As a child, State College left-handed reliever Brian Schroeder used to sit and watch Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux pitch and dream about pitching in a major league stadium.

This dream wouldn't seem out of the ordinary, but Schroeder wasn't a typical child. He was the son of former NFL quarterback Jay Schroeder.

Jay was best known as a member of the Los Angeles Raiders from 1988-1992, but his best professional season came in 1986 as a member of the Washington Redskins. Jay lost to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game and was named to his only Pro Bowl.

For Schroeder those memories have only been told to him since he was about 18 months old. By the time his memory developed, his father was nearing the end of his prime.

Jay retired when Schroeder was 10-years-old after a one-year stint with the Arizona Cardinals.

"He had been retired for some time," Schroeder said. "[My friends] still knew who he was and what he did, but even then guys were like, 'I don't believe you until we see the highlight film.' "

Even though his friends never saw his father play live, they did have a chance to see virtual Jay play whenever they wanted to.

Jay is probably best remembered in the video game era as the quarterback who handed off to Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl.

"Yeah, we played those when we were younger," Schroeder said of him and his brother C.J. "Especially when the Madden game came out, and my Dad was a quarterback on one of the old Raiders teams."

Schroeder recalled when his brother played a game as his father and benched him. This was, of course, after Jay had thrown an interception on the first possession of the game.

Even though Schroeder admitted that seeing his father in a football video game was "kinda cool," he knew that football wasn't his calling in life.

It was natural for members of the family to assume that either Schroeder or C.J. would be a second-generation football player. But Schroeder had fallen in love with a game that was a little less demanding on the body than his father's sport.

Schroeder had always loved baseball as a child even though he was the son of a Pro Bowl quarterback.

Yet, it was the opportunity to make a name for himself in high school without the help of his surname that drove Schroeder to pursue his dream.

"In high school it wasn't so bad," Schroeder said. "All the guys just knew him as my dad. He wasn't a professional football player."

Schroeder began a career of high level baseball as a student-athlete at UCLA -- his father's alma mater. The left-handed Schroeder had a solid career with the Bruins, parlaying his success into being a 33-round draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006.

"I never put any pressure on him," Jay said. "Especially to be a professional athlete."

Schroeder, who is a native of El Cajon, Calif., had the opportunity to play baseball year round. This allowed him to develop quickly as a pitcher, something he hopes to continue in Happy Valley.

Even though it's early in his son's career, Jay still finds time to be the criticizing dad.

"I love watching him out there. This is the second time we've been here. But last night he didn't get that left-hander out," Jay said after a game two weeks ago.