ST. PAUL — Two questions stumped J. D. Droddy, baseball’s leading Renaissance man.

Which of his distinct careers — Air Force officer, lawyer, educator, playwright, theatrical producer, composer and baseball boss — has he enjoyed the most? “I never know how to answer that,” he said.

And what’s next after he retires from baseball? “Depends on your definition of retiring,” he said.

For Droddy, a 73-year-old grandfather, that generally means moving on to something else.

Every baseball lifer has a story to tell, and while Droddy is not actually the former, he has quite a few of the latter. Droddy spent 20 years in the Air Force, retiring as a lieutenant colonel at age 42 to attend Harvard Law School. When he soured on the law, Droddy shifted to education, and then to college administration, retiring from that at 58. Relocating to New Mexico, he immersed himself in musical theater, writing and producing plays for a local theater company.