Former Notre Dame standout pitcher Aaron Heilman was one of the guest speakers at the 2006 Opening Night Dinner.

Tuesday Testimonial: Aaron Heilman Delivers A Special Message At Baseball Opening Night Dinnner

Feb. 7, 2006

By Pete LaFleur

The Monogram Club’s popular Tuesday Testimonial series makes its return to und.com (if you missed the 2005 entries, be sure to check out the links at the end of this entry) – with a special offering from former Notre Dame standout pitcher Aaron Heilman (’01). The Irish baseball program held its fifth annual Opening Night Dinner on Feb. 6 and Heilman was one of the featured speakers, sharing a heartfelt speech with an overflow crowd of nearly 1,800 in the Joyce Center Fieldhouse.

Heilman has been a versatile pitcher on the Major League level, emerging as one of the top members of the 2005 New York Mets staff after making a midseason shift to the bullpen. He compiled a 3.17 ERA, 5-3 record and converted 5-of-6 save chances during the 2005 season with the Mets, making 53 appearances (7 starts) while totaling nearly a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (106 Ks/37 BB) and allowing just 87 hits in 108 innings pitched.

He tossed a one-hitter to beat the Florida Marlins on April 15 (7 Ks; 4-0), after taking the place of the injured Kris Benson. Heilman later moved to the bullpen in mid-May and responded by posting a 2.18 ERA in 46 relief appearances (66 IP), allowing just a .207 opponent batting average and only one home run in the those bullpen outings. His overall stats at Shea Stadium in ’05 included a 1.61 ERA and 4-1 record in 29 appearances (3 GS, 61 IP).

Heilman’s career stats with the Mets (also spanning parts of the ’03 and ’04 seasons) include a 4.60 ERA, 8-13 record and 179 Ks in 201.1 innings (72 GP/25 GS, 193 H, 91 BB). He opened his pro baseball career by playing with the Port St. Lucie Mets (single-A; ’01), the Binghamton Mets (AA; ’02) and the Norfolk Tides (AAA; ’02-’04). The former ND standout recently returned to the U.S. after compiling a 2.27 ERA and 4-1 record as a starter in the Dominican Winter League.

Heilman was a 54th-round draft pick out of high school (’97, by the N.Y. Yankees) and 31st overall pick in 2000 (as a “sandwich” or compensation pick, by the Minnesota Twins), before opting to return to Notre Dame for his senior year. He later signed with the Mets as their first-round pick (and the No. 18 overall pick) in 2001.

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Heilman’s one-hitter vs. the Florida Marlins highlighted a 2005 season in which he emerged as one of the top pitchers on the New York Mets staff.

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A finalist for all top national player-of-the-year awards as a senior, Heilman was one of just six consensus 2001 first team All-Americans in all of Division I college baseball, after going 15-0 in 15 starts (he was the nation’s only undefeated pitcher with 13-plus wins) with a 1.74 ERA (6th in the nation), 111 Ks, just 31 walks and 70 hits allowed (.173 opp. avg., just 3 HR) in 114 innings. He is one of 24 all-time Notre Dame student-athletes (five from team-oriented sport) to be a four-year All-American and finished his career ranked among the all-time leaders in 15 of 16 career categories in the ND baseball record book (no other pitcher is listed in more than 10 categories), ranking no lower than 5th.

Heilman ended his career as Notre Dame’s all-time leader in wins (43-7), strikeouts (425), innings (393.2) and double-digit K games (7), ranking second in career ERA (2.49, best since ’61), complete games (26, best since 1900) and K-to-walk ratio (3.66) and third in saves (12), win pct. (.860, 43-7) and appearances (83). He also ranks fourth at ND in career shutouts (6), starts (44), consecutive wins (15) and strikeout ratio (9.72 per 9 IP), plus fifth in fewest hits allowed per 9 IP (6.74) and with a .200 career opponent batting average. Heilman also owns top-three season strikeout totals in Notre Dame history (118 in ’99 and ’00; 111 in ’01).

He became the 14th Division I pitcher known to total 40-plus wins and 400-plus strikeouts in his career, with the previous 13 including Santa Clara’s Rick Troedsen, ASU’s Greg Swan and Eddie Bane, Texas aces Richard Wortham, Greg Swindell and Kirk Dressendorfer, Hawaii’s Derek Tatsuno, Fresno State’s John Hoover, Florida State’s Mike Loynd, Clemson’s Brian Barnes, Georgia Tech’s Doug Creek, Auburn’s John Powell and South Carolina’s Kip Bouknight.

