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Jimmy Kerr and three generations of Michigan baseball

Every player on the Michigan 

baseball team has a mantra. 
Something 
they 
repeat 
to 

themselves before every game, 
every 
at-bat, 
every 
pitch. 

Something to get them in the 
right mindset .

For most players, it’s action-

based. Attack. Right now. Pound 
it.

Not Jimmy Kerr.
His mantra is three letters: 

J. D. J. 

J for John, his grandfather, 

who 
played 
baseball 
for 

Michigan in the 60s. D for 
Derek, his father, who did the 
same 20 years later. And J for 
Jimmy.

He wears their initials on his 

glove, and he has them on his 
bat. Every game. Every at-bat. 
Every pitch.

J. D. J.
“We talk all the time about 

how we’re standing on the 
shoulders of great men. It’s 
something we really value a 
lot as a program,” Jimmy said. 
“This is just my own little piece 
of that, to have my dad and my 
grandpa with me at all times.”

The Kerrs are a Michigan 

family.

There’s 
Jimmy, 
who’s 

now a senior in the school of 
engineering. Derek met his 
wife, Carolyn — Jimmy’s mom 
— when they were graduate 
students at the Ross School of 
Business in the early nineties. 
John also met his wife, Sharon, 
here when they were students. 

In 1962, John won a College 

World Series as a starting 
pitcher with Team 96.

In 1983 and 1984, Derek went 

to the College World Series 
twice as a catcher with Teams 
117 and 118. 

Now, in 2019, Jimmy starts at 

third base as a captain for Team 
153. 

Though the Kerrs’ Michigan 

tradition doesn’t start with 
John — his parents also met 
here — he was the first in the 
family to compete for Michigan 
baseball. As a starting pitcher 
with 
the 
Wolverines 
from 

1960-62, John was a key part 
of a commanding Michigan 
pitching staff that helped the 
Wolverines dominate the Big 
Ten. More than fifty years 
later, he still remembers how 
his “nasty” changeup screwball 
stifled batter after batter.

“Sophomore Kerr registered 

his fifth straight win without a 
defeat and stymied the Spartan 
batsmen by never allowing a 
runner to reach second base,” 
the Daily reported in 1962. 

“The capable starter kept the 
ball low and around the plate 
most of the afternoon, causing 
the majority of men he faced to 
hit bounders to the infield.”

Michigan 
wouldn’t 
have 

gotten to the College World 
Series without John. In the 
regional final, he pitched both 
ends of a doubleheader against 
Illinois and Western Michigan. 
He threw 313 pitches and 
won both games to send the 
Wolverines to Omaha, where 
they defeated Santa Clara 5-4 
in 15 innings.

“(Playing for Michigan) was 

a great experience — one of 
the best of my life,” John said. 
“It brings back such wonderful 
memories.”

Derek was the next of the 

Kerrs 
to 
don 
a 
Michigan 

uniform. After hearing stories 
from his dad’s years playing 
with the Wolverines, Derek 
knew it was a program — and 
a tradition — he wanted to be a 
part of.

“I grew up bleeding blue,” he 

said. “It was always a goal of 
mine to come here and play at 
the U of M.”

He walked onto the team as 

a catcher in 1982 and earned 
a varsity letter in three of his 
four years with the team. The 
Wolverines went to the College 
World Series his freshman and 
sophomore years and came 
close his junior and senior 
years.

Though Derek did not play 

much, his four years playing 
baseball at Michigan were still 
full of meaning for him. He 
played on teams with sports 
agent Casey Close and future 
Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, 
who won the World Series in 
1990 with the Reds. 

Despite his minimal playing 

time, coming to Michigan and 
continuing his family’s legacy 
both on and off the field was a 
meaningful experience.

“It’s the best academic and 

athletic 
institution 
in 
the 

country,” Derek said. “I never 
thought of going anywhere else 
for college.”

