onefrombills
10-15-2008, 02:42 AM
PBA Tour: Baldwin Borough bowler on tour full time
Friday, October 10, 2008
By Phil Axelrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Joe Bailey kept throwing strikes.
As the frames rolled by, the disappointment of the past two years was forgotten and the dream of joining the Professional Bowlers Association Tour on a full-time basis was becoming a reality.
Bailey, a Baldwin Borough resident, threw a 298 in his 45th and final game over five days to leapfrog to fourth place and earn an exempt status for the 2008-09 Denny's PBA Tour. The tour begins with the PBA World Championship Oct. 19-26 in Wichita, Kan., and continues through March with 18 events.
"I'll be out there for six months straight," said Bailey, 27, who moved to Baldwin a year ago from Akron, where he grew up and attended the University of Akron. "I hope this is what I'm going to do for a living. For the next six months, bowling will be my job."
For the past few months, Bailey had a job working for a bank and cut back a bit on his bowling.
"I was a little fresher for these trials," he said. "I don't know if I want to say I expected this, but I knew I had a good chance."
The top seven finishers at the 2008 Lake County Indiana trials at Stardust Bowl in Merriville, Ind., May 27-June 1, qualified for the tour.
Bailey was in the mix all week and was in ninth place heading into the final day.
"I knew I needed something in the 230s to make it," said Bailey, who was coming off games of 246, 245 and 269. "I wasn't thinking 300. By the eighth frame, I kind of knew if I didn't do anything really stupid I was in."
Bailey was in a similar position going into the fifth day of the trials last year and came up 50 pins short.
"It was pretty bad and I finished 14th," said Bailey, who came here to be with his girlfriend, Jodi Sabalauskas, a former standout bowler at Baldwin High School. "I told myself, don't let one bad day cost me four good days like I did last year. I was pretty upset, but I knew where I was lacking. I knew what I had to do."
Two years ago, Bailey wound up in the middle of the field and never challenged for one of the top seven positions.
"I knew I wasn't ready. I wasn't in the right mind-set to stay focused for 45 games," he said. "I just wanted the experience. I didn't have any expectations."
Bailey became a member of the PBA in 2006 and competed in six tournaments that year, cashing in two of them with 24th place in the Ace Hardware Championships his best showing. He bowled in a few regional tournaments in 2007 but didn't enter any PBA Tour events during the 2007-08 season.
"I wouldn't say I'm going in over my head," Bailey said of the PBA Tour. "I have some friends out there and I've seen what they're doing. I think I'm ready."
Friday, October 10, 2008
By Phil Axelrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Joe Bailey kept throwing strikes.
As the frames rolled by, the disappointment of the past two years was forgotten and the dream of joining the Professional Bowlers Association Tour on a full-time basis was becoming a reality.
Bailey, a Baldwin Borough resident, threw a 298 in his 45th and final game over five days to leapfrog to fourth place and earn an exempt status for the 2008-09 Denny's PBA Tour. The tour begins with the PBA World Championship Oct. 19-26 in Wichita, Kan., and continues through March with 18 events.
"I'll be out there for six months straight," said Bailey, 27, who moved to Baldwin a year ago from Akron, where he grew up and attended the University of Akron. "I hope this is what I'm going to do for a living. For the next six months, bowling will be my job."
For the past few months, Bailey had a job working for a bank and cut back a bit on his bowling.
"I was a little fresher for these trials," he said. "I don't know if I want to say I expected this, but I knew I had a good chance."
The top seven finishers at the 2008 Lake County Indiana trials at Stardust Bowl in Merriville, Ind., May 27-June 1, qualified for the tour.
Bailey was in the mix all week and was in ninth place heading into the final day.
"I knew I needed something in the 230s to make it," said Bailey, who was coming off games of 246, 245 and 269. "I wasn't thinking 300. By the eighth frame, I kind of knew if I didn't do anything really stupid I was in."
Bailey was in a similar position going into the fifth day of the trials last year and came up 50 pins short.
"It was pretty bad and I finished 14th," said Bailey, who came here to be with his girlfriend, Jodi Sabalauskas, a former standout bowler at Baldwin High School. "I told myself, don't let one bad day cost me four good days like I did last year. I was pretty upset, but I knew where I was lacking. I knew what I had to do."
Two years ago, Bailey wound up in the middle of the field and never challenged for one of the top seven positions.
"I knew I wasn't ready. I wasn't in the right mind-set to stay focused for 45 games," he said. "I just wanted the experience. I didn't have any expectations."
Bailey became a member of the PBA in 2006 and competed in six tournaments that year, cashing in two of them with 24th place in the Ace Hardware Championships his best showing. He bowled in a few regional tournaments in 2007 but didn't enter any PBA Tour events during the 2007-08 season.
"I wouldn't say I'm going in over my head," Bailey said of the PBA Tour. "I have some friends out there and I've seen what they're doing. I think I'm ready."