Current Rossford Schools District Treasurer, Jamie Rossler says that his love for baseball began at an early age.  “I loved to play,” he said.  “I was always part of that gang that rode around with a glove on my handlebars, looking for a game.”

               Now that he is older, Rossler still confesses for a love for the game that he first embraced as a child.  “Without question, baseball has had a profound impact on my life, all the way back to little league.”  What has been most important to him is the networking and relationships that he has developed over the years that actually started on a baseball diamond. 

               As a kid he played for the Pemberville Legion team where one of his teammates was Randy Gardner, Ohio State Representative.  The two have remained friends to this day.  His relationship with Mr. Gardner is just one of the many friendships Rossler forged through baseball. 

               Rossler said that back in the day he and friends might spend the entire day playing ball behind Eagle Point School.  They never had trouble finding others to play.  At that time, Rossford was a baseball-rich area.  “We had quality players here in Rossford,” said Rossler.   “Back then, there were eight little league teams in town, all of which were sponsored by either businesses or organizations.” 

               Rossler was then one of the players lucky enough to be chosen to compete in several all-star games that were played in the late summer.  He found that not only did he love the game but he had a talent for it as well.  His playing days eventually transitioned to Rossford High School where he played for Head Coach Jerry Baumgartner. 

               From 1975-77, Rossler played catcher for the Bulldogs.  He also closed out games as a pitcher because he could “throw the ball hard and knew where it was going to go.”  He added, “My arm was my biggest asset.  People didn’t run on Rossford.”  He said that Rossford baseball was really good then. “We played all the big schools: Whitmer, Clay, Start, all the great programs.”

               While he was not considered a power hitter, Rossler batted in the three hole and good at making contact.  During his tenure with the team, RHS won the NLL championship in ’75 and ’76.  “We came a bad hop at Southview away from winning it in ’77, too.”

               In the summers, Rossler continued to play at a high level.  He played in the East-West All-Star Game, and he played with the National Amateur Baseball Federation Championship in 1977 as a member of the Trilby Merchants.  “We played on astro-turf at the old Clippers Stadium in Columbus; it was a big deal.”  Like most good players at that time, Rossler also played in the Senior Knothole League, a league just below Federation ball, with Bernie’s Market, a team from the North End.  This league featured players who were in college and just out of high school, who were not going on to play professionally.  Still, the league was loaded with talented players from all across the area. 

               He admits that earning the accolades with playing in all of these all-star games didn’t really matter to him.  For him, it was just another opportunity to play baseball, and for him that was enough.  

               After high school, Rossler continued his career at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he played for a few years, but admits that at the D-I level of college the players are huge, and he didn’t have that kind of size.  So, he eventually ended his collegiate career.  He returned to Rossford and then finished his college degree at University of Toledo.  He received his bachelor’s degree in Business and then later added a Masters in Business Administration from Findlay University. 

               He eventually began his work in school finance.  He started with Toledo Public Schools.  He then spent some time at Cardinal Stritch and then Eastwood before taking a similar role with Rossford Schools in 1991. 

               He in fact credits his love of baseball for getting him interested in math.  “I was not a good student.  I had Coach Baumgartner for Geometry and I couldn’t care less.  But Coach Baumgartner put a question on an assignment that asked how many feet was it from home plate to second base.  We had to use geometry to figure it out, and I decided I wanted to know that answer.  That hooked me,” he said. “It’s 127 feet; I still remember that answer, but it was that moment that I became interested,” he added with a laugh. 

               When asked what he loves best about baseball, Rossler said that as a catcher, he always loved the strategy of the game.  “Baseball is a lot deeper than people think from a strategy standpoint.  Everything to me was strategy, how to pitch guys differently depending on the situation.  It’s a thinking game and you had to anticipate things.”  He indicated that he benefited from having an “uncanny ability to remember what players had done in previous at-bats.”  “Getting them out was like solving a puzzle,” he said.   Rossler then added, “Baseball has prepared me for life by teaching me discipline.  It taught me to focus.”

               Rossler also expressed his admiration for his coaches growing up, especially Coach Baumgartner.  “He always put us in a position to make plays.  We were well-schooled on the fundamentals.  We knew how to bunt, how to hit behind the runner.  We were prepared.”

               Coach Baumgartner, according to Rossler, always found plays for the Bulldogs, and the team used these plays like weapons. He won’t forget one play in particular.  They were playing against Whitmer and the Panthers had a runner on first and third.  Whitmer attempted a double steal, so after the Bulldogs threw a strike, Rossler came up throwing.  He acted like was going to throw it through into centerfield, but the shortstop caught it behind second base.  He then fired it home as the runner from third was on the move.  Rossler made the catch at the plate and made the tag for the out.  But in his efforts to block the base, the sliding Whitmer player broke his leg when they collided.  As he tells this, the broken leg seems secondary to making the out. 

               The best advice he has for young players is, “Learn the fundamentals.  It’s not just see the ball and hit the ball.  If you are going to be successful, you need to focus and learn the fundamentals.  You got to love it.  You can’t just do it one season, but every chance you get.”

Submitted by Michael Krieger