Sykeston native Travis Hafner reflects on decorated career

Jun. 19—TAMPA, Fla. — In the decade since Skyeston native Travis Hafner retired from Major League Baseball, he spent time out of the spotlight coaching his three sons in Tampa, Florida.

"I do a lot of coaching youth baseball, coaching my boys (Blake, Trip and Knox), playing baseball and I work with (the) Cleveland (Guardians) as a special assistant in a scouting and player development role, hitting consultant type role," Hafner said. "....It's not hard to stay busy with three boys."

Hafner is one of 20 players from North Dakota to make it to the major league, and he has the second-most hits among them and the most home runs. During his 12-year career, Hafner played in 1,183 games, compiling 1,107 hits, 213 home runs, 731 RBIs and a .273 lifetime batting average. He also finished in the top five in MVP voting in 2005 when he recorded a .305 batting average, 33 home runs, 108 RBIs and 94 runs. His achievements saw him inducted into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

"It was an incredible honor, knowing the people that are in there, a lot of those people are people I grew up watching and cheering for," Hafner said. "They kind of gave me hope that somebody from North Dakota could go have success in the sports world."

During his career at Sykeston High School, Hafner played basketball and baseball and competed in track and field. He said the biggest challenge to making it to the major leagues from North Dakota is the weather.

"There wasn't really a ton of opportunity to play baseball in Sykeston other than 20 games of summer baseball," Hafner said. "I guess I realize now more than ever because we live in Florida and you can play year-round, I see kids playing 150 games in a year and I don't necessarily know that that's a good thing. Certainly playing a good amount of baseball as a kid, you get more reps, you get more polished. But I also think there's something to be said about playing different sports growing up and not just specializing in one sport as well."

Hafner said he was excited to know that one of the youth baseball fields in Jamestown is being renamed Tom Gould Field. During his time growing up in Sykeston, Hafner crossed paths multiple times with Gould.

Despite not playing against each other when growing up, Hafner said he and Jamestown native Darin Erstad spoke when the two played against each other in the major leagues. Erstad played for the Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros from 1996-2009.

"I was able to meet up with him a couple times for lunch or something when we were playing in the big leagues," Hafner said. "He really helped me tremendously. I grew up watching him and he was a North Dakota boy that not only was really successful but the top pick in the draft and he went on to have an amazing career with Angels and all that he did at Nebraska. So, he was somebody that I followed closely, and I was able to meet him over the years and talk to him and you're instantly impressed by his work ethic and his intensity for the game."

Prior to the 2023 MLB season, the league put new rules into the game including introducing the designated hitter to the National League full time, which Hafner thinks is a good change because it helps protect pitchers and makes roster construction easier for teams that are in the National League.

Over the course of his career, Hafner played in 25 different ballparks. He said the two Minnesota Twins stadiums — the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and Target Field — and all four ballparks in New York and Fenway Park in Boston were his favorite to play in.

"I really liked Seattle (T-Mobile Park), I really enjoyed that ballpark and obviously playing in your home ballparks is always special," Hafner said.

During his career, Hafner played for the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees, spending the majority of his career in Cleveland before his last year was spent in the Big Apple. When he was considering his options as a free agent, Hafner said he reached out to former teammate C.C. Sabathia about what it was like to play with the Yankees.

After his rookie season, Hafner was traded from the Rangers to the Indians. He said the trade was good for his career because of the Rangers log jam at first base that would've stopped him from getting consistent playing time.

Hafner said one of the most memorable moments in the early part of his career was when he got a hit against the Indians and stood on first base talking to then Indians first basemen Jim Thome, who he grew up watching.

Hafner's first career hit was a triple, one of only 13 in his career, against Tigers pitcher Mark Redman. On Aug. 13, 2003, Hafner hit for the cycle against the Twins with the last leg being a triple.

"I always had my family there whenever we played in Minnesota so it was cool that they got to see it," Hafner said. "I think the home run and the triple were hard hit and I think my other two hits were choppers, only two of the four were hit pretty well ... . I knew I needed a triple and people were talking about it. I don't think the game was super close so they're like, 'Hey if you hit a ball in the gap, go. I don't care if you get thrown out at third just go.' So, it was the perfect spot to hit it to right-center at the Metrodome and I just remember that I saw where it went off the bat, you put your head down and go as fast you can. That's all I was thinking about, was trying to get a triple. I knew that if I stopped at second the whole dugout would've ripped me."

If he can't watch big league games live, Hafner said he catches up with the highlights, and he enjoys watching some of the best players in the game, including Los Angeles Angels outfielders Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Cleveland Guardians third basemen Jose Ramirez.