Jyrki21
Rebel Sell + Moneyball = Life
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1969
Location: Ottawa, ON
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 Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:38 pm Post subject: Tom Glavine reflects on what could have been |
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I didn't know whether this should go in Hockey Talk, Other Sports or what, so I guess we'll stick it with the team that drafted him. 
An interesting article on NHL.com about Tom Glavine's decision to play baseball after being a 4th rounder of the Kings in 1984. (Some thousand-gamers who were taken later than him -- Brett Hull, Cliff Ronning, Don Sweeney, Luc Robitaille, Gary Suter).
http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=350858
His reasoning for choosing baseball isn't for a greater love of the game:
| NHL.com wrote: |
“I think about it quite a bit,” said Glavine, who is returning to the Atlanta Braves in 2008 after spending the past five seasons with the New York Mets. “Before, I think it was whenever I would go to a (hockey) game. You’d watch the game and you’d see what was going on, and you kind of try to evaluate what I would have done or how I would have matured and whether or not I would have made it. I think now with my kids playing, me getting on the ice a little bit more, I kind of wonder a little bit more what would have happened, but I certainly don’t have any regrets or second thoughts about my decision. I think I made the right one. But I miss playing the game, and I’ll always wonder what would have happened.”
The fact that he was a southpaw, combined with the longevity he knew he could have on the mound, ultimately led Glavine to a career in baseball.
“Back then, you just didn’t play the game very long,” Glavine said. “You didn’t see guys playing into their mid-30s and late-30s like you do now. At that point in time, I was thinking that I’m 18 years old (and) most hockey players are on their way out by the time they get to their 30s. That’s not a very long career. I just felt with baseball, I had a chance to play longer because of health. Most importantly, being a left-handed pitcher, that was a huge advantage. I didn’t have a similar advantage in hockey.”
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With a return to Atlanta (I had no idea he was still playing), he's pleased that the Thrashers are around these days.
| NHL.com wrote: |
Glavine also is enjoying the fact that Atlanta has become a viable hockey market. With people from all across the country moving to Georgia’s biggest city, the demand for hockey has grown.
“The Thrashers seem to be very popular among the kids here,” said Glavine, a father of four. “It seems to be the kind of thing that is viable. I think it’s going to continue to grow. Atlanta is such a transient city. You have so many people here from the Northeast, you’re getting a lot of people here from the Midwest, and all those people have hockey backgrounds. I think with the influx of people coming here who grew up with hockey – and their kids want to play hockey – I think that’s only going to help to continue to grow the interest in the Thrashers. It’s going to continue to grow the youth programs around here. When they become stable and popular, then I think the interest in hockey is always going to be there. Much of it starts with getting the kids interested and getting them to understand it." |
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