Former MLB pitcher steps up to the plate for Oklahoma counties

Key Takeaways

As a relief pitcher for The Washington Nationals, Chris Schroder had the outcome of a game on his shoulders. As the executive director of the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma (ACCO), Schroder’s days look different now, but that doesn’t mean there’s any less pressure.

In Major League Baseball, a few bad games can get you demoted to Triple A, but Schroder said he feels more in the “hot seat” representing Oklahoma’s 77 counties than he did on the mound, because of the unpredictable nature of government.   

“In baseball, I worked out of a bullpen, so I would get nervous warming up before coming in the game,” Schroder said. “But once I got in the game, at that point it was a battle between the pitcher and the hitter. It wasn't necessarily thinking long term. It was more focusing in, pitch to pitch.

“I think I had a lot more control of the outcome in what I did as a baseball player, whereas sometimes in government, the control can be out of your hands, whether it's the legislature, or other issues.”

In Schroder’s first major league win, he was tapped to pitch an inning after Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run, breaking the all-time record. The energy in San Francisco’s AT&T Park that day was electric, he said. 

“The whole stadium just flashed on every pitch,” Schroder said. “Everybody taking a picture, trying to catch the home run.”

There’s nothing that compares to the rush of taking the mound, Schroder said. 

“You can't really get that anywhere else,” Schroder said. “Especially as a reliever, warming up in the sixth or seventh inning and getting that call to run out of the bullpen in front of 40,000 people. I mean that's a moment. 

“It's hard to describe that feeling — especially those first few times you do it — but it’s such an adrenaline rush to be out there competing and playing the game you love in front of so many people.”

After pitching professionally for a decade, Schroder retired and returned to familiar territory: County government. Schroder’s father, Keith, served as a county commissioner in Kingfisher County, Okla. for 20 years and Chris interned for ACCO in college, working on road and bridge projects. 

Throughout the years, Schroder kept in touch with his ACCO colleagues. They watched him play during his time at Oklahoma City University, and when he made it to Triple A, he would drop in to the office when he was in town for a game. 

Dale Frech, ACCO’s safety director, worked with Schroder during his time as an intern and attended a 2000 exhibition game where Schroder pitched OCU to an upset victory over the University of Oklahoma. 

“Chris was their star pitcher,” Frech said. “They beat OU, and that wasn’t supposed to happen. OU was supposed to bully this itty-bitty team, and Chris smoked them.”

After leaving baseball, it felt natural to return to ACCO, Schroder said. 

“It always felt like home to me,” he said. 

Schroder worked for the OK Cooperative Circuit Engineering Districts Board for 11 years before becoming ACCO’s executive director in 2021.

“It was like this position was created for Chris, so to speak,” Frech said. “He was just such a natural that he eventually evolved into the director's position because he’s so qualified. I’ve worked with five different executive directors, and Chris is right up there with [the first ACCO executive director, as the best]. He treats staff like we’re a team.”

In baseball, Schroder’s objective was straightforward. In government, the landscape is always evolving. Every day on the job is different, but that’s what Schroder loves about it.

“Just when you think you've had all the questions from counties, it seems like every day, every week, you're getting something new that you haven’t experienced or there's new programs, say ARPA, coming down from the feds — it’s always changing,” Schroder said. “And on a county level, it's always changing.” 

As ACCO executive director, Schroder serves as the voice of counties at the state level. Property tax is the “hot button topic” right now for the Oklahoma Legislature, he noted. 

“Whether that's adjusting it, lowering it, different homesteads or how much it can increase,” Schroder said. “But, we also push that it funds a lot of essential services — law enforcement, health departments, fairgrounds, transportation, roads and bridges — so, it's something we have to educate on.”

It’s important that counties have a seat at the table, so that they can help inform policy by sharing on-the-ground impact, Schroder said. The best part of being ACCO’s executive director is getting to work alongside the county officials, he noted. 

“There're so many different personalities, and you go through an election cycle, you get a whole group of new ones,” Schroder said. “… There’re a lot of other areas that most of them have been in in their career before they run for office, so being a resource for them, helping them answer questions, getting them through difficult situations and forming a lot of really good friendships is [my favorite part of the job].”

Schroder’s father taught him to approach every day doing the best he can, which is advice he’s applied to his careers in baseball and county government, he said. 

These days, Schroder has a “worn-out” shoulder and has been out of major league baseball longer than he was in it, but he’s taken the field in a new role, as a coach for his daughters’ softball teams. 

“That's kind of my fix,” Schroder said. “It's not baseball, but it's close. I've come to really like softball, and I love being around the girls. You can work all day, and then go up to the practice field, and it's like a stress release.”

Schroder now acts as coach not only on the field, but also in the workplace, Frech said. 

“He's just an outstanding person, an outstanding supervisor, and he literally is like a coach to us,” Frech said. “He lays out the game plan and works with each of us for that vision.”