There are many mysteries in this world.

Stonehenge. Bigfoot. Life on Mars.

Why utilityman extraordinaire Bobby Scales hasn't gotten a call-up to the Major Leagues yet.

While we'll leave the first few to scientists and historians, let's take this opportunity to address the last one as Scales begins Spring Training as a non-roster invitee to Chicago Cubs camp in Mesa, Ariz.

Heading into his 11th professional season and his second with the Cubs, it's hard to figure what more Scales has to do to get his shot at just a little bit of baseball immortality.

Coming off his best pro season to date, when he batted .320 with 15 home runs and 59 RBIs at Triple-A Iowa, the switch-hitting Scales has a pretty nice package to offer any big league team.

Scales can hit. In 10 Minor League seasons, the last five spent at Triple-A, he has a .285 average. He's also started to add a little power with double digits in homers three of the last four years.

Scales is versatile. A second baseman when picked by the San Diego Padres in the 14th round of the 1999 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Michigan, he has since added first base, third base and left and right fields to his resumé. He's also batted everywhere in the lineup, from leadoff to ninth.

And those are just the tangible stats. When you consider his intangibles, the fact that he's spent more than a decade in the Minors without even a cup of coffee in the Majors seems even more baffling.

He is, by anyone's account, a great guy off the field, in the clubhouse and the community, winning his team's Community Player of the Year award several times, including last summer in his first season at Iowa.

He's especially active when it comes to going into the community to work with kids, not surprising since his offseason job is as a substitute teacher at his alma mater, Milton High School in Alpharetta, Ga.

And he keeps things loose in the clubhouse, where, among other things, he entertains teammates (and some of the higher-ups) with his talent for impressions. During his days with the Padres, he was well-known for his ability to mimic, among others, farm director Tye Waller (now the Oakland As' bench coach), Minor League manager Tony Franklin (now the skipper for the Double-A Trenton Thunder) and Padres legend Tony Gwynn.

"My wife says that I'm the most perceptive person she's ever seen in terms of noticing people's mannerisms," Scales said. "And you don't want to offend anybody, but they're baseball guys, so they have thick skin."

Scales worked his way through the Padres system and spent all or parts of three seasons at Triple-A Portland before an amicable parting of ways after 2005, when he explored the Minor League free agent waters.

He spent 2006 in the Phillies organization, hitting .291 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and 2007 with the Red Sox, batting .294 at Pawtucket, before signing with the Cubs prior to 2008.

Scales decided to re-sign with the Cubs for 2009 on Christmas Eve while he was on his way to the mall to buy his wife, Monica, one last present.

"I think I walked away from the Phillies after one year and I probably shouldn't have, and I walked away from Boston after one year and I probably shouldn't have, and I didn't want that to happen a third time," he explained. "All three of those organizations treated me like one of their own. At the time, I felt like if they wanted me in the big leagues, they would have called me up. But I realized it's just not that cut and dried."

Scales realized it had to work both ways, and while it's not necessarily easy to be patient at age 31, it was something he needed to do.

"I realized the only way to become one of 'their guys' is to stay there," he said. "I didn't want to walk into a big league camp clubhouse and have to start all over again for a fourth straight year."

MLB.com: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, are you proudest?

Bobby Scales: I'm proud of being able to graduate from college while still performing at a high level. I think a lot of athletes take easy classes and don't pursue their education with the same vigor as their athletic endeavors. In my house, if you didn't handle your business in the classroom, there was no baseball.

MLB.com: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?

BS: Honestly, I don't know. Ideally, if I wasn't playing baseball, hopefully I'd be in a position to be an athletic director at a college or university, or else in marketing with a company. I did an internship in college at Nike and got to see what was behind the "swoosh."

MLB.com: Do you have other hobbies or creative outlets aside from baseball?

BS: I'm a golfer. I play golf until I can't stand up straight and then play more after that.

MLB.com: What is the worst job you've ever had?

BS: My wife has her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia and when she was in grad school I worked at the jewelry store at the mall, the one gap in my substitute teaching career. The people I worked with at the store were awesome, but the job was terrible. I had to wear a suit and tie every day and count the jewelry every morning and every night. And if you're off one earring you have to search the whole store up and down. But we did get a discount on our wedding rings.

MLB.com: Who would play you in the movie of your life?

BS: My wife just asked me that question. She religiously watches "One Tree Hill," so I've gotten into it, too. The main character has written a movie and they're trying to cast everyone. So she looked at me and said, "Who would play you?" If I was older, I'd go with Denzel, but she says Torii Hunter. People say I look like him and also like [White Sox outfielder] DeWayne Wise. And they say my wife looks like a younger Pam Grier.

MLB.com: If you were commissioner for a day, which one rule would you change?

BS: That the All-Star Game counts for home-field advantage in the World Series. I think that's ridiculous. The team with the best record should have it.