A purpose beyond baseball

CLEARWATER, Fla. - When Chad Durbin heard the two dreaded words Tommy and John in 2002, he was 24, had not attended college, and had earned less than $400,000 pitching in 47 career games for the Kansas City Royals.

That sounds like an impressive income, until you consider trying to stretch it across, say, the next 60 years. Durbin had passed on an opportunity to study engineering and play baseball at Louisiana State University, and suddenly faced an uncertain future.

That particular story ended well, of course; Durbin rehabilitated his shoulder and later won a World Series with the Phillies. He has earned several million dollars and enjoyed a long professional career, but his health scare underscored the cruel reality facing all professional athletes: It can end anytime, and in most cases it ends before they are financially secure.

The Major League Baseball Players Association is aware of this issue and hosts a seminar each winter for minor-leaguers, teaching them how to manage their money and prepare for life during and after their athletic careers.

"People sometimes don't realize it, but you can even be a three- or four-year major-league player and not make enough money to be financially secure for life," said Greg Bouris, a union spokesman.

Durbin, too, is sensitive to the problem, and has become immersed in a venture that not only lends his own life purpose beyond baseball but also trains other athletes in self-empowerment. ShowcaseU.com, the small but growing business Durbin runs with former minor-league teammate Jake Chapman, provides low-cost guidance for college recruiting, and emphasizes values held deeply by both men.

Durbin and Chapman are less interested in discovering future all-stars than they are in teaching their clients - more than 220 in the 20 months since they launched the venture, according to Chapman - how to navigate life, and how to use sports as a tool to find success elsewhere. And if ShowcaseU athletes do become professionals, Durbin and Chapman want them to be well-rounded and self-sufficient enough to handle the possibility of a short career.

"There are only so many Ken Griffey Jrs. and Ryan Howards in the world," said Chapman. "The rest of us have to scratch and claw."

Four years before he met Durbin, Jake Chapman's scratching and clawing began in 1992, when he was a high school senior in Indiana. A lefthanded pitcher desperate to attract the attention of college baseball coaches, Chapman persuaded his parents to spend $800 on a service that promised to market him to major programs.

Believing that all would be taken care of, Chapman simply waited for top universities to contact him. They didn't, and Chapman wound up attending St. Joseph's College in Indiana for four years. Though he graduated summa cum laude and was drafted by the Royals in 1996, Chapman regretted outsourcing such an important process.

"That whole recruiting experience left a bad taste in my mouth," Chapman said. "There are a lot of people out there who prey on the hopes and dreams of kids, and just dive into their parents' pockets. They promise to hold your hand through the whole thing, to do everything for you. I wanted to learn how to help myself."

In the fall of 1996, Chapman reported to the instructional league and met Durbin, a righthander from Baton Rouge, La., who had signed out of high school. Despite the four-year difference in age, the two pitchers forged a connection based on the shared traits of intelligence, ambition, and competitiveness.

"He was very smart and mature for his age, and the most competitive guy I ever met," Chapman said, laughing while recalling his friend's constant challenges - which Durbin usually won - to do more squats or lunges, or compete in foot races.

Durbin was interested to hear about Chapman's negative experience, and agreed that teenagers would benefit from maintaining more control of their own recruiting.

"You can pay someone $4,000, but if they say they'll do everything for you, you're never going to learn how to help yourself," Durbin said.

The two became spring-training roommates, and played together in the minors. By the late 1990s, their career trajectories diverged; Durbin made his big-league debut in 1999, while Chapman did not reach triple A until 2000.

By the time Durbin had his Tommy John elbow surgery in 2002, Chapman had conceived a business idea that would address many of the problems that he saw with the recruiting process. With Durbin's future in doubt, Chapman mentioned the idea to his friend, and they agreed to someday pursue it.

Durbin made it back to the major leagues the following year, when Chapman's career was fizzling. Having never been promoted above triple A, he pitched briefly in Mexico in 2004 before retiring. Back in Indiana, working for his former college in a development position, Chapman remained in contact with Durbin, and the two developed their idea.

Slowed by their day jobs, they still found time to collaborate on writing a business plan. In 2008, Durbin and Chapman launched their Web site, stressing the foundational principles of affordability and empowerment. For $99, a high school baseball player - the site later expanded to softball and plans to ultimately include other sports, academics, and the performing arts - can create an electronic profile on ShowcaseU.

That profile pulls together academic transcripts, videos and photographs, team schedules, and other features. The site also provides a customized college search process, and a database of contact information for college coaches. Subscribers can e-mail their profile materials directly to schools.

"Kids can do as much or as little with it as they want," Durbin said. "The ball is in their court. We want to teach them how to market themselves. That's why we don't charge them a fortune and promise to do it all for them. Those skills will help them get better jobs later on, or take on a more important role in the company where they work. We're trying to teach people how to do this."

Durbin is more interested in providing that self-marketing experience than in pointing people toward athletic careers.

"I'm not even worried about these kids playing pro ball," he said. "I'm worried about a kid going to junior college who may not otherwise go to school at all, but can do it because he can hit or pitch a little bit. Playing a sport and going to college, you can put that on your resume. You take that to a business and they say, 'Not only was this guy dedicated enough to get a degree, but he was also part of a team.' You're helping people get a platform to take the next step in their life."

Undaunted by the economic crisis, which Durbin believes ShowcaseU survived because of its low price and his ability to inject cash when needed, he and Chapman plan to expand. Last year, Chapman left his job and made the business a full-time pursuit. Durbin puts in several hours a day during the off-season, and one or two hours after games once baseball begins. The partners meet regularly with potential investors, a challenge Durbin considers no easier than entering a close game in the late innings with runners on base.

"Sitting around that committee of seven or eight people is intimidating," he said. "Your nerves get going, and it's kind of like facing a veteran hitter; if you make a mistake, they're going to make you pay for it. In your first meetings with venture capitalists, there has to be a bluster factor. You have to let them know that they're not going to be able to stomp all over you, and that you have valid ideas. They're trying to figure out if you're just a dumb ballplayer with money to invest."

After retiring from baseball, Durbin plans to attend college, an experience that would better equip him to compete in the boardroom. Even without the degree, he is optimistic about his company's potential. It has already hosted several recruiting combines, where clients can create professional videos displaying their skills.

The venture has given Durbin a more permanent way to indulge his competitive nature, and an outlet for his intellectual curiosity.

"We can create something that stands the test of time and makes a difference in a lot of people's lives," Durbin said. "You'd like to think that, using your brain and some willpower, you can do something interesting, and something that helps people."