Peterson Glad to Be an Ordinary Joe : Baseball: After 18 years of chasing one dream and then another, former Sonora pitcher is happy selling cars in New Jersey.

Don’t talk to Jim Peterson about fame, fortune and glory. He has had quite enough of those stale carrots, thank you.

These days, he’s no longer Jim Peterson , baseball star from Sonora High School--the guy who was twice named the Southern Section 2-A player of the year, then pitched at Arizona State and in the Dodgers’ organization.

And he’s not Jim Peterson , sports broadcaster--the fellow who traipsed from Tempe to Reno to Albuquerque with the idea of being the next Vin Scully. Or at least Jerry Doggett.

No, this is Jim Peterson , Mr. 9-to-5-and-loving-it.

After 18 years of chasing one dream and then another, Peterson is happy to be a humble car salesman living in Westwood, N.J., a small town 20 minutes from New York City and far enough from Newark.

Peterson, 35, settled there a year ago after getting married for the second time. He took a job at a dealership in Hackensack and put the past behind him.

If you’re looking for a deal, go see Jim. If you looking for a pitcher or a broadcaster, go away.

“There was a point in my life when I was embarrassed to be around my family and friends,” Peterson said. “I was the guy who didn’t make it to the major leagues and the guy who didn’t make it in television. No one ever put pressure on me, I put it on myself and was mortified when I didn’t make it.

“Now, I’m not a failed baseball player or a failed broadcaster. I’m Jim Peterson , husband, church leader, neighbor and nice guy.”

Their decision to move to New Jersey was an easy one.

Peterson’s wife, Susan, was offered a job as a technical director by CNBC, the cable business network for NBC. At the time, Peterson was selling cars in Torrance while looking for a job in broadcasting.

“She had a splendid opportunity, and I had never lived on the East Coast,” Peterson said. “We pointed the car east and took off.”

It didn’t take long for Peterson to get a job at another car dealership, and his quality of life improved.

“I like what I’m doing,” he said. “I have a good wife, and we’d like to start a family. Those are some things I missed out on while chasing dreams.”

A career in baseball seemed a little more than a mere fantasy when Peterson graduated from Sonora in 1973.

In three years on the varsity, he compiled a 40-7 record. He led the Raiders to the Section 2-A title as a junior in 1972 and was named the 2-A player of the year. He won the award again as a senior, beating out Glendora’s Jack Clark and Walnut’s Lance Parrish.

Peterson’s career earned-run average of 0.32 is still fifth-best in the national high school record book. In a playoff game against Hemet, he struck out 22 in nine innings.

Bottom line: Peterson could pitch.

“I knew Jim was exceptional when he was a freshman,” said former Sonora Coach Bill Wilson, who is now an insurance salesman. “I would bring him up to throw batting practice against the varsity, and the seniors hated it. I thought he had as good a chance as anyone to make it to the major leagues.”

Peterson was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals but turned down a $25,000 offer, opting to attend Arizona State.

Everything went fine the first year. Because the Sun Devils had lost several pitchers to injuries, Coach Jim Brock turned to freshmen, and Peterson became the top starter.

He finished 10-2 with a 2.69 ERA. In fact, Peterson was more impressive than the Sun Devils’ “other freshman,” Floyd Bannister, who was the first player selected in the 1976 free-agent draft.

“Things couldn’t have gone any better,” Peterson said. “I was the 2-A player of the year, MVP of the Orange County All-Star game as a senior. That summer, my Connie Mack team won the World Series. I get to Arizona State and become the No. 1 starter.

“Then it was like I hit a stone wall.”

As a sophomore, Peterson was 5-2 with a 4.41 ERA. The following year, he was 2-1 with a 6.69 ERA and used only in mop-up situations.

Bottom line: Peterson couldn’t pitch anymore.

“He just never got any better after his freshman year,” Brock said. “He kept getting the ball in the wrong spot and didn’t have the velocity to get away with it.”

A bad combination.

“Midway through my sophomore year, I couldn’t get anybody out,” Peterson said. “I spent most of my junior year sitting in the bullpen. Honestly, I peaked when I was 19.”

