Emceed by well-known sports personality Dave Ross, it features various name ballplayers – Tom Browning this year, Hall of Famer Goose Gossage last year and before that guys such as Eric Davis and George Foster – and benefits the Versailles High School baseball program, the Versailles Council of Churches and presents at least $10,000 annually to Stammen’s alma mater for scholarships.
But here’s another example, one folks around here might not be familiar with. It began with a USO Holiday Tour in 2012 that Stammen, then pitching for the Washington Nationals, went on with two other pro athletes – fellow Nats’ pitcher Ross Detweiler and Washington Capitals left winger Matt Hendricks – and Shane Hudella, the founder of what’s become the United Heroes League, a nonprofit organization that helps the children of military families afford and be involved in sports.
“It was a seven-day trip all across the world and it was eye-opening,” Stammen said. “We flew from Andrews Air Force Base to Bahrain, then we flew out and landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier the USS John C. Stennis, which was in the middle of the Persian Gulf, about 50 miles from the Iranian border.
“From there we went to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and then we spent two days in Afghanistan before going to Germany to visit some troops who had been injured. Then we few back to Washington, D.C.
“I’ll remember that trip forever. It gave you a real good picture of what war is like – and it’s not pretty.
“And you saw what the people fighting for us had to go through. One of our stops was a forward outreach base in Afghanistan. There were some 18-year-old kids and their job was to take their armored vehicle out and search for roadside bombs, for IEDs.
“Essentially their job was find the bombs or get blown up. They were one month away from being sent home and you could tell they were mentally drained. They were ready to go home. I know they volunteered, but it’s nothing an 18 year old should have be put through.
“We’re mostly ignorant to it back here. We don’t know what really goes on. It really hit me.”
When they got back to the States, Stammen and Detwiler, with Hudella’s help, began to take military families under their wings and brought them out to the ballpark for various activities.
Three years ago Stammen joined the San Diego Padres and became even more involved in the project. With the help of the club, he brings military families to Petco Park once a month.
“They get on the field for batting practice, get a meet-and-greet with me under the stadium in one of the locker rooms and then they attended the game,” he said “The Padres provide the tickets and I give them some money for the concession stands. And this year for the first time, we had a free baseball clinic for military kids.
“You always look for ways to help others and that’s what this has become. And it just fell into my lap.”
Actually, Stamen’s lap is quite full these days.
There’s the annual Diamond Club fundraiser that takes place next Saturday night and the baseball camp in the old Versailles High School gym on Sunday.
During the summer he lends his name to a youth baseball tournament that brings 50 teams to ballparks at Versailles and North Star, the village of just over 230 people 10 miles northwest of Versailles.
Stammen’s family has run the hardware and implement store there for generations and the ball diamond in the town is named after him.
He has not forgotten the University of Dayton either. He upped his profile there pitching for then-coach Tony Vittorio and that led to the Nationals drafting him in the 12th round in 2005.
He and Jerry Blevins, his former Flyers’ teammate and a big league pitcher himself, bought turf for the indoor hitting and pitching facility at UD.
“I was raised a certain way by my parents and by the community, too,” Stammen said of his willingness to help others. “It’s part of my faith, too.
“It’s pretty clear when you’ve been given a lot, you also need to give a lot back. The question is, ‘What can I do with all the blessings I’ve been given? And I’ve been given a lot.’ I’ve been able to experience all kinds of opportunities and meet all kinds of people.
“So it’s, ‘How can I be less selfish about my baseball career? How can I make it a blessing for more people than just me?’”
Soft spot for UD
When Stammen left UD for professional baseball, he was 15 credits shy of graduating.
He had promised his mom, Connie, a UD grad and a school teacher, he would get his degree and he did. He returned to school in 2014, taking cases online and on campus in the offseason.
UD has held a special place with his family for years. His sister and several cousins graduated from the school, as well..
He said his grandfather – Ivo Langenkamp – was as a big Flyers basketball fan and used to listen to all the games on the radio.
And for several years now, Craig and his dad Jeff have shared season tickets in the 100 section of UD Arena, right across from the UD bench.
Unfortunately for him, he gets many of the less-than-marque non-conference games because he leaves for spring training each year right after the Super Bowl.
“This year though the VCU game is in January,” he said with a smile.
