Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2013

By Brian Sherman

illions of kids play

baseball; only a tiny percent-

age are blessed with the talent,

ambition, confidence and good

fortune to reach the pinnacle of

the sport and seize the oppor-

tunity to test their skills against

the most accomplished players in the world.

Each player travels his own unique path to the day

he dons a Major League uniform for the first time, takes

his first practice swings as he approaches a Major League

batter’s box or throws his first pitch from a Major League

mound. Some rise meteorically through the minors, stop-

ping briefly at each level to display their talents in front

of adoring fans, all the while knowing that their eventual

destination is New York or Chicago or Los Angeles.

Others plod their way toward their dream, spending

a year or two or three at each level and hoping against

hope that a team – any team – will recognize their poten-

tial, ignore their shortcomings and give them a chance at

the Major League level.

And some, like Mount Pleasant resident Mike Cisco,

fall somewhere in between. He’s not a can’t-miss pros-

pect, but neither is he a career minor leaguer. After

five years of working his way through the Philadelphia

Phillies’ farm system, he’s just one giant step away from

realizing his lifelong dream of making his Major League

debut at Citizens Bank Park – or some other big-city

stadium.

“I’d love to be in the big leagues with the Phillies,”

Cisco said in late January, as he prepared to head to the

Phils’ Spring Training camp in Clearwater, Florida. “But

if it’s with another team, it wouldn’t be a huge disap-

pointment. Any time a team trades for you or picks you

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