Larry Luebbers walked away from professional baseball in 2002, but he didn't leave the game.
Luebbers is spending this week working a baseball camp for area youngsters, ages 7-12, at Lakeview Park. The camp is a joint effort of the Frankfort Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites Department, and the Frankfort Baseball Association.
A former pitcher with the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals, Luebbers is spending a week's vacation at the camp. He's also spent time as an assistant baseball coach at Western Hills, and he helped form the Frankfort Baseball Association.
"I'll be around baseball all my life, one way or another," he said after camp ended Wednesday.
The camp ends today with a one-day session for players ages 7-8. Tuesday and Wednesday was for those ages 9-12.
"I'm happy with the turnout," Luebbers said. "We have fewer people this year, but we had a few conflicting camps in the area. We provide a service for Franklin County kids. The (local high school) coaches volunteer, and players and ex-players come to help."
Luebbers grew up in Union, just 15 minutes from Riverfront Stadium. He walked on at Kentucky and was eventually drafted by the Reds.
"I was fortunate to the have the opportunity to pitch in Cincinnati," he said. "It was a kid's dream come true."
That dream ended in 2002 when he retired from baseball.
"It was hard to give up, but I didn't have much of a choice," he said. "It was the end of the season, and when the season was over I had the opportunity to play for a couple of teams.
"I'd been in the minor leagues for 13 years and a couple of years in the big leagues, and I didn't have a real good opportunity to play at the Triple A or big league level," Luebbers added. "It's not like I got released, which is good, but I didn't have a real good opportunity to make a major league team."
Luebbers and his wife, the former Carol Stephanski, have two children, ages 10 and 4. Carol is from Frankfort, and the two met at UK.
Luebbers works in the banking industry, but he's kept his hand in baseball.
After leaving baseball he spent some time as an assistant coach at Western Hills " "I really enjoyed that, but I'm not able to do that right now because of time constraints," he said " and he works with the Frankfort Baseball Association.
"The Frankfort Baseball Association formed two years ago," Luebbers said. "It was myself and a representative from each of the three high schools. Right now it's the head coach from each school, and David Mahoney has been representing Frankfort High lately."
One of the objectives of the association is to give older kids a chance to play baseball in the summer. The Frankfort Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites Department currently offers baseball for children up to 15 years old through the Babe Ruth League.
"There was a group from the high schools that wanted to get a group together for summer ball," Luebbers said. "We'll see what it develops into. We're trying to develop a system that works out for the benefit of all kids.
"Every kid has the opportunity to play in the Parks and Rec leagues, and they do a great job," he added.
"Take that away, and kids who don't make a select team might not be as good when they get to high school.
"Select teams are big right now, people wanting to play in tournaments, but what Parks and Rec does, you can't take that away. We're a separate entity from the city, we're not associated with the city, but the city leagues are an integral part of Frankfort baseball."
Last year, in the first year for the baseball camp, children ages 8-12 met together for all three days. This year the younger kids have a day all to themselves.
"With the younger kids, there aren't as many," Luebbers said, "so in one full day they'll get more work in than in three days.
"We try to keep things fluid. At bigger camps they have a strict time frame, but with a smaller group you can give a lot of help," he added. "Today we worked with catchers. It was supposed to go 45 minutes, but they had a lot of questions, and it went an hour and 15 minutes. We can let the day flow as needed."
Those attending the camp work on hitting, infield, outfield, pitching and base running. On Wednesday there was a home run derby and skills games.
"We teach good mechanics, especially with throwing," Luebbers said. "That's why we send everyone through the pitching session, even if they aren't pitchers. That way they don't get hurt.
"We don't teach a curveball," he added. "We get asked about that quite a bit, but we won't teach that. We work with the fastball and changeup, and if they can throw those that's all they need to get people out until they get to high school."
And the camp gives Luebbers a chance to do some reminiscing while keeping an eye on the future.
"It's fun looking back and remembering when I was that age," he said. "I've seen several who have really good fundamentals, and those are the ones to keep an eye on."