Quote:
Originally Posted by 71buc
Mark, I love baseball. I wasn’t looking to manipulate anyone. I was a local scout for the Reds and Indians for a number of years. I saw so many talented athletes who were disinterested in baseball it pained me. There were Point guards who looked like centerfielders, and quarterbacks who could have been power pitchers. Call me crazy but I think baseball is better now than it ever has been. Nonetheless, I wish more young athletes were drawn to it. Imagine if Rickey Henderson had picked football, imagine if Bo had not. I selfishly wish that young athletes of every color chose baseball over the other sports.
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I know you meant it in a positive way, but it reminded me of my junior high baseball coach, who told all of us how disappointed he had been because a pretty good left handed baseball player in the class ahead of us (high school class of 1976) had decided to quit baseball. This coach went on and on, basically telling us the kid had made a big mistake.
The kid's name was Steve Christoff, who had quit baseball to focus on hockey. A few years after that he was a star hockey player at the University of Minnesota, then he won a gold medal with the Miracle on Ice Olympic team in 1980, and then he played in the NHL. And, the Hobey Baker award was even modeled after him. How cool is that??
https://www.hobeybaker.com/making-trophy
The design of the Hobey Baker trophy is a classic in sports awards. At 16 inches high and comprised of 40 pounds of bronze and etched acrylic, it is notable for its rich detail work, including a stitched jersey and lettered hockey stick.
Sculptor Bill Mack was the designer. A Minnesota native, Mack is an internationally known artist whose work can be seen in venues like the National Basketball Association Hall of Fame, where his sculpture of basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar greets visitors in the museum's entryway.
Mack began the lengthy process of designing the Hobey Baker trophy with a search for a model—a search that ultimately led to Steve Christoff. Christoff was a star player for Minnesota's Richfield High School and the University of Minnesota, and later played for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team and the National Hockey League.
More than 50 skating poses were analyzed with practical (trophy weight and sturdiness) and artistic considerations taken into account. The final choice was a picture of a skater stopping quickly, with ice shavings flying and stick and skates forming a three-point base.
Christoff was photographed in that pose from a variety of angles, and the photos were broken down in painstaking detail. A charcoal drawing of the proposed trophy was presented on April 1, 1980 at the East-West All Star Hockey Game luncheon in the St. Paul Civic Center, at which time the Decathlon Club publicly announced its award intentions.
So the coach, who personally loved baseball, and for selfish reasons hated to lose a good player from the baseball program, in the final analysis was wrong. The kid's instincts were right.
So, just to let you know where I'm coming from, and why your initial post had me slightly triggered.