For the first time in the history of the franchise, the Louisville Bats will retire a player’s jersey.The honor goes to catcher Corky Miller, who has spent most of his professional career with the Bats and has become a popular figure in Louisville over the past decade.
"I’ve been here for so long, a lot of these, I guess, young adults were kids when they would come to the games and see me play. Being here for over 10-11 years, it gets easy for them to remember me," Miller said in aninterview withWFPLlast year.Sunday night is “Corky Miller Night” at Louisville Slugger Field. Miller’s number 8 jersey will be retired in a pregame ceremony.Miller said he began playing baseball at an early age, but didn’t set out to become a catcher."My dad was our coach, he put me back there most of the games. I tried to get out of it when I was in high school, but the coach said, ‘hey, don’t you catch?’ I said ‘yeah,’ and pretty much caught every game there," he said.Miller, 38, hasn’t played since May, and has been on the disabled list with a back injury.Since then he’s been working as a roving instructor for minor league teams in the Cincinnati Reds system. Louisville is the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate.Miller has said he’s interested in coaching and has been praised for his work with young pitchers.
