” as the name of their son.

“Maybe, I’ll get to coach him one day,” Schwartz said.

This summer is going to be a special one for Schwartz, who not only will have Allison and Jovi in the bleachers watching him manage, but he is also calling it a career (for now) in guiding the Tropics, a summer program that he started during his college years at Southeast Missouri State.

“I started this as an undergrad,” Schwartz said, “and now, being an attorney, and my wife is due with our first baby in two months…”

The 2024 season for Schwartz’s program will have a high bar set for it following the 2023 season.

The Tropics entered the Babe Ruth World Series in Cape Girardeau last August by the skin of their teeth, after earning the second of two seeds awarded to teams from Missouri (the Fighting Squirrels were the top seed).

After dropping their initial game, 7-3 to the Alabama Rawdogs, the same team that beat the Tropics in the 2022 World Series championship game, the Tropics got on a roll and never lost again in claiming the title.

“We weren’t, by any means, the favorite to win,” Schwartz said. “It was a special run from a team that could have easily gone in, and after losing that first game, gone 0-for in pool play and been bounced. But the guys put it together, and what an awesome run we had.”

The Tropics gathered recently at the Sikeston Jaycee Rodeo grounds for a celebration of the 2023 championship team, as the players and coaches received their commemorative championship rings.

“The kids just kept buying in,” Schwartz said. “All year, we kept talking about our goals. After falling just short in 2022 (a 6-0 loss to the Rawdogs), our goal was to win the World Series (in 2023).”

The Tropics battled injuries early last summer but got healthier as the summer rolled on, and the team played better and better.

“We started putting things together,” Schwartz said. “As we came together, guys started seeing that the talent was there. They bought into it and did such an awesome job.”

This summer will be an exciting one for all involved with the Tropics. Most of the championship team will be returning to pursue another championship, and Schwartz is pumped to have his first child along for the ride.

“Maybe, I’ll be back at it in 2040,” Schwartz laughed. “I’m excited to have him here and knowing that he’s going to be here for the last year, it’s going to be special for me.”

In addition to the Tropics being recognized with championship rings, Schwartz was named the 2023 Missouri Babe Ruth Baseball Coach of the Year and was honored for that achievement.