Nothing quite captures the imagination and the connects the fans to sport like that rare story of a comeback attempt or the even rarer tale of a regular guy unexpectedly coming from nowhere, from the realm of mere mortals – those who watch the game – to the playing field at the highest level.
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We are drawn to watch professional sports for so many reasons.
Certainly, one reason is to witness rare feats of grace and brilliance by world-class athletes.
Mind-blowing catches.
High-flying power dunks.
Rocket throws.
Runs that mix speed, power, and balance.
And soaring gymnastics.
These things happen in sports. Every day. And we marvel while we watch the nightly highlights on ESPN, sitting on our couch, after we get home from our job as not-a-professional athlete. In this way, the world of pro sports, on the other side of the television screen, seems like a far-off fantasy world where supermen do battle.
But I’m here to talk about another aspect of what draws us to sports: Unlikely tales of regular middle-aged guys living ordinary lives “making it” to (or making it back to) the big leagues.
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This New Year’s Day, Mark Mulder, former starting pitcher of for the Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals, announced that he was making a comeback at age 36, and signed with the Anaheim Angels. He last pitched in 2008, after arm injuries derailed his once-promising career, and had spent the past number of years as a TV baseball analyst. Mulder’s story has been dubbed the most intriguing comeback of the year.
Why? Because we also follow sports for those moments and those stories that bridge that gap from fantasy to reality. Eye-popping athletic moments are one thing, but nothing quite captures the imagination and the connects the fans to sport like that rare story of a comeback attempt or the even rarer tale of a regular guy unexpectedly coming from nowhere, from the realm of mere mortals – those who watch the game – to the playing field at the highest level. And even if these tales don’t always have a storybook ending, they are compelling because they bring the world of pro sports more in reach to the everyman. It kindles the imagination. And it breathes life into that daydream of being a pro athlete, allowing us to think, “Hey, I could do that.”
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As kids in the backyard, we all pretended to be our favorite athletes, or pictured ourselves making it to The Show.
Ask an eight-year-old boy what he wants to be when he grows up, and he may look you straight in the eye and say: “A baseball player. On the Yankees.” No back-up plan required.
That twelve-year-old shooting hoops on the driveway imagines himself as Larry Bird or Magic Johnson or Kobe Bryant or Lebron James or Kevin Durant rising up and draining a game-winning three-pointer with 3…2…1 left on the clock. And if the shot doesn’t go down . . . But wait . . . He. Was. FOULED!!!
But as we get older, those dreams fade or are colored over by the harsh reality of not being 6’ 9’’, not being able to hurl a baseball over 90 miles-per-hour, or not being able to run a 4.3 forty-yard dash.
Until someone comes along that allows us to dream a little bit again . . .
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Jim Morris: The High School Teacher Who Became a Flame-throwing Reliever… For A Little While
His name was Jim Morris, and his story is an unlikely one. Morris was drafted in the MLB amateur draft in 1982, but he was never panned out, unable to rise past the Single A level in the minors. So, like many with baseball dreams that don’t make it, Jim Morris retired and took a regular job, as a high school physics teacher and youth baseball coach.
In 1999, Morris made a goofy bet with his baseball team, meant to inspire them. He bet them that if they won the District Championship, he would try out for the major leagues. His odds were quite good: the team had never won Districts. But that year they did.
True to his word, Morris, then thirty-five years old, went to a Tampa Bay Rays try-out. Much to his own surprise, and that of the scouts, he threw twelve consecutive ninety-eight mile per hour fastballs. He was offered a contract, quickly worked his way through the minors, and in September of 1999 was called up to the Major Leagues to make his debut out of the bullpen. He struck out the first batter he faced on four pitches.
Alas, Morris’ late-blooming career did not last long, as he succumbed to arm problems and ineffectiveness by the end of 2000. But the tale of a thirty-five year old physics teacher riding his out-of-nowhere fire-balling arm to the Major Leagues is a story for the ages, now chronicled in his book, The Oldest Rookie, and a movie, The Rookie, where he was played by Dennis Quaid.
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Kurt Warner: From Grocery Bagger to Leading The “Greatest Show on Turf” To A Super Bowl Win
1999 was a big year for rags-to-riches sports stories. And Kurt Warner is perhaps the shining star of out-of-nowhere stars.
Warner came from humble beginnings. He was not being recruited at any Division I colleges, and played at the Division I-AA Northern Iowa, where he sat on the bench as a back-up for all but one season. Upon graduation, he went undrafted. He tried out for the Green Bay Packers, but was cut in training camp. Warner continued to work out, working the night shift at a grocery store in Iowa stocking shelves for $5.50 an hour. In 1995, he was asked to play for the Iowa Barnstormers of the cartoonish Arena Football League. There he tasted success and displayed a strong accurate arm and excellent pocket instincts, while setting league passing records. Warner’s arena football success caught the attention of the Rams, then one of the doormats of the NFL. In 1998, they signed him and sent him off to play in Europe, where he promptly led the league in passing.
Kurt Warner’s ascension to the NFL was a story in and of itself. But he was just getting started. In 1999, in training camp, the Rams starting QB was injured and Warner got a chance to take the helm.
With Warner leading the way, and displaying uncanny accuracy and poise, the Rams emerged as the NFL’s dominant offense, nicknamed “The Greatest Show on Turf.” They finished with a 13-3 record, and capped it off a Super Bowl win in which the Warner threw for a 414 yards and was named the game’s MVP.
Of the former Division I-AA backup and stock boy, Sports Illustrated wrote:
“There’s no way to quantify Warner’s commanding pocket presence, his ability to release the ball just before the rush arrives or the amazing array of passes he can throw with chilling accuracy.”
Warner’s emergence in 1999 from a no-name backup to leader of one of most prolific NFL offenses of all time, Super Bowl winner and League and Super Bowl MVP, completely shocked the football world. It is the stuff of legends.
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Mark Mulder: The Washed-Up and Aging Former Pro Comes All The Way Back
And then there is Mulder, the middle-aged former athlete making a return from the booth to the field. His comeback has the potential to be another terrific story to add to the lexicon.
According to Mulder, he hadn’t even been thinking of attempting a comeback, but happened to observe the delivery of Dodger’s reliever Paco Rodriguez while watching a baseball game on television from his living room. He began to imitate the delivery and found that it put less pressure on his arm, while allowing him to throw his fastball in the low 90’s. Shortly afterwards he signed a deal with the Angels.
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It remains to be seen how this story will end, but this regular guy fan on the wrong side of thirty-five will be rooting for him from my couch.
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Photo: Flickr/D. Reichardt (featured picture) Flickr/Rick Rush Art (Kurt Warner); Flickr/olblueeys (Mark Mulder)
The post Off The Couch and Onto The Field: The Regular Guy to The Pros Stories That Inspire the Everyman appeared first on The Good Men Project.