The 35-year-old right-hander was a free agent until he resigned with the Padres late Saturday. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported he’s guaranteed $9 million over two years and there’s a team option for a third year worth another $4 million.
Before this, he said several teams had shown interest in him, including the Cincinnati Reds.
But with them – as he put it late last week: “There’s always that money factor and ‘We’ve got to wait and see how our budget is at the end.’ I think they’re trying to make some bigger moves and I’m a little person in a big pond.
“I grew up a Reds fan just like a lot of the people in this area and it would be fun to play for them at some point in my career.”
He went to games with his dad at old Riverfront Stadium and has reached out to some of his boyhood heroes to take part in the Diamond Club festivities in recent years.
Early on though he brought in some of his big league teammates, including one year fellow picthers John Lannon and Tyler Clippard.
“They’re two of my best friends and both of them are city boys,” he laughed. “I brought them to North Star and they got to experience the country for the first time. We shot some clay birds and they drove tractors.
“John’s from Long Island and he had never been that close to a tractor before, let alone drive one.”
‘I just met your future wife’
Tony Vittorio wasn’t just Stammen’s coach at UD, he became his friend … and matchmaker.
“He called me during the season once and said, ‘Hey, I just met your future wife!’” Stammen laughed. “I said, ‘You’re full of crap,’ but you know how he is. He’s pushy and he said, ‘No, here’s her phone number. You should call her up.’
“I said, ‘I don’t even know who she is yet. I haven’t even seen her.’ But he just goes, ‘OK, I’m gonna set you up.’”
Vittorio was talking about Audrey Ludwig, a new assistant volleyball coach at UD who had followed head coach Tim Horsman when he left Maryland and returned to take over the Flyers program he had been so successful with in the past.
She had coached the 2013 season at Maryland with Horsman and before that had been the head coach at Hamline University, a Division III school in St. Paul, Minn.
A native Minnesotan, she had also coached at Augsburg and at St. Olaf, her alma mater.
“In the offseason I was meeting Tony for lunch and as I was driving down, he went up to the volleyball office and told Audrey, ‘Meet me in my office in 10 minutes.’ He didn’t say anything else,” Stammen said.
“She came down and they were talking and five minutes later I walked in.”
The three talked for nearly 30 minutes and Craig and Audrey hit it off immediately.
They married in January of 2017 and now have two children, son Chase who will be 2 in March and daughter Summit, who was born three months ago.
“I love being a dad,” Stammen said. “It puts things in perspective when you give up a home run to lose the game. You come home and hug your kids and put ‘em to bed and then start up the next morning and get them breakfast. You realize then your self-worth isn’t all tied to baseball.”
The year they married, the couple built a home next door to Stammen’s parents. And when the baseball season is over each year and Craig and Audrey return to Darke County, she helps coach the Versailles volleyball team, which won the state tournament the first two years she assisted head coach Kenzie Bruggeman.
After playing in cities like San Diego and Washington, D.C, and travelling all across the country, why come back to the smallest of small towns in Darke County?
“I’ve tried to be the same person I was when I left here and that’s always helped me,” Stammen said. “I can’t get too big for my britches here when I’m around people from this area. They view me more as Jeff’s son than Craig the Major League ballplayer. That keeps me grounded.
“There’s something about family being close and I think the faith component here (he’s Catholic) has a lot to do with that.
“And there’s the way kids grow up in this area. They learn hard work and get a good education. And there’s not a lot of worry about outside influences. And they have the opportunity to play sports. Not just focus on one sport, but be able to try their hand at all of them. “
In the summer of 2017, Stammen joined former UD basketball standout Chris Wright, who has played in the NBA, former Flyers pitcher Mike Hauschild, who’s been in the big leagues, too, and Dr. Phil Anloague to form Orion Sports Medicine on Byers Road. It caters to local high school athletes and pros. Several of the area’s name athletes train there.
While that’s an investment for Stammen — as well as the facility he works out in during the offseason — the place he sees himself working at in the future is back at the hardware and implement store in North Star.
He worked there as a kid and his is presence was still felt when he went off to the big leagues.
Before Jeff retired from there, he used to have Craig sign a couple of dozen baseballs each year which he kept behind the counter.
“Yeah, he said when he was making a deal, if the guy had young kids at home, he’d give him one of those signed balls,” Stammen laughed.
“His story was they’d buy a $100,000 baseball and he’d throw in a free tractor.”
About the Author