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| Saturday, December 9 Weinke struggled, but had baseball highlights Associated Press | |||
| NEW YORK -- Long before he won the Heisman Trophy and a national championship wearing a football helmet, Chris Weinke enjoyed plenty of highlights in the days when he wore a batting helmet.
He hit in a lineup that featured Carlos Delgado. He finished off a triple play that began on a drive by Nomar Garciaparra. And he got a first-hand look at the first career hit by a star from another sport -- Michael Jordan.
"I was a baseball player," the Florida State quarterback reminded everyone Saturday night after winning college football's top award.
Weinke was the second-round draft choice of the Toronto Blue
Jays in June 1990 and got a $375,000 signing bonus. He left the
Seminoles' practice field later that summer to pursue a baseball
career.
Primarily a first baseman, Weinke showed early promise and power
and eventually made it up to Triple-A, but never reached the majors.
Playing in Toronto's minor league system from 1991-1996, Weinke
hit a combined .248 with 69 home runs and 402 RBI.
"He was tremendously dedicated and a tremendous team player," Blue Jays general manager Gord Ash said Saturday night. "He just struggled with the bat."
Weinke's best season came in 1993 when, at age 21, he became an All-Star in the Class A Florida State League. He hit 17 homers with 98 RBI and batted .284.
Though Weinke never again duplicated those numbers -- he did lead the Southern League with 87 RBI in 1994 -- lots of memorable moments followed on the diamond.
"With apologies to Lou Gehrig, I feel like I'm the luckiest man
in the world," Weinke said.
"I got to pursue two dreams. The first one, baseball, didn't work out the way I would have liked. But the second one, football, did."
Early in 1994, Weinke was playing first base for Knoxville when
Jordan, taking time off as an NBA star, singled for his first pro
hit. Weinke was the first to offer congratulations to the
Birmingham Barons rookie.
Later that year, Weinke took part in the Double-A All-Star game,
playing on the winning side with Matt Stairs. In 1995, Weinke
played with Delgado at Triple-A Syracuse on a team managed by
Richie Hebner.
Then in the summer of 1996, Weinke caught the ball that
completed a triple play against Pawtucket. Future Toronto
outfielder Shannon Stewart ran down the long fly ball hit by
Garciaparra and made the relay.
Weinke wound up playing first base, third base, outfield and DH
in 1996, splitting time between Syracuse and Knoxville in his final
year as a baseball player.
After the season, the Seattle Mariners picked him off Toronto's roster in the minor league draft.
By then, though, after 2,499 at-bats and 716 games in the
minors, along with 620 hits, 102 doubles and 42 stolen bases,
Weinke already was thinking about a career change, one that likely
will land him in the NFL.
"Because he was such a special athlete, there was talk at the end about him moving to a different position, maybe behind the plate or maybe even on the mound," Ash said.
"But I think by then, he'd decided baseball wasn't for him,"
he said. "Good for him on the Heisman. It sounds like it's all
worked out rather well."
| ALSO SEE
Weinke wins Heisman in closest vote since '89 | ||
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