Jeff Juden wanted to be a hockey player, but his right arm wouldn't let him.
Juden, a 1989 graduate of Salem High School, instead spent eight years playing Major League Baseball after being selected with the 12th overall pick in the MLB's amateur draft in 1989.
The Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year that season, Juden had all the leverage in the world with countless full scholarships to major colleges so he became a little picky on draft day.
"It was an exciting day," said Juden. "We had just won the state championship. All the guys were at my house. Newspapers, TV stations were there. The Mariners wanted to take me third (overall), but I wanted to hit and play in the National League. I had a blast (my senior year). I didn't care about all the attention. I went out there and just had fun. All the guys were embracing it."
Although he was selected 12th overall by the Houston Astros, Juden says he still got paid like he was the third pick and never seriously entertained the thought of playing college ball.
"I had a full scholarship to pretty much every college in the country," he said, "but how much better was I gonna get?"
Juden, who pitched for eight different MLB teams from 1991-1999, pitched with that hockey player's mentality, but he was also a smart pitcher. He was a team player.
Juden was asked if one of his teammates were to get hit by a pitch, was it automatic he would retaliate by throwing at an opposing batter his next time on the mound.
"No. I was like 6-8, 275 pounds and I could beat the s--t out of anyone I wanted," he said with a laugh. "I pitched to win. I couldn't slam them into the boards, but, yeah, I was aggressive and pitched inside, but I never put myself in front of the team."
Today, Juden, 47, lives in Swampscott and works for Tache Real Estate in Salem. He also is the executive vice president of Stars & Stripes Sports, a company that helps athletes understand the proper implementation of consistent sports testing to measure their development. He also continues to to dabble in his other passion - music.
Interestingly, Juden, after doing some serious digging himself, could turn out to be the lone switch-hitting pitcher in major league history to have four RBIs in two different games, hitting from each side of the plate.
"For some reason, I'm not recognized as a switch hitter," said Juden, who has been contacting various MLB teams and stat services to set the record straight. "I just want to get the stats right."
On Aug. 25, 1995 Juden, while batting right-handed for the Philadelphia Phillies smacked a grand slam off Dodgers relief pitcher John Cummings, a blast Juden said he called before the game.
"(Hideo) Nomo was pitching against us and all the talk before the game was about Nomo," Juden said. "He was on the big screen and they were making a big deal of him and I said I was going to hit a home run. I called the shot. (Third base coach) Larry Bowa called me out, saying I was a pitcher and I can't be calling home runs. I really think he was pissed, but then he did ask me if I wanted a high five or a low five when I rounded third base. I told him it better be a low five because there's no way you're gonna reach me for a high five."
Juden's grand slam also won a recent widow, Irene Maysonet, $10,000 in the Daily News Home Run Payoff inning.
His second four-RBI game came May 2, 1998 at Milwaukee's County Stadium where he just missed another grand slam "by about five feet" and drove in three runs with a double off David Weathers. He then added an RBI groundout.
One of Juden's biggest moments in the big leagues came on July 1, 1997 when he was pitching for the Montreal Expos against his childhood hero Roger Clemens on Canada Day.
"I looked up to him when I was a kid," said Juden of Clemens. "I remember it well, July 1, two Canadian teams, my father was in the stands. It was awesome."
Juden outdueled the Rocket Man, winning 2-1 before 50,436 fans at Skydome in Toronto.
"I beat him that day," Juden recalled. "I struck out 14 - the most I ever had."
Not only did he strike out 14, Juden also had a no-hitter through seven innings.
"Shawn Green wrecked it by killing my no-hitter," said Juden of Green's homer to lead off the eighth. "We won 2-1 and I got a win against the Rocket Man. They played that song Rocket Man whenever he went out there to pitch. I think of that game every time I hear that song."