The tingling in Cliff Brumbaugh's body didn't stop for a long, long time. That's what happens when a 27-year-old dream finally comes true.

Brumbaugh, HNS '96, one of the best players in the University's baseball history, has just completed a long, six-year journey through baseball's minor leagues, and just this past June, he finally reached what ballplayers call "The Show," the major leagues.

After alternately starring and struggling in the minors with the Texas Rangers for more than half a decade, the 27-year-old finally got his big chance in a highly unorthodox way: His team gave up on him.

"I was kind of stuck behind a lot of other players in Texas' system, and I kept getting passed over for promotions," says Brumbaugh, who starred at UD in the mid-1990s. "Finally, in the middle of June, Texas made a move."

That move was to put the outfielder/third baseman on waivers, a move that allows any other big league club to claim a player and make him part of their organization. Luckily for Brumbaugh, the Colorado Rockies loved his game and picked him up.

This is how he found himself standing at home plate on July 1, a black and purple Rockies jersey on his back for the first time, and Arizona pitcher Brian Anderson staring back at him.

Two pitches later, Brumbaugh swung and drove his first big league home run into the Phoenix night, setting off a wonderful sensation throughout his 6-foot-2-inch frame. "After everything I'd been through, that was just...the greatest feeling I could ever imagine," he said a week later, after becoming just the seventh UD player to make the majors. "You dream about your first big league homer, but it was just so much better than you dream."

Brumbaugh's dreams started a long time ago, when he grew up in Wilmington, Del. A star at William Penn High School, Brumbaugh was a natural ballplayer, and legendary former UD baseball coach Bob Hannah saw his potential right away.

"Cliff was one of those kids who even as a teenager had a tremendous work ethic, the kind of kid you knew would do everything in his power to get better," Hannah says. "He had tremendous bat speed and great hands. I knew if we could get him into our program he'd be an outstanding asset."

Brumbaugh was offered a free agent contract by Milwaukee out of high school, but he decided instead to suit up for the Blue Hens, becoming one of the best sluggers in recent school history. The third baseman hit .393 for his UD career (fourth-highest in school history), driving in 123 runs in his three seasons and being named to the all-conference squad twice. His .442 average as a junior was seventh-best in the nation, and his 95 hits in 1995 are the second-best single-season total ever at UD.

After that outstanding career, Brumbaugh was drafted by Texas in the 13th round of the 1995 amateur draft.

"It was great at first, because you figure you're going to play for an organization that cares about you and wants you to succeed," Brumbaugh says.

After three years at the single-A level, Brumbaugh was promoted to Texas' AA club in Tulsa, Okla., in 1998. In two years with Tulsa, Brumbaugh tore up opposing pitching, and in 1999, he hit 25 home runs and drove in 89 runs.

Surely, he was now back on the fast track to the big leagues, he figured. But, then, Brumbaugh wasn't called up to AAA at the start of the following season, and bitterness started to set in. "I felt in my heart I was good enough to at least be on their 40-man roster and get promoted, but, apparently, no matter what kind of numbers I put up, I wasn't going to be," Brumbaugh says. "At the end of 1999 is about when I figured I was stuck, and things got a little difficult."

Still, supported by his friends and family, Brumbaugh perservered. He worked hard on his defense and became a versatile player, able to play the outfield as well as third base. Brumbaugh's close friend and former coach, current UD skipper Jim Sherman, felt his friend's disappointment

"Many times, organizations just make a decision on a guy's ability and there's nothing he can do about it," says Sherman, who also played in the minor leagues. "You get stuck behind a great player who plays your position, or one of the organization's coaches doesn't like your potential. It could be anything. I just knew that Cliff wouldn't give up, though, that he'd wear out all avenues to get to the bigs."

Finally, after he was enjoying another good season at AAA Oklahoma City, Texas called him up for seven games in early June this year. After he struggled, going 0-for-10, he was put on waivers, setting the stage for his career-turning event.

"Getting put on waivers, I felt, was a big insult to me," Brumbaugh says. "At the time, I felt like I wasn't really being given the opportunities that other guys were getting." But, the dark clouds soon lifted for Brumbaugh. After Colorado picked him up, he played for the Rockies' AAA club for about two weeks before getting called up on June 29, just two days before a home run he'll never forget.

"Going to Colorado has just been such a great new beginning for me," Brumbaugh says. "Just getting a chance to play, and the whole timing of how it happened, has just been so much fun. I'm with an organization that thinks I have a future with them, which is very refreshing."

Since his auspicious debut, Brumbaugh has played a few games a week with the Rockies, sharing time with the team's other outfielders. Through the end of July, he was hitting .294 with one homer and four runs batted in. He was sent back to AAA in early August but should be back on the Rockies' roster in September, when the major league rosters expand.

"Obviously, I don't know what will happen in the future, but I get a good feeling from the management here that I'll get a chance," Brumbaugh says. "We haven't been doing so well lately," he laughs, alluding to the Rockies' last-place standing, "but, hopefully, we can turn it around."

Brumbaugh says one of the greatest things about being a Rockie is getting to play in Coors Field, Colorado's home park and a place where, because of Denver's altitude, balls soar a lot farther than they do in most stadiums.

"As a hitter, this is probably the best place to play, because even if you don't hit a ball great, you have a chance of hitting a homer," he says.

Despite being so far from his roots in Delaware, Brumbaugh says he's always kept the lessons he learned at UD close to him.

"Every day, I use the stuff that Coach Hannah and Coach Sherman taught me, because so much of what I learned from them was right," he says. "I still talk to Sherman a lot, and he's always been in my corner."

For Sherman, who also was a star player at UD, seeing Brumbaugh make it is an inspiration that can help the current UD players.

"It's a major help any time you can point to a player from your program who is in the major leagues and tell the kids, 'Hey, he came from here and look where he is,'"Sherman says. "The hard work and motivation do pay off, and in Cliff, the kids can see that.

"Hopefully," he adds, "we'll get a few more guys up there soon to keep Cliff company."

--Michael Lewis, AS '97