FARGO — Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks center fielder Lamar Sparks recalls one of his most significant early baseball memories was going to a Houston Astros game with his father Pat Sparks.
“I want to play out there one day,” Sparks said, recollecting the conversation with his dad. “The dream kept getting more and more realistic.”
Pat said Lamar was around 5 years old when he made the proclamation.
“He told me, ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up, I want to be a Major League Baseball player,’” Pat said. “I figured all 5-year-old T-Ball players say that kind of thing, but he never quit saying it.”
A couple decades later, Sparks is a pro baseball player and a key contributor this season for the postseason-bound RedHawks. F-M plays Kansas City at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, at Newman Outdoor Field in the first round of the American Association playoffs. The West Division series is a best-of-3 in the Miles Wolff Cup Playoffs.
“We gave him the opportunity and he ran with it and now he’s become one of the top center fielders in our league,” said RedHawks manager Chris Coste.
Lamar Sparks has been a fixture for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks this American Association baseball season after joining the team in early June.
Dylan Engel / Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Sparks has been a fixture in F-M’s leadoff spot for the majority of games since joining the team in early June. He started the season with the Cleburne Railroaders. The RedHawks finished the regular season with a 55-45 record, good for fourth place in the West Division standings. The top four teams from the East Division and West Division qualify for the league’s eight-team playoffs.
“It’s been a blessing to come here and be around a group of guys that have felt like family,” Sparks said. “They welcomed me with open arms.”
Lamar batted .282 with 17 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 34 RBIs in 67 games with F-M during the regular season. He scored 42 runs and added 15 stolen bases.
Pat said he took Lamar to Astros games since he was a toddler, including games at the old Astrodome. They were at the first game at Houston’s new and current stadium, which was then-called Enron Field.
“We did opening day every year forever,” Pat said.
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks center fielder Lamar Sparks dives back into first base against the Winnipeg Goldeyes on July 4, 2025, in an American Association baseball game at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo.
Dylan Engel / Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
Sparks has helped anchor F-M’s outfield defense, while also adding a dynamic element to the top of the order. Coste is a fan of Sparks’ blend of power and speed at the plate and on the bases.
Coste likens Sparks to former Astros leadoff hitter George Springer, who former Houston manager AJ Hinch moved to the top of the lineup around a decade ago. Springer wasn’t the prototypical leadoff hitter at the time. Springer provided an element of power to that spot in the order.
Coste remembers Hinch saying something to the effect: “I want our leadoff hitter to punch the other team in the mouth right away.” Sparks gives the RedHawks that dynamic element.
“That’s kind of the reason why we have him up there,” Coste said. “When he gets hot, he’s such a dangerous player. … He’s only getting better.”
Sparks has known RedHawks veteran outfielder Dillon Thomas since high school. Thomas is one of the reasons Sparks decided to play for F-M this season. Thomas often flanks Sparks in the outfield.
“It’s been nothing, but brotherly love on top of holding each other accountable,” Sparks said.
Sparks attended Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas. He also played football, basketball and soccer growing up, but baseball emerged as his favorite sport.
“I’ve always loved baseball, I’ve always liked a challenge,” Sparks said. “When you do something right in baseball, it feels that much better, at least for me.”
Pat said Lamar started to show an understanding of the game when the two attended Astros games. Pat would describe scenarios to his son, but wasn’t sure if the message was sinking in to the “very active” 5-year-old until another Houston game.
“He looked around and said ‘That runner at first is about to take off’ and I said ‘How do you know that?’” Pat recalled. “He pointed to the scoreboard and said ‘3-2 count with two outs.’ I was like, OK, he’s been paying more attention than I thought.”
Pat said his wife Gina Sparks would play catch with Lamar during his youth, but that ended before he made it to his 10th birthday.
“She had to quit playing catch with him when he was about 6 or 7 because he threw too hard,” Pat said.
The Baltimore Orioles drafted Sparks in the fifth round of the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft out of high school. He was 18 years old when he started his pro career in the Orioles organization. He later played in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
“His best baseball is still ahead of him,” Coste said. “The sky’s the limit for him.”
Lamar advanced as high as Class Double-A while in the Brewers organization. Pat and Gina have followed their son this season via online streaming.
“I love baseball and of course we love our son so that makes it exciting to get to watch him play baseball,” Pat said.
Sparks said some of his best seasons in pro baseball have happened in independent leagues. He also played for the Missoula PaddleHeads of the Pioneer League in 2022.
“I had some of the most fun I’ve ever had,” Sparks said of Missoula. “It’s always the places that you think aren’t going to be that great of an environment or that you just know nothing about, that always seem to feel the most like home or fun. … I’m comfortable here, I love it here.”
Peterson covers college athletics for The Forum, including Concordia College and Minnesota State Moorhead. He also covers the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks independent baseball team and helps out with North Dakota State football coverage. Peterson has been working at the newspaper since 1996.