WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Since being drafted as a 21-year-old All-America third baseman by the Philadelphia Phillies following his sophomore baseball season at Eastern Connecticut State University, Alan LeBoeuf has spent his entire adult life as a player, coach and manager in organized baseball.
 
The North Grosvenordale native, now 64, spent the first 44 of those years toiling at every level minor league level of professional baseball at countless stops with five different organizations, eventually reaching the Triple-A level – one rung below the major league level -- as both a player and coach.
 
Thanks to an enduring perseverance – in both his personal and professional life  -- LeBoeuf's 45^th year, however, promises to be different.
 
Having spent the last four years a hitting coach at Milwaukee's Triple-A affiliate Pacific Coast League affiliate in Nashville, Tenn. – his 16^th year with the organization -- LeBoeuf received the call of a lifetime – literally -- when the Brewers named him as their lead hitting coach under second-year manager Pat Murphy, replacing Ozzie Timmons.
 
"In his 15 seasons in the organization, Al has played a key role in the development of many of the young hitters you see on the major-league level today," said Milwaukee senior vice president and general manager Matt Arnold to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Todd Rosiak upon LeBoeuf's appointment on Oct. 21. "His familiarity and relationships with all of these players will be a great resource for us. Al has had a long journey to get here and we are very excited for him."
 
LeBoeuf's pilgrimage to the promised land began as an All-State outfielder at Tourtellotte Memorial High School in his hometown – where in 2015 he was named as one of the Top 15 players in the history of eastern Connecticut schoolboy baseball by the Norwich Bulletin -- which led him to Eastern, where he played corner infield on two NCAA Division III tournament teams in 1980 and 1981 under Hall of Fame coach Bill Holowaty. At Eastern, LeBoeuf batted .334 in 89 games and was named second-team ABCA All-America at third base after batting .354 as a sophomore.
 
Having reached the minimum draft age of 21 in February of his sophomore year, the left-handed hitting LeBoeuf was eligible for the amateur baseball draft  following his second season and he was selected in the 28^th round of the June Amateur Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies on the recommendation of area scout Dick Lawlor. LeBoeuf spent his entire professional playing career with the Phillies – progressing through the system and reaching the Triple-A level – after just one season at Double-A -- as a 25-year-old in 1985 with Portland of the PCL and later with the Maine Guides of the International League.
 
While sliding into home plate in a game at Portland in 1985, however, LeBoeuf ripped up his knee and never fully regained his mobility, playing the rest of his career with a brace. In a sad twist of fate, then-Philadelphis Phillies general manager Paul Owens had been in town the day of the injury to inform LeBoeuf that he was being called up to the major league club.
 

LeBoeuf finally retired as an active player at the age of 28 in 1988 with a career .270 average in nearly 2,500 minor league at-bats.
 
While the ill-timed injury might be termed a tragedy in the aspiring major league career of LeBoeuf, it was nothing compared to the life-and-death struggle which LeBoeuf  late overcame. While serving as hitting coach at the Triple-A level for the Nashville Sounds in 2012, he was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called POEMS (Polyneuropathy, Organomegaly, Endocrinopathy, Monoclonal, Skin changes) – one of only 20 known cases in the world. The condition was traced back to 1985 when LeBoeuf was hit on the hip by a fastball while playing for the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate in Portland, Ore. The injury gave him blood cancer, which led to POEMS syndrome.
 
While undergoing an initial round of chemotherapy, LeBoeuf's condition worsened and he returned to his home in Tampa to undergo a stem cell transplant and a more intense round of chemotherapy. The treatment left him in a wheelchair and he was uncertain if he'd walk again. He later recovered enough to get around on crutches and in 2013, was hired as hitting coach for the Brewers' Rookie League team in the Arizona League.  Fully recovered, LeBoeuf was named hitting coach at Colorado Springs the next year.
 
After retiring as a fulltime player in 1987, LeBoeuf was afforded an opportunity to serve as a player-coach with the Double-A Reading Phillies under Bill Dancy – the start of his coaching career in professional baseball. With the knee injury taking a toll and making it difficult to even walk, LeBoeuf finally decided to hang it up after the 1987 season, and the next year, was hired as a fulltime minor league coach by the Phillies.
 
LeBoeuf joined the Brewers' organization in 2010 after stints coaching with the Phillies, New York Mets, Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays.
 
"Being in the minor leagues as long as I have, the greatest satisfaction I have is when I get a phone call and one of my guys is thanking me and telling me that he got the call to the majors," related LeBoeuf in a 2017 interview with Michael Leboff of MiLB.com while serving as Colorado Springs' pitching coach. "It doesn't matter who you are or how long you've been in the game, it would be nice to make it to the major league level. It would be a dream come true," he said.
 
After spending more than four decades playing, coaching and managing in the minor leagues,  that dream has become reality.