Growing up in a house with 

such strong family ties to the 
Michigan tradition, there was 
never any question for Jimmy 
about where he wanted to go 
to college. After spending his 
fall Saturdays watching the 
Wolverines with his father, 
Jimmy had no doubt that he one 
day wanted to put on the block 
M for himself.

“It was always my dream, 

as a baseball player, to come 
here and play for Michigan,” 
he said. “Especially having my 
family around — my parents 
make it to most games, and my 

grandparents have lived thirty 
minutes away for the last four 
years, so they’re always here 
— just being able to represent 
them while they’re in the stands 
means everything to me.”

But as meaningful as it is for 

the Kerrs to have Jimmy play 
for Michigan, it was important 
to everyone that the program 
was the right choice for more 
reasons than just tradition. The 
family baseball lineage alone 
could not be the sole reason 
behind Jimmy’s choice. 

Any 
such 
concerns 
were 

alleviated the minute Jimmy 
stepped on campus for his 
recruiting trip. The Kerrs were 
all impressed with the culture 
Michigan coach Bakich has 
created, building not only great 
athletes but great men.

“It’s special for us as a family 

for him to have the opportunity 
to play there. Coach Bakich 
gave him the opportunity to 
be a part of the team, and we 
appreciate that and everything 
else Coach Bakich has done 
for him so much,” Derek said. 
“It means so much to us — the 
person he’s become playing 
with such a special group of 
players and playing under such 
a special group of coaches. 

“It’s one thing to be good 

athletes, but it’s another thing 
to develop this group of 35 
kids into the people that they 
are and the people that they’re 
going to be when they’re done 
with athletics.”

Though his playing time 

was limited through his first 
three seasons at Michigan, 
Jimmy had plenty of bright 
spots. He hit .375 with a .531 
on-base percentage over 14 
games as a freshman and had 
a .412 slugging percentage and 
a .964 fielding percentage as 
a sophomore. As a junior, he 
knocked out his first home 
run of the season in a clutch 
moment to help seal a series 
win over Rutgers.

But as a senior, Jimmy has 

stepped into a larger role with 
the team, starting every game 
this season. Since settling into 
a role in the lower middle of 
Michigan’s batting order, he 
has 14 hits, three of which were 
home runs, and 13 RBI on the 
season so far. 

“He’s hitting the ball with a 

lot of juice in the bat,” Bakich 
said. “It’s really good to see.”

But for a program that prides 

itself so much on its history, 
Jimmy represents more than 
his offensive production and 
his defensive statistics. He 
embodies the tradition and 
the history that the Michigan 
baseball program is steeped in.

“To have a guy like that on 

our team, he’s just such a great 
inspiration and role model to 
all the other guys,” Bakich said. 
“It’s so easy how much it means 
to him. It’s so much more than 
most.”

When it faced Manhattan 

on Mar. 17, Michigan brought 
out its throwback uniforms. 
To honor the 1962 team, the 
Wolverines wore the jerseys 
that team wore when they 
won the College World Series, 
giving Jimmy a chance to 
wear the same jersey as his 
grandfather did.

“Coach pulled up the picture 

of the championship team in 
our meeting today. We hadn’t 
seen the jerseys before today. 
When he pulled one out of his 
bag, it looked almost exactly 
the same (as the ones the 1962 
team wore),” Jimmy said. “It 
was just so cool to be able to 
wear his jersey.” 

For many, the jerseys were 

simply a tribute to Michigan 
teams 
of 
years 
past. 
For 

Jimmy and John, they were a 
symbolic connector, bridging 
the generations of Kerrs to put 
on the maize and blue.

“It’s 
been 
a 
fabulous 

experience to see (Derek) play 
there and then to see Jimmy 
play there,” John said. “It’s 
hard to describe. It’s obviously 
one of the highlights of my life. 
I’m glad they had the same 
experience that I did because 
it was such a valuable, life-
changing experience.”

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
MICHIGAN MEN:

FIRST PITCH

8A — Thursday, March 21, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

