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Photo by Brett Garland

Kevin Hooper bobble head doll.

Three things they said about Kevin Hooper.

One, Hooper will never make it to baseball’s major leagues. He did, though.

Two, Hooper will never have his own bobblehead. Wrong.

Three, Hooper will never manage in the big leagues. Uh, don’t bet against it.

When last we heard of Hooper, who grew up right here in River City and graduated from Lawrence High in 1995, he had savored a couple of cups of coffee with the Detroit Tigers.

Now retired as a player, Hooper is managing the Wichita Wingnuts, an independent team in the American Association. He is so popular in the Air Capital — he was an All-American at Wichita State — that they honored him with a bobblehead earlier this summer.

When the Royals have a bobblehead promotion, they usually distribute 20,000 of them. But the Wingnuts handed out just 1,000, meaning the Hooper bobblers could become a collector’s item some day.

Parenthetically, I should point out that I have one sitting in the office thanks to J-W features editor Terry Rombeck, whose parents live in Wichita, attended the Hooper promotion game and picked up a pair. Rombeck, bless his heart, gave one to me.

Hooper, it turns out, has more than one.

“Yeah, I have quite a few,” he told me by phone the other day from St. Paul, Minn., where the Wingnuts were playing. “It’s pretty neat. It’s very special to me.”

So, you’re probably wondering, how does Kevin Hooper like managing after playing pro ball for a decade?

“I’m loving it, absolutely loving it,” he said. “I’m an antsy guy, and I’m pretty much standing the whole game. When I was playing, I could take time to relax, but managing is every pitch.”

Hooper loves it so much that even though he is 32 years old — the same age as such major leaguers as Lance Berkman, Michael Young and A.J. Pierzynski — he has completely abandoned the idea of becoming an active player again.

“That’s been talked about,” he said, “but I don’t want to do it. I think I could, but I want to run with this. I want to manage in the big leagues.”

In one sense, he has already been initiated. During his playing career, he was never thrown out of a game. A few weeks ago, however, he was ejected when he complained to an umpire after one of the Wingnuts was tossed.

“I was heated, for sure,” Hooper admitted, “but I’ve got to take care of my guys.”

In theory, Hooper is going about his latest attempt to reach the highest level backwards because independent leagues have harbored more former big-league managers than future top-level skippers.

Under Hooper, the Wingnuts won the league’s first-half northern division title, so they’re assured of making the playoffs. Perhaps if he’s successful in Wichita, he could take the next step and sign on as a coach or manager with a major-league farm team.

Then again, Hooper could go, as they so often say in baseball, in another direction. He may decide to remain in Wichita and be a family man. He and his wife, Lindsey, have two girls ages 4 and 1.

“I’m not sure what the future holds,” he said. “But I can tell you it’s sure nice to be able to go home and be with my wife and daughters.”