A SWITCH HIT: JOHN BIEDENBACH EXCELLED AT BASEBALL, THEN AT COACHING
John Biedenbach saw the handwriting on the chalkboard in 1970.
In his fifth season in the Washington Senators farm system, the third baseman from Flint knew his days as a pro ballplayer were numbered when the Senators acquired slick-fielding Aurelio Rodriguez in a trade early in the season.
Biedenbach couldn’t know then that Washington would deal Rodriguez to the Detroit Tigers before the following season, but it didn’t matter. The St. Matthew High and Michigan State University standout was well-prepared to change careers and start a new life in teaching and coaching.
Thus, one of the best ballplayers to come out of Flint became one of the winningest softball coaches in Michigan, with 800 wins and counting at Trenton High.
That combined excellence of athletic ability and coaching success has landed Biedenbach in the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame, the fourth hall induction of his life. He went into the Trenton Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1997 and was part of the 1961 Buick Colts American Legion team that joined the Flint Hall two years ago.
He probably won’t make it to Cooperstown, but that’s OK.
“When you start out, you’ve always got that goal, but it got to the point where you’ve got to get a regular job,” Biedenbach said. “They had just signed Aurelio and the future didn’t look as bright.”
“I’m glad I got that education.” Danny Litwhiler(MSU coach)always told us that “Make sure you have something to fall back on, because the chances of making it are very slim.”
Not that Biedenbach had no chance.
A three-sport prep star who helped St. Matt’s to a state basketball title in 1962, he became one of the Big Ten’s most-feared hitters all three years he played at MSU (freshmen were ineligible then).
He was sixth in the conference at .354 as a sophomore and led MSU with a .390 mark as a junior, when he was voted All-American and was drafted by San Francisco.
He turned down the Giants to finish school and became MSU’s Outstanding Male Athlete as a senior, the same school year (1965-66) the football team went to the Rose Bowl.
Signing with the Senators, Biedenbach found baseball a different experience in the minors.
“You played every night, and some of the fields weren’t as nice as some college fields,” he said.
“Was it luxurious? No. Was it a lot of hot dogs after some away games and then all night on a bus? Yes. But when you’re young you can do that kind of stuff.”
It helped when Biedenbach go married and had Joan with him the last three years of his pro career. They saw a lot of Bull Durham country in the Carolina League, and John had a particularly good year at Burlington, hitting “.260 to .280 with a few RBls.”
But he never got higher than the Double-A Eastern League and changed course in his mid-20s.
At Trenton, he became “Mr. B.”, an elementary phys-ed teacher who helped develop athletes for his softball and girls basketball teams in high school.
“Coaching was fun,” he said. “Title IX had just come in and the girls were very enthusiastic. They were like sponges; they wanted to absorb everything you could teach them.”
“Plus, we were successful. That meant a lot.”
Biedenbach’s teams made it to the softball state finals twice and the basketball final four twice “with basically neighborhood kids.”
He has sent 24 players to the state All-Star game, including Miss Softball Erin Lesko in 2002; 38 into college athletics and 10-15 into the high school coaching ranks.
This year, more than 150 of his past players threw a banquet celebrating his 800th softball win.
“It’s been a very good life,” said Joan, herself a 30-year volleyball official. “Both our sons say that one of the things they admire most about their dad is his passion.
“He was so passionate about baseball, but once that was taken away from him, he turned that passion to coaching and teaching”.
READ FULL BIO