Tim Day wasn't going to wait around and stare at a computer screen all day, to see if he would be drafted.
"Me and my family were sitting around the computer, and I had stepped out of the room and gone upstairs to my room," the redshirt junior MSU pitcher said. "All of the sudden, I got a phone call from a friend and he said, 'Congratulations.'
"I said, 'On what?'"
Day said his friend told him he'd seen his name come up on the draft board at home on the Internet. Immediately after his friend told him, Day heard a clamor from downstairs - it was his family who wanted to tell him he had been drafted.
On June 8, Day was chosen by the Chicago White Sox in the 34th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
So, are the White Sox Day's new favorite team?
"It's funny because when I was a little kid, my first Starter jacket was a White Sox jacket," Day said. "My sister was going through some pictures awhile back and found a card of me when I was 9 years old, and as my favorite team, I listed the White Sox.
"It's kind of neat it happened that way. I just hope things work out."
Day said he's unsure about whether or not he'll turn pro and added that the White Sox want him to come to Chicago to go through some tests to make sure there are no lingering effects from the arm injury that caused him to miss the entire 2004 season with the Spartans. Day had Tommy John surgery, named for a 1970s baseball player, after arm and elbow problems persisted in July 2002, his father Tim Day Sr. said.
After four years at MSU, Day has completed 106 credits, 14 shy of the 120 needed to graduate with an undergraduate degree. The kinesiology major said he also must complete an internship before he can graduate.
"Ever since he was a little boy, it's been his thing to do," his mother, Maureen Day, said. "He's always had a passion to play the sport, and I don't think there'd be a day that would go by, even if it was raining outside, somehow Tim, his father, and Jeff (younger brother) would end up out in the front yard - there was always some sort of baseball game going on."
Day credits his father as having the biggest influence on his love for the game of baseball. Tim Day Sr. said he never had to force his son to play and always tried to just have fun with him.
"As far back as I can remember, my dad has put a bat and a ball in my hand," Day said. "He's turned down a lot of promotions to watch me and my brother play (baseball)."
The West Chester, Ohio, native pitched in 13 games for the Spartans this season, with a 4-6 record in 12 starts. He pitched 75 1/3 innings, while striking out 43 batters and posting a 5.50 earned run average.
Day ranks sixth in MSU history in wins, with 18, and innings pitched, with 240. In 2002, he was a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American, after going 11-3 that year and setting the Spartans single-season record for wins.
Tim Day Sr. said Monday, his son is "leaning heavily toward" leaving MSU and beginning his dream of playing professional baseball next week. The White Sox begin one of its Rookie Leagues next Monday, and Tim Day Sr. said the best thing for his son is "probably going," but the Days will have a week to make the decision 100 percent.
"There's nothing greater than playing something I love for a job," Day said Thursday.
J. Ryan Mulcrone can be reached at mulcron3@msu.edu.
