Time of the Season
Son of a...!
What’s your name? (What’s your name?)
Who’s your daddy? (Who’s your daddy?)
(Can he hit?) Can he hit like me?
There comes a time in most of our lives when we realize we won’t be playing baseball for a living. I suppose it’s less of a realization and more about listening. Listen closely. The game will tell you.
While a few WTP readers had the talent and determination to become big leaguers, the dream of making a living under the bright lights was generally abandoned by high school — if you were even that good.
The first round of the Draft, which took place on Sunday, delivered discouraging news for kids whose parents did not wear cleats to work.
Take a look at the results of the top 10 players selected:
Son of a seven-time MLB All-Star
Son of a five-time MLB All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner
Son of an NFL defensive lineman and member of the College Football Hall of Fame
No apparent bloodlines; youngest of four boys; father, whose baseball career topped out in high school, had his son swinging a 30-inch wood bat 30 times a day at the age of three
Son of a two-time NFL Pro Bowl tight end
Son of a minor leaguer
No bloodlines
Son of a Division I college coach who played one year in the minors
Son of a minor leaguer who went on to scout and coach
Grandson of a minor leaguer
Wow.
I’ve just started reading The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Performance by David Epstein. Published in 2013, it endeavors to answer the questions the list above might beg.
In the introduction (I told you I had just started it), Epstein asks: “Did Ken Griffey Sr. gift his boy with baseball batter DNA? Or was the real gift that he raised Junior in a baseball clubhouse? Or both?”
I can’t wait to read the rest of the book, and do so through the lens of this year’s top 10 picks. I’ll be sure to provide an update.
In the meantime, if you come in contact with my son, please don’t share this info with him.
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Haven’t read the book, but I have to believe it’s a combo of genes and the clubhouse experience. Nature and nurture. Like everything else. Otherwise, I’ll tell my son to stop with all the swimming. (I can barely avoid drowning.) Looking forward to your insights!