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Heilman’s dominating career included becoming a rare four-year All-American and the 14th Division I pitcher with 40-plus wins and 400-plus strikeouts in his career.

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Heilman’s career honors include being named the national freshman of the year in 1999, after leading the nation in ERA as the Irish closer (1.61), including a 31-inning shutout streak. He later won 25 of his final 26 decisions at Notre Dame, posted 24-3 career record and 2.14 ERA in games away from home and averaged 33 innings per home run allowed in his ND career.

He struck out 18 West Virginia batters in a 7-inning game that extended to 10 innings (April 15, 2000; 3-1 win), tying the BIG EAST record and one shy of the Notre Dame record. A 10-time BIG EAST pitcher of the week, he was the first pitcher ever named all-BIG EAST in four seasons and joined Charles Nagy (UConn, ’87-’88) as the only repeat BIG EAST pitchers of the year. He pitched for Team USA in 1999.

Excerpts of Heilman’s comments to the Opening Night Dinner crowd follow below. Always known during his Notre Dame days for his humble attitude and team-first focus, Heilman’s speech fittingly focused only on the extreme gratitude he felt towards Notre Dame and the baseball program. Given the podium with nearly 2,000 people looking on, he easily could have told tales of the life of a Major League baseball player. He could have relived the glory days when he dominated the college game, routinely making even the most talented hitters look silly.

But for those who know Aaron Heilman, they know that’s not his style. His former teammates have gone on to carve out their own postgraduate success stories – some in law, some in medicine, to name a few of the prestigious fields. If someone had stumbled into Monday’s dinner in the midst of Heilman’s speech, that late arrival never would have guessed that the speaker was a current big leaguer. What was most evident was that the young man at the podium was a former Notre Dame baseball player, one in a long line of great success stories and one who is more than content with the path he took.

His own words will tell you the rest:

Tuesday Testimonial – Entry #12, Aaron Heilman (baseball ’01; February 7, 2006

“It’s certainly an honor to be up here speaking in front of such a large audience. … It’s great to see everybody out here and have your support as we kick these fine young men off to great season.

“I had to laugh when coach asked me to speak at this dinner because the last time I spoke here [at a formal gathering] was at our indoor facility and I never thought that there would be so many people that would be interested that I was going to my Monday morning class [and thus finalize the return for a senior season].

“I made the decision to come back for my senior year and we had a lot of fun and there were a lot of things that went into that decision. A lot of things could have gone differently … For me, it was an easy decision. After the first day on campus, after about five minutes, I knew this was where I belonged. It was one of those moments where I knew everything fit. Everything seemed right and there was nothing more I could ask out of this University. And I never knew how special a place it would be until later in my career.

“Paul had offered me a small scholarship and only the opportunity that I would get a chance to pitch and that’s all I was looking for. I didn’t want to attend a university where I would be the top dog on campus and I didn’t want to go somewhere where I felt I would get lost in the shuffle. At Notre Dame, I was afforded that opportunity to really explore how good of a pitcher I would be.

“It was a difficult first semester for me. It was hard adjusting to school, dorm life, living with a new roommate who I had only met 10 minutes before and trying to get along, having to share a bathroom with abut 300 other guys in your dorm. … For me, it was a blessing in disguise. … School wasn’t easy for me and I had to work at it and put a lot of effort into it, more so than I did on the field.

“About a month into school, I remember getting a phone call saying that my dad was in the hospital. It was very hard for me at the time. I was in shock, I didn’t know what to do. I was waiting for my sister to pick me up to go over to the hospital. So I go over to coach’s office and I sit down with him and explain things to him and I think it was the first time that I really knew that I had made the right decision to come to this university because he gives me this strange look, like `What are you still doing here?’ And then he says to me, `Why are you here?’ It just assured me that his priorities were the same as mine, that the family came first and everything else was secondary.

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Heilman’s rise to the Major Leagues was preceded by a valuable four-year experience as a member of the Notre Dame baseball program.

