The nature of the beast

Most people are really not aware just how hard it is for a talented athlete to make it to the bigtime – the professional circuit. Playing sports at the college level is a tough enough proposition let alone successfully moving on to the pro ranks.
Many different things have to come together at once – namely, talent, determination and luck. Sometimes the best of the best don’t always make it, instead, others less gifted do. It happens that way for a variety of reasons; drugs take their toll, a lack of fortitude invades other wannabes, loss of focus can occasionally derail a dream, and sometimes, a shortcoming in one’s temperament plays a pivotal role.
As for the latter I knew a guy who qualified for that deficient trait and in the end it cost him dearly. He was drafted high by the Arizona Diamondbacks and was such a talented hitter that the powers that be moved him directly to AAA. On the verge of achieving his and his father’s dreams he foolishly threw it all away because of his temper and bad judgement.
I can’t tell you his full name and shortly you will know why, but for now let’s call him Tommy “K” and let it go at that.
His family originally lived about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh but his dad was obsessed with baseball and when he heard about Frank Porco, one of the great hitting instructors in the U.S. who was teaching in Pittsburgh, he sold his house and immediately leased an apartment in the city. He purposely located he and his family about two miles away from Porco and for the next five or so years Tommy learned the art of hitting from a master.
It was widely reputed, with good reason, that the dad did “outside” work for the “wiseguys” in the Burgh and was not someone to be trifled with. Years before, while in the army, he got into an altercation in the chow line with a big, burley cook when he asked for an extra helping of mashed potatoes.
Tom, Sr., jumped up on the food table, grabbed the cooks head and submersed it into a vat of very hot soup inflicting 2nd degree burns to the unfortunate man.
Sentenced to the stockade he was prematurely released when he agreed to box on the company commander’s boxing team.
My son also took hitting instruction from Porco and as a result I got to know both Toms fairly well on a social basis. Tom, Sr., could go from a pleasant smile on his face to a look of dark anger in his eyes whenever you might innocently say something he would disagree with. Tommy, Jr., possessed that same exact trait, too.
Nonetheless, he was a very accomplished athlete.
One Saturday I took my son to his regularly scheduled hitting lesson and while my boy was in the hitting cage Porco tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Did you hear what happened to Tommy?”
“No Frank, what’s the rumpus?”
“He got into an argument with the trainer of the Triple A team and knocked him out. Initially they thought the guy was dead but he eventually came around.”
“Geez, then what happened Frank?”
“They told him if he wrote a letter of apology to the trainer and the league and got some anger management counseling they would let him come back after a decent interval.”
“So, he wrote the letter, didn’t he?”
“No, he refused to do it, Mike.”
“So, now what?”
“Now, for all intents and purposes, he’s banned from the minor leagues. That’s an unwritten rule, not a legal one.”
“What’s he going to do now, Frank?”
“He got an offer from the University of Pittsburgh to come play football as a wide receiver – a full ride no less.”
“You know the shame of the whole thing, Mike? As you know I also train Sean Casey (with the Reds at the time) and Casey is a legitimate .300 hitter. Well, I’m here to tell you, Tommy is a better hitter than Casey and Sean just signed a $20 million contract.
About a year later Tommy blew out his knee in a game and his football career was now over, too.
I bumped into him down at Porco’s shortly after this and had occasioned to chat with him. Now, besides a look of anger in his eyes there was also one of sadness.
“Have you any plans for the future, Tom?”
“Yeah, I got an offer to be a hitting instructor for some Division II college in Missouri so I guess I’ll go there.”
That was the last time I ever saw, heard of or talked to Tommy K. I saw him hit in the cages many times and he was great. His hitting mechanics were far superior to most of the pros in the game today and his bat speed was outrageously fast.
I liked him and I wish him well wherever he is today. Like I said in the beginning, the best don’t always make it to the top and I guess, in Tommy’s case, it was the nature of the beast.