Rod Hawkins

Husband to Mary, 3 wonderful kids, and 2 beautiful grandchildren! Family, Baseball and Walleyes!! Okoboji

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@TylerKluver Place is on 🔥

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@jacojas @ScottNSports It's a Hawkeye state!

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@certaintree @Zhoops44 Nooo defending in that league. No way he's heading there

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@jacojas 👎 😂

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@kurt13warner Mark gronowski is gonna follow the same path

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@SL_baseball @IowaLakesbball @IowaLakes Well done!

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@I_AM_WILDCAT I think KOC believes he is the qb guru and can fit them into his system. Clock is ticking on jj and KOC.

[Dan Cevette @DanCevette]

The Minor Leagues have evolved since I retired after 2013 - but here’s what ‘pro baseball’ actually looked like from 2002–2013.

This isn’t nostalgia.
It’s context.

My first pro paycheck in 2002?
$850 a month. After Uncle Sam, housing, and clubhouse dues?
About $160 every two weeks. That was reality.

A normal homestand day:
• Field by 12:30pm
• 1:30 stretch
• Throwing, bullpens, defensive work, conditioning, BP
• Off the field 4:30
• Pre-game meal: peanut butter & jelly
• Back on the field for 6:00 pregame
• First pitch 7:05
• Postgame meal 10:30
Then do it again tomorrow.

Travel?
• Rookie-High A: charter bus
• AA: sleeper bus if you were lucky
• AAA: bus or plane
• Most nights you arrived late.
Food was fast food.
• Recovery was whatever you could figure out on your own.

There were no guarantees.
No sympathy. No safety nets.
You didn’t chase comfort - you chased survival.

If you were healthy, you played.
If you were sore, you played.
If you struggled, you played - or someone else took your job.

Pro baseball didn’t ask how you felt.
It asked if you were ready. The margin wasn’t talent. It was who could endure the longest.

That’s the part players, and parents don’t always see.

The Minor Leagues in my era were simple: Survival of the fittest.

And for the love of the game ⚾️

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@GavinNewsom @Tim_Walz How do you even look in the mirror everyday and believe what you just said. Thats the scary part!

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@webcentrick He won't be in Iowa city this weekend unfortunately

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@IowaChill 21

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@RayJOrtega True emotions from a couple of great individuals!

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@mrrickjunior @jaydenstephenss Iowas lineman and tight ends! Leave that here!

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@nflrums 👎

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@HaterReport_ 36% from mostly inside the paint.

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@HawkeyeReport 🙏

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@webcentrick Killer!!

[parker hageman @HagemanParker]

i don’t know if most minnesotans understand how nice a lot of juco facilities are in iowa

@ICCCBaseball’s field is 🤌

[Rod Hawkins @rhawk55]

@JamaalBowmanNY Just keep fueling whatever fire is left. Unbelievable. It's time we all move on