University of Minnesota Athletics
Around the Bases with Toby Hanson
4/10/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MINNEAPOLIS - GopherSports.com went "Around the Bases" with senior outfielder Toby Hanson earlier this season ahead of the team's last three-game home series.
Hanson, who should return to the line-up soon after recovering from a hand injury, has hit .353 (30-for-85) for the Maroon & Gold this season in 23 games. He has driven in 18 runs, crossed the plate 14 times, and slugged nine double while adjusting to a new position after switching from first base, where he played the first three seasons of his career. The Delano, Minnesota native launched a home run and a double while finishing 3-for-4 at TCU on March 16. He drove in a season-high four runs on two doubles against George Washington back on March 13.
GopherSports.com: The Gophers wrapped up their stay at U.S. Bank Stadium this season. How would you rate the experience of playing at the home of the Vikings the past two seasons?
Toby Hanson: Yeah, it has been an awesome experience. Obviously, you're playing in a billion dollar stadium, and for collegiate athletes, that is pretty cool. It has been fun and the field has played a lot better than I thought it initially would. At the same time, when you play a handful of games in there, you're always ready to get back outside and get back to true baseball weather.
GS: How have you seen your role change this season as a senior?
TH: I find myself trying to guide the younger players. I've been through enough seeing that this is my fourth year playing college baseball. So, you begin to notice things from the younger players and try to help them out as much as you can and try to make their experience as best as you can throughout the next few years. Just little tips here and there about the mental and physical game, so I really feel as though I have been able to do that a lot this year and it has been fun being an upperclassman.
GS: What has been your favorite moment during your career with Gopher Baseball?
TH: There has been a lot of good memories, but the one that sticks out to me is winning the Big Ten Championship a few years ago, especially with the circumstances that we were going through with Todd Oakes, our pitching coach at the time, battling cancer. Being able to win the Big Ten Championship and presenting the trophy to him at his front door before he passed away was a special moment with a lot of special guys.
GS: What is the most important lesson you have learned while playing collegiate athletics?
TH: There has been a lot of lessons, but I guess the one that Coach Anderson always preached to us was to "Control the controllables." That is one saying that has always stuck out to me because there are a lot of things within the game and in life that you can't control, but the one thing that you can control is how you go about it and how you react to that adversity. Whether it is battling injuries or bad calls, that is what life is all about: just being able to bounce back from the things you can't control. That is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
GS: Everyone here hopes to be playing at the next level when they have wrapped up their college career, but you are also pursuing a degree at the U of M. What are you studying, and what is your plan for your post-playing days?
TH: Obviously, you can't play the game forever (as much as we all want to), but I will be graduating with a Sport Management degree. At this moment, I am unsure what I want to do exactly with that degree. So, we'll just see what happens, but first I am going to graduate. Ideally, I would like to continue working in the sports world whether it is coaching or working for a professional team in sales or marketing.
GS: What is your favorite MLB team or player - either as a kid or today?
TH: When I was growing up, I actually took a lot of heat for this, but I grew up a diehard New York Yankees fan, strictly because of Derek Jeter. I just really admired the way that he played the game and how he handled himself on and off the field. So, he's always been a huge role model of mine and by far my favorite athlete. So, I always just grew up cheering for the Yankees and cheering for him.
GS: What is your favorite baseball movie, and why?
TH: I would have to go with Sandlot. That is a movie I could just watch over and over again no matter how old I get and no matter how many times I've watched it. I never get sick of it. It's a great film of kids going out and playing the game and having fun and at the end of the day that's what we are doing, so it always a good movie to go back and watch.
Minnesota (21-10, 5-1 Big Ten) will open its home stay on campus at Siebert Field on Wednesday when the team hosts Augsburg University. First pitch is set for 4 p.m., weather permitting.
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