So it came as some surprise when a Dodger official called and said they had drafted him.

“For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why,” Peterson said. “I mean, I stunk. But I took the opportunity and ran.”

Peterson played two seasons in the Dodger organization and did well the first year. He was the closer out of the bullpen in Bellingham, Wash. The No. 2 reliever was Dave Stewart.

“Back then, Dave stunk worse than I did,” Peterson said.

The following year, they both went to Clinton, Iowa, considered a higher level of Class A.

“They made Dave Stewart a starter that year, and he went 17-4 and makes it to the big leagues,” Peterson said. “And Jim Peterson turned out like most guys who get into professional baseball.”

He was released in December, 1977.

Peterson went back to Arizona State to finish school. He graduated in the fall of 1978 with a degree in broadcasting.

But he hadn’t given up on baseball, even though baseball had given up on him.

In 1977, he played for a winter league team of the Minnesota Twins, but he wasn’t invited to spring training. In 1979, he talked his way into the Chicago Cubs’ camp and was the last player cut from their double-A team.

“For a couple years, I went to every tryout there was in Arizona, from the A’s to the Mariners,” Peterson said. “I had a sack of baseballs in my car. I would go to any old field, mark off 60 feet 6 inches and start throwing.”

Even as late as 1981, Peterson, then 26, kept his hopes up. Although he was a semi-established broadcaster in Tempe, he was willing to give it up to play for a minor league team.

The Phoenix Giants, San Francisco’s triple-A affiliate, had a shortage of pitchers, so Peterson decided to attempt a comeback. He convinced Tom Haller, then the organization’s minor league scouting director, to give him a tryout.

“I begged him to let me be the mop-up guy in the 18-2 games,” Peterson said. “I was throwing halfway decent by then. Haller said I had double-A stuff, but at my age I needed to at least be on a triple-A team. I think it was a nice way to say, ‘Stick to broadcasting.’ ”

Peterson did.

His first job was at a gospel radio station in Tempe, but he soon moved to KTAR, a news/talk radio station in Phoenix. It carried Arizona State sporting events, as well as Phoenix Sun games.

Peterson’s big break came in 1982, when he took over a sports phone-in show for the station. Every night, from 6-10 p.m., it was, “Hello, you’re on the air . . . yes, the Phoenix Suns stink.”

“We needed a host, and Jim knew sports,” said KNX anchorman Dave Zorn, who was KTAR’s program director at the time. “I put him in there and told him, ‘You know what to do,’ and Jim did it.”

After a year, Peterson moved to television. He first went to Tucson and then Reno, where he worked for three years for a CBS affiliate. While there, his first marriage fell apart.

It was also in Reno that he met Susan. The two began dating, and the relationship continued that way over six years and, at times, over many miles.

In 1986, Peterson moved on to Albuquerque. He thought it was the next step toward the big time.

“I thought maybe I work there a year, then move to a bigger market, like San Diego,” Peterson said. “But the station wasn’t very good and I was a bit of a baby about it. In a huff, I turned in my resignation to go it on my own. I found out I wasn’t as attractive a product as I thought.”

Peterson began sending out resumes and videotapes and phoning stations and going to auditions. It gave him a familiar feeling.

“It was just like baseball,” he said. “It was the same thing, where you try to climb the ladder to get to the big show. But making that last hurdle--in baseball and broadcasting--didn’t happen.”

After one more television job with USA Today’s short-lived series, Peterson returned to California in 1989. He was still sending out resumes and tapes, but was starting to think about another career change.

Said Peterson: “A friend of mine, who was a sales manager at a car dealership came by one day and said, ‘Why don’t you strap on a tie, come give a few test drives and make a few pennies.’ I tried it and found out the job wasn’t as disreputable as I thought.”

Peterson has been selling cars ever since. He doesn’t plan to make a career of it, but for now, the hours are nice and the pace is right.

Sure the glamour isn’t there, no one has asked him for an autograph. But the trade-offs aren’t bad.

“I’m finding out that just being a regular guy is OK,” Peterson said.