Most athletes have received some discouragement at early points in their careers, but what are the most extreme examples you can think of?
To qualify as “most extreme” the discouragement would have had to come at a relatively advanced stage of their career (no Little League flops, for example–everyone has growth spurts) and the athlete would have had a relatively early and sustained period of excellence at the highest level of competition.
For example I would cite David Ortiz, who was cut by a major league team (the Twins) but soon became a major star on the Red Sox. Others?
This person was well rewarded in terms of cash and trophies, those that know the game rate him extremely highly, but the wider public probably don’t think of him at all when considering the greats of the game.
I’m a Leeds fan and not given to superlatives about Man U. players generally but he was, without doubt, their most important player during his two decades.
Sandy Koufax spent his first few years in the majors doing not much at all. Then a catcher told him to stop throwing so hard, he gained control and became one of the best who ever pitched. Stayed with the Dodgers his whole career, but they did later force him to take less money than he wanted. So I think that may count.
In the 80s I was amazed that the Cardinals traded Keith Hernandez and the Expos traded Gary Carter, both to the Mets. That enabled the incredible 86 Mets team. The Cardinals had their reasons with Hernandez, but still… he had been an MVP and was the best fielding first baseman of all time. Seems they definitely undervalued him. Carter had been an institution in Montreal. Maybe they thought he was getting too old and beat up. They were wrong.
Derek Jeter was drafted as the 6th pick in 1992. Which means five teams didn’t take him. It’s still a high draft number, but he seems to have been undervalued relative to what he accomplished.
I think pro football in particular has a sufficiently different play style from college, that it’s not uncommon for players to be drafted either too low OR too high for their relative abilities in the pro game. I almost feel like it’s a special case.
As far as sheer undervaluation goes, Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros has to be up there somewhere. Early in his career, he was a decent, but far from spectacular AA hitter. The Red Sox traded him to Houston for late-career reliever Larry Andersen. This trade is in hindsight, considered the second worst trade in MLB history, behind the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to New York.
Bagwell went on to be a 4 time All-Star, 449 home runs, 3 time Silver Slugger, and Gold Glove winner, as well as the only player in MLB history to have six consecutive seasons with 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, 100 runs scored, and 100 walks. He also is one of only 12 players to hit over 400 career home runs.
Huge mistake. They didn’t want him to go to arbitration, and they thought they could use Matthew LeCroix as a DH.
Ortiz had been injury-prone with the Twins and was underachieving. I believe he said it was a wake-up call to get released.
No, he was using drugs and Whitey Herzog would not stand for it. Even though he got flamed in the press, Herzog never stated that’s why he traded Hernandez, criticizing him for not running out ground balls and dogging it, couching it as “not my kind of player.” Hernandez actually had the nerve to whine about how his feelings were hurt by this criticism, even after the Pittsburgh trials.
Agreed completely, but Tom Brady wasn’t just a great player. He’s the GOAT. Who else is in that conversation? Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, arguably John Elway.
I was about to continue on about how all those guys were either drafted first overall or right after each other in the same draft, but then it turns out Joe Montana was drafted in the third round. Your point stands.
Wade Boggs won or nearly won 5 consecutive batting titles in the minors before the Red Sox begrudgingly let him replace Carney Lansford and Dave Stapleton on the MLB roster. He went on to collect 91.4 WAR over his career (leading the league 3 consecutive years), yet didn’t earn a single first place vote for MVP.
Two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic was drafted in the second round (41st overall pick), by far the lowest-drafted player ever to become MVP.
In the MLB, Albert Pujols was drafted in the 13th round, and Nolan Ryan was drafted in the 12th round.
For the NFL, it was a huge mistake for the San Diego Chargers to lowball Drew Brees in contract negotiations following his shoulder injury, causing him to leave for the New Orleans Saints and later winning a Super Bowl as well as breaking multiple league passing records with that team.
That’s what I meant when I said the Cardinals “had their reasons”. But I’d say Hernandez’ later career shows that it was a mistake. Whatever issues he had with drugs didn’t prevent him from being the team leader for the Mets.
In the ESPN series about the 86 Mets Hernandez had a lot of good things to say about Herzog. But he also disagreed with some of his methods. He was one of the smartest players of his era, and Herzog one of the smartest managers. I can easily imagine them being too smart for each other and not getting along, irrespective of the drug problems.
Even if we say the Cardinals did the right thing for their team at the time, Hernandez was most definitely a player with tremendous value. He just had to do it somewhere else.
I was as much thinking of the Tim Tebows, Ryan Leafs, Andre Wares, and Brian Bosworths, as I was the Roger Staubachs, Deacon Joneses or Shannon Sharpes of the league.
It works both ways… which leads me to think that there’s something going on there. Maybe there’s not a good way to compare SEC to ACC players with the same stats. Maybe there’s not a way to quantify what makes for a good NFL player versus a good college player. I don’t know.
The obvious difference between the NBA and NFL and MLB is that MLB has zero expectation that their draftees will become instant starters or stars. Rather, MLB pencils in a two- or three-year apprenticeship in the minor leagues before promoting for a big-league tryout, so it’s not really an appropriate comparison.
The owner of the Boston Red Sox once traded away a pitcher to the Yankees in order to fund some musical. I can’t remember his name…similar to some candy bar i think… anybody recall this guy? I think he did a lot better at the Yankees.
Steven Alessio (AFL)
Attended a 2nd/3rd tier high school and missed his one rep trial due to a family function. Probably equally interested in basketball as a teenager and totally missed the radar of every AFL club and talent scout. He wasn’t included in any player draft he was eligible. Didn’t get picked up by any of the Melbourne semi-professional clubs.
Recruited by Essendon when he walked into the clubhouse and asked if he could have a trial. At 203cm (6’8") he represented a handy prospect
Between 1992 and 2003 he played 184 senior games, won a premiership in 2000 and was ranked as the starting ruckman in Essendon’s team of the AFL era (1990+)