The One That Got Away

Hal Newhouser was a Major League Baseball pitcher.

Well not just any Major League Baseball pitcher.

He was a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher.

Had his #16 retired by the Detroit Tigers.

Won the American League Most Valuable Player in 1944.

Did it again in 1945.

Back to back.

The only pitcher to do that.

Ever.

During those two years, he started 70 games.

And won 54 of them.

In 1945 he won the pitching triple crown.

Led the American League in wins, ERA and strikeouts.

He is considered the best pitcher of the World War II era.

The man knew baseball.

Lived baseball.

And loved baseball.

Until he passed away in 1998.

After he retired from playing, he eventually became a scout.

For four teams.

In 1992, the 71-year old Newhouser was working for the Houston Astros.

His job was to discover talent in the Great Lakes.

And that year he discovered the big one.

At Kalamazoo Central High School in Michigan.

As a sophomore, the player had a batting average of .557.

As a junior, he hit .508.

As a senior, he also hit .508.

Those are staggering numbers in little league.

Those are outrageous numbers for a high school player.

But it was not the stats that impressed Newhouser.

It was something else.

“He’s got the softest hands I’ve ever seen.”

“That kid is something special.”

So special that Newhouser recommended the Astros take the player with the first overall pick in the 1992 draft.

But instead of selecting Newhouser’s diamond in the rough.

They went with the sure thing.

A sure thing named Phil Nevin.

Nevin had just led Cal State Fullerton to a second place finish in the College World Series.

Driving in an incredible 86 runs in just 61 games.

But it wasn’t the numbers on the field that made the Astros select Nevin.

It was the numbers in the dollar column.

The Astros decided they didn’t want to spend over $700,000 on the top pick.

And they didn’t think they could sign Newhouser’s prize.

Even though their super scout said it would cost only 50 grand more than they wanted to spend.

So they passed.

As did the next four teams.

That left the New York Yankees.

The team that spends money like it is growing on Phil Rizzuto’s Money Tree.

So with the sixth pick in the 1992 draft, the Yankees selected the player that Newhouser wanted.

The player was named Derek.

Derek Sanderson Jeter.

Maybe you’ve heard of him.

Newhouser was so upset that the Astros passed on Jeter.

He quit his job.

And left baseball.

The game he loved.

And never returned.

Nevin ended up playing 12 seasons in the Major Leagues.

1217 games.

But just 18 in an Astros uniform.

He drove in 743 runs.

But just one for Houston.

Meanwhile Jeter has done nothing short of spectacular.

Rewriting the record books.

The records that matter.

Jeter has more postseason hits than anyone.

Anyone in baseball history.

More postseason at bats than any player.

Any player in baseball history.

More postseason runs scored.

12-time All-Star.

Five gold gloves.

Four time Silver Slugger Award winner.

He has played in seven World Series.

And won five of them.

Last year he became the New York Yankees all-time hits leader.

More than Lou Gehrig.

And Mickey Mantle.

And Babe Ruth.

And Joe Dimaggio.

And Mike Pagliarulo.

More than any of them.

More than all of them.

And this weekend he should become the first player in Yankees history to reach 3,000 hits.

As I type this, he is four hits short of that milestone.

And he has done this by diving into the crowd.

To make a key catch.

And running across the field.

To make a key play.

And staying out of trouble.

To keep his name clean.

All of the ingredients it takes.

To be... special.

The special Newhouser saw.

Before anyone knew his name.