Former MLB pitcher trades fastballs for Appleton police

Rich Palzewic

Staff

April 20, 2026

APPLETON – Jack Taschner – a captain with the City of Appleton Police Department – said the opening of the 2026 Major League Baseball (MLB) season a few weeks ago brought back fond memories of his baseball-playing days.

Fifteen years ago, as his baseball career was winding down, the 48-year-old said he decided to trade 95-mph fastballs for a career in community service.

“In 2011, I joined the Appleton Police Department,” he said. “At times, I still think about my baseball days, but I’m happy to have shifted roles and serve the community of Appleton.”

Taschner, a captain with the department’s Investigative and Community Resource Unit, said he spent more than a decade in professional baseball, including five seasons pitching in MLB with the San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers.

A happen-chance meeting

Taschner, a four-sport athlete at William Horlick High School in Racine, said he credits a former high school teammate for missing a Saturday doubleheader to take the ACT for paving his path to the big leagues.

As a sophomore who made the Horlick varsity baseball team that season, the lefty Taschner said he picked a great day to make a favorable impression on Ted Brzenk, a California Angels scout who was in attendance.

“As a sophomore, I normally played left field, but because you took the ACT on Saturday back then, our normal center fielder was gone, so I moved over to center,” he said. “It just so happened that Ted was there, and I had a great game. I threw out a couple of runners at third and one at home.”

Unbeknownst to him, Taschner said Brzenk took a strong interest in him.

He said he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere in baseball had it not been for the late Brzenk, who passed away two years ago.

“He helped me find prospective colleges and helped me in so many different ways,” Taschner said. “Without me knowing, he had submitted my name to the Angels, who drafted me after high school as a pitcher. Mind you, I wasn’t a pitcher.”

Taschner said the Angels drafted him in the 37th round of the 1996 MLB Draft, but on advice from Brzenk, he chose not to sign at the time and instead pursued the college route.

“Ted came to my house and talked to me and basically said, ‘You’re not going to sign with the Angels,’” he laughed. “He told me to submit an outlandish amount of money, and that’s what he wrote into the proposal. Of course, the Angels weren’t going to sign me with that offer.”

From there, Taschner said Brzenk helped him identify the right college to develop his pitching, guiding him through the process that eventually led to Division III University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (UWO), a national baseball powerhouse at the time.

Oshkosh days

Initially, Taschner said long-time UWO Coach Tom Lechnir – who coached the Titans for 25 years and compiled a 728-292 win/loss record, appeared in nine Division III World Series, won the 1994 championship and finished runner-up in 1993 – challenged him.

He said Lechnir didn’t think he was good enough to play at Oshkosh.

“Coach didn’t try to sell me on the school, but he pushed some buttons with me,” Taschner said. “Going to UWO was by far the best decision I ever made. I wouldn’t have been drafted in the second round of the [1999] draft had it not been for Coach Lechnir’s guidance and his challenging me and holding me accountable. He had a great baseball mind.”

Taschner said five players from the 1999 Oshkosh team were drafted.

During his junior season at Oshkosh, Taschner posted a 7-0 record with a 1.53 earned run average.

Professional career

After his strong 1999 season with the Titans, Taschner said the Giants drafted him in the second round, where he spent the majority of his early time in the Minors.

If it wasn’t hard enough to break into the professional ranks, he said he dealt with “devastating” arm issues early in his career.

“I basically had back-to-back-to-back arm injuries,” he said. “It was tough.”

However, Taschner said after undergoing Tommy John surgery – a procedure to repair a torn UCL most commonly performed on throwers, such as pitchers with chronic elbow pain – he never had another arm issue.

“It was a slow comeback, and I really struggled at first,” he said. “I was mechanically sound, but I think I set myself up for failure a bit, too.”

Despite missing almost a season and a half with his arm injuries, Taschner said he doesn’t regret making the shift from the outfield to the pitching mound.

Finally, on June 11, 2005, Taschner said he saw his first MLB action for the Giants against the Cleveland Indians.

