Minor-league MVP still a big-league believer
Bryan LaHair won the Mariners' Best of the Rest award last season, otherwise known as minor-league MVP. For a 39th-round draft pick, that meant progress and validation, proof that belief counts when it's unwavering.It goes from there to LaHair being a part of the US Baseball team that qualified for the 2008 Olympics by beating Cuba in Cuba last year. If LaHair makes the Mariners this spring or next, he won't be able to go to China as a member of USA Basebll. But, he is okay with that.
Then, there is this story about his high school baseketball career:
LaHair grew up in Worcester, Mass., and in the coincidence of all coincidences, played high-school basketball for a future general manager.
That would be J.P. Ricciardi, a Worcester native now with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ricciardi recalls LaHair as a real "crowd pleaser." He said LaHair averaged only about nine points, despite standing 6 feet 5 and a thick 215 pounds, but made up for it with hustle.
During one game, against nationally ranked St. Patrick's, LaHair picked the point guard near half court and coasted for an uncontested layup. The crowd went nuts. But his future was not in basketball.
"He picked the right sport," Ricciardi said, laughing in a phone interview.
He is hitting .500 this spring. I would say that he did.
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