Felmy said he never thinks about the possibility of his baseball career ending. "I really try to take it day by day. I know something could happen, I could have a great series or I could have a great day today, and tomorrow I could get sent down, I could get called up.

"When you try and figure out what they're thinking, when you think you've got them pinned, you have no idea. They make the decisions and it's on my performance. If it's my time to get out of the game, then it's time, I'm not going to sit there and dwell on getting released or getting traded," he said.

The reason for Felmy's philosophy: He is playing with house money.

"I wasn't supposed to make it this far. I'm just proving people wrong," he said.

And he enjoys every minute that he can do that.

While others may have dreamed of becoming an astronaut or a fireman, a young Bobby Felmy thought of nothing but becoming a professional baseball player.

"I just want to keep proving people wrong, people who doubted me, people who said I would never do it," he said. "There were a lot of them, especially from a small town you remember them.

"Every day I prove I can do it and I'm still doing it. If something happens, who can say they've done what I've done? Not many people can. I've got the stories, I've got the memories, nobody can ever take that away from me," he said.

Felmy has no timetable for making it the bigs or getting out of the game.

"I am just going to play until I can't play anymore. That's always been my outlook on it. When it's time for me to get out, I'll get out. Nobody else will be able to decide it for me, unless I get released. When it's time, I think I will know. It's like anything else, you know when it's time to retire, you know when your girlfriend's the right one."

Felmy figured that one out more than a year ago. He has been married for a year and a half to the former Bria Dalpiaz of Sunbury. The couple live in the area in the off-season and Bria, who earned a bachelor's degree from Susquehanna University, is going to return to school to get her teaching certificate.

Part of Felmy's off-season was spent working with some major league players at the University of Tennessee, but he gives a lot of credit to Shikellamy athletic trainer Mike Elder.

The latter worked with him and made the weight room at his alma mater available to him. "He does a great job, he got me where I needed to be for the season. Hat's off to him because he's got a lot of stuff to do and he took a lot of time out to make sure the weight room was open for me, and he came in and worked me," Felmy said.

Felmy also returned the favor, working with the Braves' baseball team and he also occasionally visited the Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame in Sunbury, tossing balls with kids and signing autographs.

"There may be some kids out there who want to do this, too, and I want to go around and let them know that Hey, you can; if you are from a small town, don't let them tell you (that) you can't.'"Š"