It has only been 15 years since Ryan Howard was pounding baseballs into the gaps and over the fences at Price Cutter Park in Ozark.
For Howard, however, it has to seem like a couple of lifetimes ago.
The former Missouri State baseball great is back in Springfield and will be inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday and will be busy with a full weekend of activities celebrating his accomplishments.
All Howard has done since leaving the Bears in 2001 was be drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies, play a dozen seasons in the big leagues and amass a career’s worth of accolades and honors.