Early Years
Born to parents John and Darlene Ventura on July 14, 1967 in Santa Maria, California, Ventura is of Italian descent. After attending Righetti High School in Orcutt, California, Ventura was a 3-time All-American at Oklahoma State University. He led the nation in runs (107), RBI (96) and total bases (204) in 69 games as a freshman in 1986. In 1987, he had a NCAA-record 58-game hitting streak, breaking the previous record of 47; he also led Division I in RBIs two years in a row. His hitting streak remains the Division I record, though his mark was surpassed in 2003 by Damian Costantino of Division III Salve Regina University, who had a 60 game streak. Ventura helped OSU reach the finals of the 1987 College World Series, although they lost the championship game to a Stanford University team that included future teammate Jack McDowell. Ventura collected four hits – including a pair of doubles – in the final game and batted .364 for the series. That summer, he played for the Hyannis Mets in the Cape Cod Baseball League, hitting .370 and led the league in runs batted in with 37. On January 19, 2002, Ventura was inducted into the Cape League Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2001.
In 1988 he earned a spot on the gold medal-winning Olympic baseball team, batting .409 during the tournament. He won both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy for outstanding collegiate play, concluding his 3-year OSU career with a .428 batting average, a .792 slugging percentage, and 302 RBIs. On July 4, 2006, Ventura was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural class.
Read more about this topic: Robin Ventura
Famous quotes containing the words early years, early and/or years:
“Parents ... are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don’t fulfil the promise of their early years.”
—Anthony Powell (b. 1905)
“Quintilian [educational writer in Rome around A.D. 100] thought that the earliest years of the child’s life were crucial. Education should start earlier than age seven, within the family. It should not be so hard as to give the child an aversion to learning. Rather, these early lessons would take the form of play—that embryonic notion of kindergarten.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“Six years of such small preoccupations!
Six years of shuttling in and out of this place!
O my hunger! My hunger!
I could have gone around the world twice
or had new children all boys.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)