Russell Jaslow writes:
>This is starting to bring up a very interesting trend.  So far 3 athletes
>have been mentioned that might have had hockey careers, but decided to
>pursue baseball instead.  All three are pitchers, and quite successful ones
>at that.
 
Yes, and Glavine still says that hockey is his favorite sport.  Also,
the guy who will be the best man at Heather's and my wedding, Dean
Borrelli, is another who passed up hockey for baseball even though he
shares the same feelings as Glavine.  This might give some insight
into the decisions of those players.  Dean was a highly recruited
defenseman by a number of Div I teams (Lowell, RPI, BU) and also was a
Boston Globe All-Scholastic catcher.  Lowell & BU wanted him to play
both sports, but he was also being recruited by a number of
outstanding baseball schools for baseball only (including UMass, along
with some in the South).
 
In the end, he chose UMass - in part because they didn't have a hockey
team and he wouldn't be tempted to play (his words; wonder how things
would be different today).  He knew his future lay more in baseball
than hockey; as well, you can make more money in baseball, and chances
of injury are probably less...though it seems that he's had the
misfortune to have somehow been injured nearly every year since he
turned pro.  He spent the entire 1993 season with Oakland's AAA team
in Tacoma, btw, and had his best season ever at the plate, including
hitting .340 over the last month.  (forgive the plug, I'm proud :-))
But he'll still ask if I think he could have played DivI hockey...
 
Anyway, as long as the potential to make money is significantly
greater in hockey than baseball, I think we'll continue to see more of
these stories.  Hockey is climbing by leaps and bounds (maybe too
quickly), but opportunities in baseball are still both greater and
more profitable.  I don't expect either of those things to change.
The downside for those of us who follow college hockey is that we
don't get to see many of these great players move on to the college
scene.  McCaskill is one who played...I just wish I'd had a chance to
see both Glavine and Dean play.  They might have even been teammates
at Lowell, after battling against each other in both sports through
high school.
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Mike Machnik           [log in to unmask]          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMN* 11/13/93