Chris Shiner and John Thompson of Lantana and John Shiner of Highland Village recently opened an indoor instructional baseball facility in south Denton that teaches young people to learn about, play and fall in love with the sport of baseball.
Shiner, a former Marcus High School baseball player, opened DBI Baseball and has joined with former and current professional players to instruct youngsters in the intricacies of the national pastime and said, so far, the results have been great.
“We’ve had about 100 kids sign up so far as members,” Shiner said. “We’ve got two instructors that are Marcus products of the 1990’s. One of them holds about every record there is to hold for Marcus, and that’s Justin Crowder. He is without a doubt the best player to have ever played at Marcus High School in its 30 year history.”
“We’ve also got Brian Peterson, who is the best player ever to come from Marcus in terms of his professional career. He has had the longest tenure in the pros. He is going through Spring Training with the Arizona Diamondbacks in a couple of weeks and hopes to earn a spot with that organization for the 2013 season.”
Peterson, a catcher, has played with 10 different major league organizations including the Indians, Orioles, Royals, Reds, Tigers, Astros, Pirates, Brewers and Yankees.
The facility is located at 9074 Teasley Lane across from the south side of Guyer High School in Old Alton Industrial Park and is open to players of all ages and skill levels. DBI welcomes both walk-ins and members.
“We’re doing this because we enjoy baseball,” Shiner said. “My son Camden is four and John Thompson, one of the other owners, has three sons (Jackson, Tate, and Wyatt). Another instructor, Phil Schmidt, has two boys. We’re already around baseball all the time with our boys, and we figured why not have some more fun with it.”
DBI Baseball also serves as Coach Johnny Kinzy and the Guyer baseball team’s inclement weather facility.
“We want to have a good place for the community to be able to come and enjoy baseball,” Shiner said. “It’s a great location that is located right in the middle of some great baseball communities.”
Shiner said he came up with the idea for the facility because of his son, and what the sport has meant to him for most of his life.
“I wanted him to have an opportunity to be immersed the sport I love,” Shiner said. “He seems athletically inclined, and he likes to hang out with the boys. He comes up here and hangs out with me for three or four hours a day. He and his friends get to be around baseball guys, and I think that’s great.”
Visit www.dbi-baseball.com for more information.
Pictured above from left to right: John Thompson, Justin Crowder, Chris Shiner, Phil Schmidt. Front: Camden Shiner
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