Amateur Career
Bob Napolitano, who was Wilson's coach at Londonderry High, was struck by his extreme focus on the game. Napolitano specifically remembered the first home game of Wilson's senior year, which happened shortly after his father's death. No fewer than 29 professional scouts, all with radar guns, showed up to watch him pitch. According to Napolitano, Wilson was completely oblivious to their appearance; he ate and drank in the dugout, warmed up, and pitched a two-hitter while apparently not noticing that scouts were there. The Cleveland Indians offered him a contract straight out of high school but he did not sign, opting for college instead.
After a coach happened to see him pitch in a tournament in California, Wilson was given a scholarship to Louisiana State University where he played for the LSU Tigers baseball team, eventually becoming their No. 2 starter. In his time at LSU, Wilson pitched in 51 games (22 as a starter) and accumulated 18 wins, 10 losses and 5 saves. He was in the middle of his third season on March 28, 2003 when he injured his elbow and required Tommy John surgery. He also played for the Keene Swamp Bats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Wilson's college career ended when he entered the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft, even though he faced extensive rehabilitation.
Read more about this topic: Brian Wilson (baseball)
Famous quotes containing the words amateur and/or career:
“The true gardener then brushes over the ground with slow and gentle hand, to liberate a space for breath round some favourite; but he is not thinking about destruction except incidentally. It is only the amateur like myself who becomes obsessed and rejoices with a sadistic pleasure in weeds that are big and bad enough to pull, and at last, almost forgetting the flowers altogether, turns into a Reformer.”
—Freya Stark (1893–1993)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)