“The first batter I faced was Aaron Boone, who is the current manager of the New York Yankees,” he said. “He popped up in the infield, and I remember our shortstop, Omar Vizquel, was there to catch it. That was surreal – Vizquel is one of the best defensive shortstops ever.”

Taschner said the entire moment was “mind-boggling.”

“It was unlike anything I had ever seen before,” he said. “It was everything I hoped it would be and more because MLB stadiums are huge and the crowds are enormous.”

Taschner said he was also teammates with all-time home run leader Barry Bonds.

Because Bonds was chasing history, he said the Giants consistently drew strong crowds.

“I was in the dugout [in 2007] when Bonds broke Henry Aaron’s career home run record [with his 756th homer],” he said. “In my five seasons in the Majors, I remember facing several Hall of Famers like Chipper Jones, Todd Helton and Ken Griffey Jr.”

Taschner said he wore No. 24 in high school because he idolized Griffey, who ended his MLB career with 630 home runs.

“Griffey doubled off me the first time I faced him, but then I struck him out in the next at bat,” he laughed. “That one made me pause – I couldn’t believe that happened.”

After having solid years with the Giants in 2007 and 2008, Taschner said he was traded to Philadelphia in 2009, a year after the Phillies had won the World Series.

“It was really my job with the Phillies to come out of the bullpen and not mess things up,” he said. “The team was very talented and got back to the World Series in ’09, but they lost to the Yankees. I wasn’t on the playoff roster, but I was definitely a part of that team.”

A ‘sign from God’

After finishing his MLB career with the Dodgers in 2010, Taschner said he had plans to play professionally in Japan, but when a tsunami hit the country in March 2011, his plans changed.

“I remember looking at my wife and saying, ‘Man, I don’t know if there’s ever been a bigger sign from God than a natural disaster like the tsunami,’” he said. “I could have probably signed on somewhere, but the surgeries had finally caught up with me – I wasn’t the same pitcher I used to be.”

With his wife encouraging him to take a year off before deciding his future, Taschner said he chose not to go that route.

Instead, he said he began applying to police departments and enrolled at Fox Valley Technical College.

“I was accepted into the academy, and upon graduation, got hired by Appleton in 2011 and went immediately into field training,” he said. “It all moved so fast and took off from there. In February 2011, I thought I was going to be playing baseball in Japan, and by September of that same year, I was sworn in [as a police officer].”

Beginning in Appleton as a patrol officer, Taschner said he spent about five years on the road working nights.

He said over the years, he also served as a school resource officer (SRO) and a lieutenant in charge of the SROs before moving to his current position in January of this year.

Taschner said he also coached baseball at Neenah High School for seven years total, both as an assistant and head coach.  

“I think fondly of my playing days, but I don’t often think about them anymore,” he said. “At one point, I wanted to possibly get into coaching at the professional level, but I know the time commitment would have been a huge deal.”

Taschner said it’s been a long time since he has thought twice about his decision to enter law enforcement.

These days, he said he “thoroughly enjoys his job.”

“Appleton does it right,” he said. “I don’t regret anything about the route I went.”

Still has it?

According to baseball-reference.com, Taschner posted a career 10-5 record in his 222 MLB appearances.

Dating back to his prime pitching days, he said he was once clocked at 97 miles per hour.

“I have photo proof of that,” he laughed. “I always thought 96 was my hardest pitch ever, but a couple of years ago, my stepdad pulled out a photo when they came to watch me in San Diego. The photo showed a 97 on the board, so I will go with that.”

A few years removed from his coaching days at Neenah, Taschner said under the correct circumstances, he still feels he could pop the mitt at 90.

“I think my arm still wants to move,” he laughed. “Four years ago, when I wasn’t in really great throwing shape, I hit 91 throwing against the seniors at Neenah. I’d pick a day and give it 100%. My son was a senior that year, so maybe I had a little extra for him. If you gave me a month to get in throwing shape and let me warm up well on a nice day, I think I could still get you 90.”

Most would consider that pretty impressive for a 48-year-old Appleton police captain who, ultimately, has his former high school teammate to thank for missing a game to take the ACT.