Mark Bauer, a 44-year-old father of three, likes to hit and catch balls. Whether he is with his three kids or eight other friends, hitting and catching balls is his passion.

“I’ve been playing baseball since I was eight,” he says. “I love it.”

Growing up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, baseball was everything. Bernie Bauer, his father who has passed away, started the Kenosha Kings baseball program in Kenosha as well as Mark’s baseball career.

Bauer said, “He was baseball in Kenosha.”

While excelling on the baseball field while admiring Robin Yount who was a “stud back in the eighties,” Bauer became a standout at Kenosha Tremper High School.

Through becoming conference champs in the spring of ‘81 and winning American Legion Tournaments in the summer, baseball became the passion and focal point of his life.

His success for the Kenosha American Legion team provided an offer from the University of Georgia Southern to play baseball. After being asked to play for a junior college for baseball from the head coach, Bauer ended his baseball career after the fall semester by transferring to UW-Whitewater.

When looking back on the decision of quitting baseball because the coach told him to play for a junior college for a year.

Bauer said, “I regret it. I didn’t fully understand what a junior college was, so I ended giving up on the dream too early.

Even though Bauer was discouraged, he continued playing baseball in southeastern Wisconsin Leagues: Land O’ Lakes, West Bend 40 League, and a Tuesday and Thursday League.

He played until the age of 33 where he took a leave of absence while raising three kids. However, not even his kids could contain the passion his father deeply engraved to his heart because at the age of 40 he was offered to play in a men’s league that he plays in to this day, as well as passing his love for the game to his kids and coaches to this day.

Mark Bauer’s passion for baseball is contagious. He spreads his love for the game to his kids, players whom he coaches, and teammates. Robin Yount and Bernie Bauer would be proud.