When the Washington Nationals schedule came out last winter, Alex Call circled Friday, July 25.
That’s the day the Nationals would open a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, and Call, a 2013 graduate of River Falls High School and fourth-year outfielder with the Nationals, wanted to do something special for his hometown.
Call doesn’t get many chances to return to his hometown in the middle of the season, especially with the Nationals playing in the National League and only visiting Minnesota every other year. So with the team flying in on Thursday night, and opening their three-game series with the Twins Friday night, Call partnered with the Major League Baseball Players Trust to host a two-hour youth clinic at First National Bank of River Falls Field Friday morning.
Alex Call (10) celebrates with his River Falls High School teammates after a Wildcat win during his junior season in 2012. Call made his Major League Baseball debut in 2022 and is currently in his fourth season with the Washington Nationals. Star-Observer file photo
“I always have River Falls in my heart and wanted to give back and just show my appreciation for the community I grew up in and helped shape who I am,” Call said. “I don’t get back that often, so having this day on the calendar when the schedule came out, I knew it was going to be really special. So I’m glad we could put it all together.”
Call reached out to his high school coach Ryan Bishop to help set up the Alex Call Homegrown Baseball Clinic. Attendance was limited to 50 River Falls Youth Baseball Association players ages 11-13 chosen through a lottery, and Bishop recruited the help of a dozen or so current and former River Falls High School players, including Call’s former teammates JP Feyereisen and Marty Herum, to help out.
Call, Feyereisen and Herum all went on to play professional baseball– Feyereisen, currently a free agent after playing parts of the last five seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays and last year’s World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and Herum, who spent seven seasons in the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system before retiring in 2019.
Edgar Dintemann takes his turn on the mound under the watchful eyes of professional baseball players Alex Call, back left, and JP Feyereisen, back right, during the Alex Call Homegrown Baseball Clinic at First National Bank of River Falls Field Friday morning, July 25. Bob Burrows / Star-Observer
Friday marked the first time all three have been on the same field since 2010, when Call was a freshman, Feyereisen a junior and Herum a senior on the Wildcat team that came within one run of qualifying for state for the first time in 34 years.
“That was such a special team,” Call said. “I was just a green freshman coming up and wanting to not let those guys, legends like Marty and JP, down. And they encouraged me and believed in me and made me feel welcome. It’s just a tribute to the guys that they are and the type of culture that we have in River Falls. Community first. It’s a really special thing.”
Feyereisen said he jumped at the chance to help Call with Friday’s clinic.
“I just texted him yesterday and said this is absolutely awesome,” he said. “I mean, how many times, for one, do you get to come home in the middle of the season and just be at home? And then, two, the fact that we get to do a camp with everyone being a River Falls High School graduate or River Falls High School baseball player.”
Herum concurred.
“This is what River Falls baseball’s all about,” he said. “And the fact that we get to have Alex come back and lead it, with a couple other pro guys, I think our town’s pretty lucky for Alex doing this in the middle of the summer.”
“How many people work 162 days in a 180 or 190 day stretch and want to take one of their days off and come and hang out with 50 kids and some high school baseball players and some other old washed up baseball players and do a camp,” Feyereisen added. “But that’s who Alex is.”
Cade Schaffer is all smiles as he’s greeted at home plate by two teammates after hitting an inside-the-park home run during the scrimmage portion of the Alex Call Homegrown Baseball Clinic at First National Bank of River Falls Field Friday morning, July 25. Bob Burrows / Star-Observer
Lucas Luedtke was a high school freshman when Call was a senior and is currently an assistant coach at UW-Stevens Point while playing summer town ball with the River Falls Fighting Fish. He led the hitting sessions at the clinic and coached one of the four teams during the scrimmage portion. He said he knew there was something special about Call way back in high school.
“He was a great leader, worked super hard, and was very talented,” Luedtke recalled. “All those things mixed together just made him a great player and a great human. It’s so cool that he can come back and not forget where he’s from and give back to the community that raised him, but he’s an awesome guy. And I would love to do this every single year.”
Call and Feyereisen credited their old high school coach Bishop with fostering a culture of giving back to the community.
“Just speaking to the human person that he is and how he uses the game to help create, shape and train boys to become men, to become great humans, to become community first, and others first,” Call said about Bishop. “I mean, that’s how you build a culture. That’s how you build something that lasts. That’s setting an example and that’s setting a standard.”
“It’s funny,” Feyereisen said. “Alex came up and was like, ‘Oh, look at us, all black shorts, matching hats, matching shirts. We look good.’ And I said, that’s because we all played under that guy. And I was pointing at Bishop. You talk about someone who’s got their ducks in a row. I mean, he creates young men. Anyone can argue about baseball and how you run things and stuff like that. But if you’re talking about somebody who’s making sure that the world’s a better place, then he’s done it. He’s definitely that guy.”
Alex Call and fellow River Falls High School alum Lucas Luedtke celebrate seeing a run scored during the scrimmage portion of the Alex Call Homegrown Baseball Clinic at First National Bank of River Falls Field Friday morning, July 25. Bob Burrows / Star-Observer
In addition to getting to participate in Friday’s two hour clinic, all 50 campers also received two tickets to Friday night’s Nationals-Twins game at Target Field, courtesy of the Major League Baseball Players Trust.
Call didn’t play Friday night but entered Saturday’s game as an injury replacement with an 0-2 count and singled in the Nationals’ first run of the game, led off the seventh inning with an opposite field solo home run and drove in another run on a fielder’s choice in the Nationals’ 9-3 win. He started in center field and went 2-for-4 with two RBI in Sunday’s 7-2 victory.
As of Sunday, Call has played in 71 of the Nationals’ 105 games and is hitting .280 with three home runs and 26 RBI.
His message to the youngsters at the Alex Call Homegrown Clinic reached far beyond baseball.
“When you get your opportunity, you take it and you keep going,” he said. “You just take one small step every day, one step, one foot in front of the other, and you continue to knock off your goals and your dreams and you wake up one day and maybe you’re in the big leagues.
“It takes hard work and sacrifice,” he added. “And you’re not always going to feel like working hard. But that’s what it takes to get where you want to be. And then you keep your head down and you keep grinding, and you keep believing in yourself above all things.”