Early Years
Upon graduation from Islip High School in Islip, New York, Veryzer was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the first round (eleventh pick overall) of the 1971 Major League Baseball Draft. His older brother, James, had been drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the 49th round of the 1967 Major League Baseball Draft, but had also moved to the Tigers' organization by 1971 as well.
Veryzer batted just .225 with four home runs and twenty RBIs in his first professional season with the Bristol Tigers, but his slick glove earned him Appalachian League MVP honors. After two and a half seasons in the minors, he was called up to the majors in 1973 at just twenty years old. Although he remained with the club through the rest of the season, he saw very little playing time with All-Star Ed Brinkman at short. However, in his limited playing time, he batted .300 (6 for 20), and had an RBI single off the Minnesota Twins' Dave Goltz in his first major league at-bat. He also drove in the last run ever at the original, unrenovated Yankee Stadium, driving in Marvin Lane with a single off Lindy McDaniel on September 30.
Read more about this topic: Tom Veryzer
Famous quotes containing the words early years, early and/or years:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)
“In these years we are witnessing the gigantic spectacle of innumerable human lives wandering about lost in their own labyrinths, through not having anything to which to give themselves.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)