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BIO
CJ May, Founder
Born and raised in Toronto, ON. I grew up playing amateur ball on the east-end of the city in Scarborough with the Prospects and Team Toronto.
Growing up was financially rough. I came up knowing what struggle was but never saw my mother give up so I knew what persistence was as well. Coming from a single parent home in public housing with an older sister, I couldn’t afford to play elite sports. My mother tried for years but as a family, she couldn’t do it anymore. It was a struggle then and it’s even more now. When I started high school, my mother told me she can’t pay for baseball anymore. I didn’t know at the time that she was already taking a lot of hits with my sister in university but I always knew she was doing the best she could for both of us. She held out for as long as she could and it broke her heart to say it and I was crushed. I didn’t know what to do. I spoke to my head coach privately about my situation to which his response was, “I know what it’s like, we’ll work it out together.” I took that to heart! I thought we were going to brainstorm ideas on what both of us could do in order for me to stay. Words should have meaning and action clarifies that meaning. Fast forward a few months later and the entire coaching staff is repeatedly mentioning payment to me.
Kids should be in an environment where they can properly develop. You shouldn’t have “certified coaches” taking 14 year olds to the side & berating them on the importance of money, “hey, where’s the payment?”. Too many unqualified people being involved in youth sports ends up poisoning the climate and the players are the ones who suffer. I was doing what I could to make the minimum payment while balancing school and relying on TTC & Mississauga transit to get to and from games & practices. It was rough.
Plenty of “coaches” start with the good intentions and make commitments but it’s only the ones with good character who actually keep them. A good intention with a bad approach often leads to a poor result.
“You have money to pay for showcases but you don’t pay me.” —'Certified Coach' He was right, that’s exactly what I was doing because he would always say to me, “you’re good enough to get into college”, “you’re going to find a school”, “I’m taking care of it”. To someone who is genuinely struggling and putting out effort, hearing those words are reassuring but there was zero evidence of what he was saying so his words eventually became hollow to me. For that reason, I used the money I was paying him to go to showcases instead. I couldn’t make enough to do both.
“It’s your money and I’m not telling you what to do with it but if you keep going to showcases instead of paying me, you’re not welcome here anymore.” —'Certified Coach'I asked my cousin Les Williams, who played for Team Ontario if he could help me out. He asked his coach to reach out to me and he did, but as an adult, it’s hard to justify bringing some latchkey kid on a team mid-season with a few bucks to his name. He tried but it wouldn’t work out.
There wasn’t any college recruitment on the ‘elite team’ I played on. 1 option was to keep throwing my money into a black hole with the “elite teams” or take the crap shoot with the showcases that have hundreds of kids present. One option is a sure fail, the other is a slight chance at best. Regardless of how small it was, an opportunity is an opportunity. I took my playing career as far as I could with the limited resources I had. I was able to earn a scholarship to Adrian College and I was an undrafted guy that signed numerous independent free agent contracts. So I know the process as far as being able to market myself and knowing the right workouts that are available.
One of the biggest misconceptions I constantly see from players and families is that they feel, “if I'm good enough I'll get that opportunity.” That's not always how it works out. Even in the workforce, it’s not always what you know, it’s who you know. And the same thing is happening in baseball. ‘Well, what connection do you have?’, ‘Who can I speak to, to verify what you’re saying?’ Myself, I didn’t have any connections at all. So I had to go get them. I had to get myself in front of as many qualified eyes as possible to get what I want.
That’s why I drove to California & Texas by myself and lived out of my car for 4 months (Toronto to California – mission accomplished in 43hrs in a 02 Sentra). I did the same thing in Florida. On my travels that’s where I met and played in front of quality men like Ron Brand, Joe Wilkelsas, Aaron Nieckula and Joe Torre, and more...
Going the extra mile and playing in front of these men is what helped me earn a spring training invite with the Arizona Diamondbacks in Jan ’17. From there, working out with the Oakland A’s in Mesa, AZ.
It’s not necessarily about what happens to you, it’s more so how do you respond? Losing is only losing if you give up. You can try things and you may fail, but as long as you don’t back down and don't quit, somewhere there’s a victory to obtain. Even if something doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to, it’s about evaluating the situation & experience then sculpting it into something powerful and symbolic. Fire refines gold and pressure makes diamonds.
Special thank you to: Ron Brand, Joe Wilkelsas, Ced Landrum, Simon Walters, Joe Torre, Aaron Nieckula, Steve Springer, Chris Carmanucci, Josh Barfield, Mike Gallego, Eddie Dennis, Mike Pinto, Jim Bennett, Ronnie Deck, Jay Lapp, Paul Noce, Ed Campaniello, Ronnie Richardson, Derron Spiller, Nigel Wilson , Kirk Champion, Dan Fraser, all of my teammates and my mother, Ruth May.