Driving Your Way To The Bigs. Literally.

This is Tom Shearn. You've surely never heard of him, because, jeez, why would you have? He's 30 years old and just made his major league debut yesterday for the oddly surging Cincinnati Reds. (They're only 6 1/2 out of first in the NL Central, by the way.) And he's got quite the tale to tell.

Specifically ... he's one of those guys who probably should have left baseball years ago but never did. So much so that, when he got the call to the majors ... he was sleeping in a camper outside AAA Louisville's center field fence.

Shearn was staying in a camper beyond center field in Louisville so he could save a month's rent in Louisville. Last night Rick Sweet called him and asked him where he was was, walked across the field and told him he was headed to the big leagues. Instead of staying in the camper, Shearn drove to Cincinnati. The hotel looked booked, so he called Gary Majewski and asked if he could stay on his couch, they stayed up going over the scouting report and Shearn finally went to bed. Shearn: "There were a couple of times, I asked myself what I was doing," Shearn said. "I have a little girl right now, I could be home right now. I have great support, my family told me not to give up. This is my fourth or fifth year in AAA and it was getting a little tiresome, but I had great coaches in AAA and it all worked out.

Our favorite part of the story: Once he was woken up to find out he was going to Cincy ... he just went ahead and drove to Cincinnati. That drive must have been awesome. Congrats, man. Baseball's just the best sometimes, isn't it?

Redfish Vs. Bluefish [Cincinnati.com]