Not all athletes have an easy time adjusting to life after professional sports. But for B.J. Garrison, nine years into his second career, things are well enough that he can’t see himself doing anything else.
Garrison, a Plant City native, went from making defensive adjustments on a baseball field to performing chiropractic adjustments for patients at the Caring Concepts clinic in 2007. Even with fluctuations in the health care system, Garrison says his time at the clinic has been good.
“The last nine years, I’ve gotten to meet a lot of really great people,” Garrison says. “A lot of wonderful patients.”
When Garrison started in 2007, he worked with Dr. Victor F. Kohlmeier, a man known for fighting polio around the world, and Dr. Todd Glenn, who is still with the practice. Garrison’s mother, Vel, also worked in the clinic as an administrator but has since left.
Garrison says that, while the grind of the medical field is different from that of a professional athlete, it’s not exactly easier.
“The people that I played with, I had some of my best friends in the whole world. We grew up playing Little League together, then at Plant City High School, and then we actually played against each other in college. Just hanging out with your buddies — and, of course, winning games.”
— B.J. Garrison, former professional baseball player
“Nine years ago, it seemed easier,” Garrison says. “I didn’t imagine, I guess, that it would be as physical as it truly is. We’re busy — we see anywhere between 30 to 80 patients on any given day, so those days where you have over 50 are grueling. You get home, and you just want to stare at the wall and watch paint dry.”
Of course, the good thing about that is that he was able to help 50-plus people live more comfortably that day.
Garrison does miss playing baseball for a living, as the sport was good to him. He enjoyed a great career at Plant City High School, from which he graduated in 1996, and then Florida Southern College before going pro in Canada. He says that, for his amateur career, the people were the best things about the experience.
“The people that I played with, I had some of my best friends in the whole world,” Garrison says. “We grew up playing Little League together, then at Plant City High School, and then we actually played against each other in college. Just hanging out with your buddies — and, of course, winning games.”
He played pro ball from 2000 to 2003, first for Les Capitales de Quebec and then went to back America to play for the Schaumburg Flyers and Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks. In 2003, his final year as a pro, the Redhawks won the Northern League championship.
The one thing any pro athlete needs for life after sports is an outlet for their competitive nature. For Garrison, that comes in the form of guiding his children in their own sports ventures. His son, Austin, plays baseball, and his daughter, Lana, plays basketball.
“I find myself up there getting loud, like, ‘Come on, let’s go!’ And then, I’m like, ‘Oh, wait, I don’t want to be that guy,’” Garrison says. “But it’s that competitive nature — you start to feel it again, and it’s exciting. I get real excited to watch my kids play competitive sports. They get super fired up.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.