Florida Marlins relief pitcher Joe Nelson (left, light blue shirt) shows with a mini-football how to throw his popular "Vulcan Change-up," a pitches he uses to strike out Major League Baseball hitters. American Heritage School Baseball Coach Carm Mazza looks on as the students study Nelson's wide grip, needed in order to throw the pitch.

Florida Marlins relief pitcher Joe Nelson didn’t hesitate when asked to be “Principal for a Day” at American Heritage School. As he spoke to 50 middle and high school baseball players at the Delray Beach school, Nelson, 34, had a flashback.
“I remember sitting in those bleachers growing up in Oklahoma,” he said.
“Meeting Gary Ward, the Oklahoma State University baseball coach, was an experience that I’ll never forget. Something about hearing from a guy I grew up watching on ESPN, it made what he had to say hit home. We talked face to face and I’ll never forget that,” Nelson said.
For more than an hour he talked to the American Heritage School baseball players about the importance of a college education, “ups and downs in life” and told them about the dangers of steroids he saw growing up, and maturing into a professional baseball player.
Nelson, a Palm Beach Gardens resident, also read “H is for Home Run - A Baseball Alphabet Book” to the younger students at American Heritage School.
“I brought my favorite book to read to the younger students,” he said.
“Principal for a Day” is part of the city of Delray Beach Education Board yearly initiatives.
Janet Meeks, the city's education coordinator, said this year every school in the city had a community leader serve as “Principal for a Day.”
“All the schools public and private schools in the city participated,” Meeks said.