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Larry Hisle was born in Portsmouth, Ohio . He is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played with the Philadelphia Phillies (1968-71), Minnesota Twins (1973-77) and Milwaukee Brewers (1978-82). On March 6, 1973, Larry became the first designated hitter in MLB history during an exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Larry was an orphan who was recruited to play basketball for Ohio State University by the governor of Ohio . However, he decided to play baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies. Despite tying the major league rookie record by striking out 152 times, Hisle was a Topps Rookie All-Star in 1969.

While with Minnesota in 1973 his production as a baseball player improved dramatically. He became a top run producer in five seasons as a Twins regular, culminating in 1977 with a league-leading 119 RBI. Larry signed with Milwaukee in 1978 and hit 34 homers and 115 RBI to finish third in the AL MVP balloting. Brewer manager George Bamberger called him "the kind of player kids should look up to" and "without a doubt one of the nicest men I've ever known." In April 1979, Hisle tore his rotator cuff making a throw and played just 79 games in four more ML seasons.

In 1977, he led the American League with 119 runs batted in for the Minnesota Twins. The next year, his first with the Brewers, he made the American League all-star team for the second consecutive year and batted .290 with a career-high 34 home runs and 115 RBI.

Hisle has always had a knack for connecting with people, and particularly with young men. For several years, he worked as the Toronto Blue Jays' hitting coach. He also spent a year coaching in the Brewers' minor-league system.

"He was almost too polite to be a hitting coach," said Paul Molitor, Hisle's teammate in Milwaukee and later a star for the Blue Jays. "He would say, in that soft voice, 'Now, young man, perhaps it would be better if you did it this way . . . ' "

"I truly believe that if God has given me any gift at all, it's the ability to work with young people". "I take my mentoring extremely seriously. To me, it's an enormous undertaking. I could do as much harm as good with these kids if I carelessly develop relationships with them."

A long time ago, Larry Hisle was a baseball player, and a very good one. Then he blew out his shoulder, and discovered his true gift was far more satisfying, and infinitely more important, than going 4 for 5.

"I never thought, especially at this stage of my life, that I would be doing anything that would bring me so much joy and pleasure as working with these kids," he said. "I tell my wife, 'If these kids learn one-tenth as much from me as I learn from them, they'll be spectacular.' "

Dennis Frank began his counseling career at DePaul Hospital in the late 1980’s. He completed the year-long counselor training program and was hired as an inpatient counselor. Subsequently, he worked as an outpatient counselor and in marketing. He became an instructor in the counselor training program and a member of the advisory board. When the training program moved to the Milwaukee Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence, he continued as an advisory board member and an instructor focusing on counseling skills, communication, ethics, and marketing.

Dennis has worked in a variety of settings over the years ranging from working as a counselor in secure detention inpatient units, managing outpatient clinics, supervising corrections programs and helping to design the first felony alternative to prison program in Wisconsin. He has served on several boards including the Father’s Resource Center, The Society of St. Francis, the largest “no-kill” animal shelter in Wisconsin, and a board member of ATTIC Correctional Services in Madison.

He graduated cum laude from Concordia University with a Bachelor’s degree in business and from UWM with a Master’s degree in educational psychology with an emphasis on rehabilitation counseling. He has conducted workshop and seminars on a variety of subjects including clinical supervision, marketing, problem gambling, and ethics. He has presented workshops at the annual EAPA conference for the last several years, the state conference for the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling, the Wisconsin Bar Association, the state WAAODA conference, the Wisconsin Sentencing Advocacy Commission, the Minority Training Program, and the Midwest EAPA leadership. He has been a frequent guest on radio and television shows. He has prepared reports and testified as an expert witness in criminal courts. He is a member of the American Counseling Association, the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, and the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. He has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 2002. He is a psychotherapist, a Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor (CSAC) and an Independent Clinical Supervisor (ICS).

He is currently teaching counseling courses in the graduate schools at Concordia University and Marquette University.

dennis@majorleaguementoring.org