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“Having spent the weekend in the hospital with my dad and family, kind of talking over what I was going to do. … And I think I surprised coach a little bit when I showed up on Monday morning for practice. For me, it was the best thing I could do. I knew my parents wanted me at school, it was a place I needed to be and it really helped me get through the time because it allowed me the opportunity to forget about that for a while. The time I spent on the baseball field was my own little time. I didn’t have to worry about papers I had to write, or if I had to finish a reading.

“I didn’t have a very good year in the fall for baseball. But I knew in my heart I would be OK because I knew I was making the right steps to improve my game. It was kind of tough for me to get into fall practice because I was pitching against my own teammates and I could never really get excited about pitching against someone who was going to play defense behind me later. …

“I knew I had to come back and make an impression on coach and the team and really prove – not only to coach and the rest of the team but to myself – that I belonged at the university and was going to be successful, be a good pitcher and do all the things I knew I was capable of. All of the help that not only coach gave me through those times, my [future] wife was always there, who I had just started dating at the time. …

“It’s those relationships that have really stayed with me through the years and it was one of the main reasons I came back. I was drafted 31st overall and turned down over a million dollars. I specifically remember the day that I decided I was going to come back to school. It was the middle of the summer and I was sitting up at the lake having a good time with my friends because I wasn’t playing baseball in the summer league and just trying to relax.

“Coach called to see how my summer was and was just checking in to make sure everything was OK. I told him I believed I was going to sign the next day. I was ready to sign and wanted to play professional baseball and I know Paul knew that before the end of the season that was my goal, to play professional baseball, and it was only a matter of time before I took on that role. But I could sense a little hesitation in his voice and it wasn’t the fact that I had not decided to come back to school but it was more that he could sense the reasons that I was making that decision. It was a long summer and I just wanted to play baseball and I made up my mind that’s what I wanted to do and I wanted the process to be over.

“For some reason, I went to bed that night and you can call it a moment of clarity or whatever. But I woke up the next morning and I really couldn’t believe what I had said to coach and I almost felt like I had let him down and also my former teammates, guys I had been through the trenches with. … So I felt that not only I owed it to coach but I owed it to my teammates. It was purely my decision to come back and it was a win-win situation for me. There was no decision I could make that would affect me adversely. I could go play professionally, make a lot of money and go that route. Or, I could come back, finish my degree, play one more year with my former teammates and it was something I couldn’t pass up. You’re only allowed your senior year once and I was certainly going to enjoy it.

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Aaron Heilman (left) and Danny Tamayo were one of the nation’s top pitching duos in 2001 and are just two of the many close-knit players that comprise the Notre Dame baseball alumni group.

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“Everything worked out in the end and it was those relationships. It’s amazing, because you never think that you’re going to keep friends this long but one of the biggest examples of this was a few years ago when coach had his 10-year reunion. I can remember sitting in his house, me and about 100 former student-athletes here and you couldn’t get a single guy to leave. … It was amazing after all those years those bonds were still together. Guys I hadn’t seen for three or four years, it was like I had seen them yesterday. And it really meant a lot to me.

“I had the opportunity to get married here at the basilica. The number of former teammates that attended my wedding, it blew me away to know that I still had that many friends who had stuck with me through the years and still wanted to be part of my life.

“For me, it really came full-circle when I made my Major League debut, not only did I see some of my former coaches from high school but I also saw my former [college] coach, who wouldn’t miss it for the world, and a few of my former teammates as well and it’s friends like that that make this university special. And it makes me want to always come back and never leave.

“I’d just like to thank coach for giving me the chance to speak and all my former teammates who have been through the wars, I wouldn’t be here without you guys. Thank you for your support, God bless and Go Irish!”

Tuesday Testimonial #1: Rosella Guerrero

Tuesday Testimonial #2: Brian & Rory Walsh

Tuesday Testimonial #3: Carrie Nixon

Tuesday Testimonial #4: Kevin O’Shea

Tuesday Testimonial #5: Kim Pacella

Tuesday Testimonial #6: Pat Steenberge

Tuesday Testimonial #7: Todd Rassas

Tuesday Testimonial #8: Sara Liebscher

Tuesday Testimonial #9: Lizzy Lemire

Tuesday Testimonial #10: Jaimie Lee

Tuesday Testimonial #11: Tom and Steele Whowell

Do you have a recommendation of a former Notre Dame student-athlete to participate in the “Tuesday Testimonial” series? If so, please pass on the individual’s name and contact info. (if available) to Bo Rotternborn at rottenborn.2@nd.edu.