From the World Series to Alaska? That’s the plan for Astros pitching coach

This week Houston Astros pitching coach Brent Strom is riding the roller coaster known as the 2017 World Series. Two weeks from now, he'll be in Alaska, offering pitching tips to young baseball players.

Strom, 69, is scheduled to make his eighth straight appearance at Alaska Legion Baseball's Professional Baseball Clinic, set for Nov. 10-12 at South High School in Anchorage and Nov. 10 at the Menard Center in Wasilla.

If it goes seven games, the World Series will end Nov. 1, a little more than a week before Strom is due in Alaska.

"He's been coming up here seven years and it's always kind of been the same weekend, which is Veterans Day weekend," said Steve Nerland, president of the Alliance in Support of American Legion Baseball in Alaska. "So he committed last year to come. We got his airline tickets to him, and we've been corresponding with him as recently as a couple of days ago."

Strom's connection with Alaska baseball goes back 50 years, to when he played three seasons with the Fairbanks Goldpanners from 1967-69. Strom was the Goldpanners' MVP pitcher in 1968 and 1969, when he was a combined 12-5 with three saves, 174 strikeouts and 56 walks in 165 innings.

"He's told us he puts us first on the calendar, because he does a few other clinics around the country," Nerland said.

A left-hander who spent five years in the Major Leagues, Strom was 22-39 with a 3.95 ERA in 100 games — 75 as a starter — with the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Cleveland Indians from 1972-77.

In 1979, Strom became the second pitcher to have Tommy John surgery. Unlike John, he didn't return to the majors after the operation.

Strom has had a long coaching career and was the minor-league pitching coach for the 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. But this year marks the first time he's calling pitches from the dugout at a World Series.

Joining Strom at the three-day clinic will be Ralph Dickenson, another long-time coach who works for the Astros as a roving hitting instructor.