I was honored when the Nehls family asked me to speak at the Kenosha Softball Hall of Fame Induction of Jimmy “Doc” Nehls. I could have spoken for 2 days. Jim Nehls was a larger-than-life character in my development as a competitor and as a man. You can laugh with Jim Nehls at the party, but you didn’t want to clash with Jim Nehls on policy. He was gonna beat you up, build you up, bust you up, and buck you up. If you were with Nehls, you were in for the ride. What an amazing guy to learn from, what an amazing guy to have as a teammate. To describe Nehls on the mound would be to say you cross a Rock-n-Roll front man, with an accountant, with a hockey goalie, with a motivational speaker. The MANY layers of Jimmy Nehls manifested into “Doc”. There are a lot of people walking around who have never met Jim Nehls but have had several beers and laughs with Doc. I’m glad I know the man as well as the character he portrayed.
Nellie always had a plan. Sometimes the plan was getting loaded, sometimes the plan was the logical outcome of the next 90 days of your life, sometimes the plan was laughter, and sometimes the plan was finance. But there was always a plan. Nothing was ever an issue. Every problem was solvable. When he felt we were treated poorly and served bad food in the restaurant of the place where we were staying, he was a man of action. If they wouldn’t comp the entire bill, he was taking the picture off the wall of the waiting area. A 4-foot by 4-foot picture SCREWED into the wall. He literally was making progress on the first screw, using a quarter, when the manager politely asked us to leave and mentioned the bill would be taken care of. And Doc was never mean-spirited or disrespectful, just focused…and ferociously loyal.
Yes, he could pitch, EASILY one of the great defensive pitchers for 10-man ball. He was a realistic and effective hitter. Cenni’s went 1-2-3-4 and then Second 1-2-3-4 for an order, and Nehls batted Second 2nd. I batted Second 3rd, and Big Man batted Second Clean-up (luxury having that dude hit 8th!!!!). What a great perspective to have as a hitter to be in between those two professional softball hitters. Never a wasted at bat. Never a risk of overplaying the AB….WE hit…it was that simple. Full belief at all times with zero concern for who was over there or what they had to say. Do what we do, and the results take care of themselves. And I know I speak to those of you who know the serious version of Jim Nehls when I say, we all know that is exactly how this man lived his life in all capacities.
And now this Hall of Fame personality is a Hall of Famer. It’s great that Doc is getting some due respect. Simply the heartbeat of every team he was ever on. A rare combination of equal parts mouthpiece and devil’s advocate, he was speaking for us, and you didn’t find it difficult to follow that lead. And following that lead behind Jimmy Nelhs, the softball player, was easy and fun…and following the lead of Doc is shit we’ll talk about for the rest of our lives. Thanks again to Judy and Matt and Joe and the family for reaching out, I was happy to do it. And true to form, you’d have both ends of Jim Nehls to navigate. He’d expect me to do this and to do it well and then still just sluff it off because it’s about him and change the subject. And then tell me like 5 days later, “hey thanks for doing that”. And I’d just say, “yeah I know….only 5 days…you are gettin soft”. And then he knows I know his head and his heart. And if you are taking the time to think about old school, slow-pitch softball today, I’m glad you know this about Jimmy “Doc” Nehls