There was a time when young Casey FitzGerald saw himself, literally, as a “Casey at the Bat,” like the famous poem.

But that was before doctors found a golf ball-sized tumor in his brain.

Successful emergency sur-gery at Childrens Hospital in Washington, D.C., removed about 90 percent of that tumor, described as benign and no longer evident in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of his body. But the surgery left the right side of his body all but paralyzed, striking out his dreams of a big-league career, although he went on to play Little League baseball and even gained all-star status as a youngster.

Although the surgery took place more than 15 years ago, FitzGerald still remembers becoming conscious, cognizant of a bandage around his head, and asking his father, Jim, “Dad, will I ever play baseball again?”

“Why not?” was Jim FitzGerald’s response.

And, since then, “Why not?” is frequently the younger FitzGerald’s reply when someone tells him he can’t do something.

Although he could only swing the bat with one hand and he had to do a Jim Abbot-like transfer of the ball in his glove to throwing the ball, both with his left hand, the youngsters played well enough to be an all-star.

Former Angels and Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott, a one-armed pitcher of the 1990s, is one of his heroes. Just as Abbott had a unique way of throwing and catching with one hand, so did FitzGerald. Using a left-handed mitt, he’d catch a throw from a teammate or bat hit by an opponent, flip the ball into the air and drop the glove, catch the ball in his left hand and throw it. He got good enough to be a pitcher on his Little League team, which was quite an accomplishment.

Unfortunately, the wear and tear his right hip took from his shuffling running style made more surgery necessary and ended his baseball days.

But it didn’t end participating in two other sports, golf and bowling. In fact, he even made his high school golf team and was elected captain back in Gainesville, Va.

You should see him bowl — he carries a 207 average.

“Bowling was one of the only sports I wasn’t at a total disadvantage,” he said. “It’s a one-arm sport, with balance and concentration.”

Tommy Crites, a sophomore at Rio Rancho High School, was impressed by what he saw of FitzGerald last fall at Starlight Lanes.

“I’m very amazed at how good a bowler he is,” Crites, a teammate, said. “This year was very interesting. He asked us to bowl with him for the fall league — he helped us go through without getting angry.

“We realized if we got angry, he’d get angry,” Crites said. “He’d get you all excited. I was amazed when I first saw him bowl, especially with one motion.

“I’ve learned that life is not always bad and everything has its good things but sometimes it can be worse than how you really have it,” Crites said. “He also gave the RRHS bowling team a motivational speech. He made some parents cry. The kids were impressed and a lot started doing better and they felt good about themselves.’

Or watch FitzGerald swing a golf club, one-armed, of course. He’s gotten pretty good at that sport, too.

“He shot a 40 on Sarazen East playing from the championship tees,” noted Chamisa Hills Country Club golf pro Erik Harp. “He didn’t beat the pro, but he came pretty damn close.”

The FitzGeralds are Rio Rancho newcomers.

Jim FitzGerald, a former minor-league baseball player, said when his wife, Kathleen, was bothered by asthma and then was stricken with diabetes and decided it was time to go west, she told him she wanted to move to New Mexico.

“I said, ‘Why New Mexico?’ and she said, ‘It looks good on a computer,’” he recalled.

Three of Casey’s older brothers live back east, although a couple of them will be visiting this summer.

Casey FitzGerald works at Blockbuster Video on Southern at Unser, takes classes at Central New Mexico Community College and hopes to someday enter the field of sports broadcasting.

When asked where he’d like to be in 10 years, he said as an anchor on ESPN’s Sports Center.

Don’t try telling him that can’t happen.

“I was always told you can’t do things. You’re paralyzed,” he said. “I say, ‘Why not?’”

Once a source of motivation during Childrens Hospital pledge drives in Washington, D.C., which gave him a chance to play a round of golf with former NBA star Clyde Drexler, shake hands with Donny and Marie Osmond and chat with former Olympic gymnast Nary Lou Retton.

Casey FitzGerald said he enjoys providing any motivation he can.

He believes today’s youth are becoming obese, namely because they turn to video games and text messaging when they could be outside playing games.

When he was a kid, out playing kickball with his buddies or swinging his baseball bat at tennis balls thrown his way by his dad, he’d be playing until it got dark.

Of course, that was before the surgery and he had full use of both arms.

Sometimes, January 1993 doesn’t seem so long ago.

The little boy who had the tumor deep in his brain, his life in danger, is careful about what he eats and he tries to live every day to its fullest.

“I’m going to school, pursuing communications and playing golf every chance I get,” he said. “When it rains, I go bowling.”

Nobody tells him he can’t do something anymore.

“Have the kids follow their dreams,” he says. “Do whatever you want to do. Set out for a goal, reach that goal — that’s the ultimate dream.”

Even if brain surgery makes you take a detour, like it did for Casey FitzGerald more than 15 years ago.