Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Ben Davis, But Mostly J.R. House

Every time I see or hear about Ben Davis, I think of him bunting for a hit to wreck Schilling's (Schilling?!?!) no-hitter and it warms my heart every time. That's not what I like most about this card, though- and no, I'm not a Ramon Castro fan, either...When I was a student at South Charleston (WV) High School, J.R. House was the quarterback for our rival Nitro. Dude was a big friggin' deal; when he graduated, he held the national record for career HS passing yardage and once threw ten touchdowns in the state championship- a national record that still stands. He didn't play baseball for Nitro; his father conveniently owned another car dealership near an elite baseball school in Florida so young J.R. would move back and forth between semesters. I think that high school athletes are allowed to do that is total B.S. and undermines the very idea of education but I suppose that's neither here nor there. After a slew or surgeries and a pair of tiny September cups of coffee with the Pirates, they cut him loose and he spent a year at WVU as a clipboard holder before getting back into baseball. He's had a scattered bit of ML experience the last few years with the O's and 'stros and is now in the Braves system. I always feel bad for guys like him who are characterized as disappointments for not living up to a bar set ridiculously high. All I know is that he's played in more ML games than anyone I've heard criticize him has, so I suppose they can just suck on that.

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