Where are they now? Former Niwot baseball standout Sean Ratliff

Following an illustrious baseball career that included time playing, coaching and managing in the New York Mets' minor league system, 2005 Niwot High graduate Sean Ratliff is now writing a new chapter in commercial real estate.

Ratliff, who helped Niwot win a pair of state championships in 2004 and 2005 before playing at Stanford University, was asked by former minor league teammate, Ike Davis, nearly four years ago to join him in the new venture.

"It's commercial real estate, more or less - multifamily commercial real estate," Ratliff said. "Basically, we're acquiring, owning and operating RV parks and mobile home parks throughout the southwest."

The business, known as Davis Land Group, was originally spearheaded by Davis, his older brother, and another partner before Ratliff joined.

After increasing a park's value, they then sell the park and reinvest the profits into other investments. Ratliff said that he even lived at the first park they bought in Texas to "learn everything the hard way."

"It's been very successful so far," Ratliff said. "It's been a lot of fun learning something brand new from scratch, from the ground floor."

Prior to growing close playing together in the Mets' minor league system, Ratliff was far from friendly with Davis, a former Arizona State Sun Devil, during their time playing against each other in the Pac-10.

"We absolutely hated each other," said Ratliff, a former outfielder. "We almost fought on the field on multiple occasions."

It didn't take long for them to find common ground, however, after they were both drafted by the Mets in 2008. Unfortunately for Ratliff, he was hit by an errant foul ball in an exhibition game and suffered an eye injury that ultimately cut his playing career short in the early 2010s. Davis, whose father Ron Davis pitched in the major leagues for 11 years, reached the major leagues himself in 2010 and played for four different teams throughout seven seasons in the bigs.

"When we got done playing (in college), we started our pro careers, and we've been pretty thick ever since," Ratliff said. "We hunt together every year at least three times, we fish together a bunch. We just decided to start working together."

Ratliff now makes his home in Texas, but he comes back to Colorado on occasion to visit family and old friends from his early playing days, which began with Niwot Youth Sports when his late father, Mike Ratliff, was a coach and commissioner. He added that playing for former Niwot head coach Bob Bote helped make his transition to Stanford and eventually the pros significantly easier.

"I played with some really good players, some really good teammates as well," Ratliff said. "The program was run really well. Bob Bote, who was the head coach there when I was there, was a great coach, a great leader and a good mentor for a lot of us. He ran a pretty professional program."

Ratliff's mother, Kelly Ratliff, now lives in Berthoud, while his sister, Abby Ratliff, lives in Ogallala, Nebraska, his father's hometown, and his sister Katie Ratliff lives in Texas.