BASEBALL LINEAGE
Nathan Andre Trosky comes from a long history of baseball professionals, with the majority born and bred in the great corn state of Iowa. Four of the family professionals come from the small farm town of Norway, Iowa. Norway, known as the baseball capital of the world, has bred more professional baseball players per capita than any other U.S. city. Within the Trosky family lineage there are a total of four major leaguers and four minor leaguers. The most prominent is Grandpa Hal Trosky, one of the greatest Cleveland Indians of all time. Grandpa Hal is recognized today as the best rookie to ever play the game, driving in 137 runs, 35 home runs and a .333 batting average. In 1936, he was on the box of Wheaties Cereal hitting 162 RBI’S, batting 343, with 42 Home Runs. The Trosky bloodline has done something few families have ever done - claim three generations to one major league organization, at the major league level. Grandpa Hal finished his 11th season with the Chicago White Sox; Uncle Hal Trosky Jr. pitched for the Sox in 1958; and Cousin Collin Mattiace (drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays) was the Sox Physical Therapist, earning a World Series ring in 2003. The other family professionals are former major league pitcher cousin Mike Boddiker. In 1984, Boddiker lead the AL with 20 wins and with a 2.79 ERA. Cousin Nate Freeze, a 5-year high school varsity starter played AAA for the Chicago Cubs. Cousin Ian Mattiace was one of the greatest high school players in Iowa’s history, hitting 23 homeruns and 69 RBI’s in a 23 game high school season. Mattiace signed a minor league contract with the Amarillo, Armadillos. Uncle Mick Mattiace pitched AAA with the Cincinnati Reds and was one of 4 pitchers in baseball history to throw back-to-back no hitters, taking place during his 2nd and 3rd professional outings. And the 8th family professional is Nate Trosky. Nate spent 4 years as a coach in Europe’s professional leagues, winning the German World Series in 1998, after coaching 2 years in the United States minor league system.
HOLLYWOOD
Check out “The Final Season,” a recent baseball family film (from the directors of “Sandlot”). It is a Hollywood story about the legend of baseball in the Norway Iowa (the Trosky baseball family lineage is a component of the movie).
