Bo Lanier, ex-Reds farmhand and Redleg Nation Spotlight Player recently checked in and sent us a note about his career and what he’s been up to since leaving baseball.
What am I doing now? I moved out to Dallas, TX about 6 months ago to start working as a sales rep for a company called ACI International.
We have the licenses to several different brands of shoes and my job is to sell those shoes to retailers. If you look on the website I included you can see all brands that we carry. Here are the brands that I mostly deal with: Margaritaville, Perry Ellis, LA Gear, Shaq, and Diadora.
The reason I moved to Dallas is because JC Penney is headquartered here and that’s one of our biggest clients. My other clients include Academy Sports, Stage Stores (also operate under the names Peebles, Bealls, and Palais Royal), Neiman Marcus, Last Call, Dillard’s, Nordstrom, AAFES (Army and Air Force Exchange Service), and some others.
Have I had any second thoughts about retiring? Not really. I didn’t have a choice. My arm was killing me which made me try to overcompensate for the pain by changing my mechanics. That led to big time control issues and probably caused some mental effects. As much as I loved playing, my last thoughts when I think of pitching are consumed with the thought of pain. It was like a knife in my arm every time I threw a pitch. That is something I would never wish on anybody.
Could I have possibly gotten surgery/rehab? Yes, but the reality was that I was 24 years old in High A and wasn’t going to be promoted to AA that year based on performance and arm issues and may not even the following year depending how surgery/rehab and performance went. As much as I appreciated the opportunity the Reds gave me to play and never thought I would be retiring that soon … it was time.
I went back to UGA, finished my degree, and here I am. I do however miss my teammates, but get to see a lot of them pretty frequently. I still keep in contact with Russell Haltiwanger, Jeff Stevens, Josh Roenicke, Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs, Thomas Pauly, and several others. Stubbs actually stayed at my place last weekend.
How much do I watch baseball? Every single night during the season. It’s cool to watch people I played with or against who are now in the big leagues. I get so nervous when I’m watching my friends play who are now in the big leagues with the Reds because I want them to do so well. Way more nervous than I ever got playing.
That’s my life right now in a nutshell. Feel free to ask me questions whenever. Thank you!
Bo Lanier
We appreciate Bo’s time and wish him future success. He’s a good guy and a class act.