Former NBA star Tracy McGrady took the mound. He struck out his first batter. In a minor league All-Star game. And then retired from professional baseball. That’s right, in case you missed it, the former Houston Rockets and New York Knicks All-Star has caught on with an independent league professional baseball team in Texas.
McGrady had a 6.75 ERA in 6.2 innings for the Sugar Land Skeeters, so his brief attempt at baseball was less than stellar, to say the least.
Unlike the attention paid when Michael Jordan aborted his effort to play professional baseball, recent NBA star Tracy McGrady’s experiment to try pitching ended without great fanfare even though the Atlantic League gave him the rare platform of being the starting pitcher for host Sugar Land, TX in this week’s All-Star Game against the other seven teams in the league.
McGrady’s post-appearance interview, within minutes of the end of his four-out, one-run outing, appeared to catch home-team announcers Ira Liebman and Brett Dolan by surprise when he told the ESPN3 audience it was his last game, which included four starts but only 6.2 innings for the Skeeters.
“It has been a tremendous ride,” Dolan quoted the 35-year-old former basketball superstar, in a story for houston.cbslocal.com. “I (had) informed the team this would be my last outing…I got a little emotional coming off the mound. It feels good to be celebrated again.” McGrady had allowed four hits and five runs in the regular-season games, but sometimes struggled with his control, which shouldn’t be surprising for someone who had not played the game since high school.
It is difficult to get a read on when we might finally see former NBA franchise player Tracy McGrady on the pitcher’s mound in a regular season Atlantic League game.
First came the announcement that he had made the Sugar Land, TX roster, then he was moved to the league’s inactive list after two games. The Skeeters say he is day to day, and the website UltimateAstros.com quotes the 6-foot-8 Tracy McGrady, who is traveling with the team, as saying:
“I’m trying to get through some soreness that I experienced in spring training. Once that goes away, you’ll probably see me out there soon.”
In other words, not today or tomorrow, but pretty soon. Tracy McGrady will no doubt be a huge PR boost for the Sugarland Skeeters, like Roger Clemens was a few years ago.
This report come to us from Bob Wirz of WirzandAssociates.com, and IndyBaseballChatter.com. Wirz has 16 years of Major League Baseball public relations experience with the Kansas City Royals and as former MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)