FORMER BLUE DEVIL BATTIER COULD BAT TOO!

As I was watching Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils win the program's 4^th NCAA National Championship on Monday night, I couldn't help but think of the Dukies last NC2A Title, back in 2001 and the team led by All-American forward and current NBA stalwart Shane Battier (Detroit Country Day – Class of 1997). Over the past two decades there have not been many athletes spawning from Oakland County that have gone on to have the kind of post-high school success Battier has had. He's a consummate hoopologist – a true student of the game – and a genuine class act on and off the court.

WHAT A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T KNOW IS:

HE WAS ALSO A SUPERSTUD BASEBALL PLAYER. Yeah, that's right Shane Battier could cut up the diamond with best of them back in the day. If leading the Yellowjackets to three straight hoop state championships and winning the state's highly-coveted Mr. Basketball Award wasn't enough, Battier also brutally tore into opposing pitchers in his one year of varsity baseball as a junior back in the spring of 1996 (a year where the team had the difficult task of defending its 'state title).

Playing center field, first base, and occasionally pitching, Battier hit lead-off for head coach Frank Orlando and the 'Jackets, finishing with a batting average over the .450 mark and a very high on-base percentage.  Also displaying power and speed, he stole close to 20 bases and smacked six home runs that season. Although Country Day won a district championship trophy that spring, it could not repeat as state champions. Nonetheless, Battier more than lived up to the hype he had coming into high school as a masterful two-sport athlete.

Not many people might know that, but it's true. Even though he only played on year of HS baseball, Battier was heavily-regarded in both sports – baseball and basketball – as an eighth grader at Derby Middle School in Birmingham. When he was just 12 years old, Battier had led his summer travel team (a squad that included future college football quarterback, Bill Feldmaier) to a state championship and a berth in a regional final, which meant they were one win away from playing on ESPN in the Little League World Series.               

The pedigree for Battier's future athletic prowess was set long before he hit the local media radar. His father, Ed, was a lineman in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. Shane's younger brother Jeremy was a standout in the prep ranks as well, excelling on both the hardwood like his older sibling and on the gridiron. In Jeremy's senior year (2000), he was selected all-state in both football and basketball before deciding to play football in college at Duke.

The success Shane achieved in his one season on the baseball diamond was just a small glimpse into what an overall incredibly gifted human being he truly is. I mean this guy spent his summer breaks from college working on the high-voltage trading floor in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The fact that he put up all those numbers in just one season and after not really picking up a bat or a glove for over two years previous, was an outstanding feat. Coach Orlando can only wonder if the 'Jackets could have gotten him a second state banner on the ole' ballfield (he's got 10 in girls hoops) had Shane would have decided to play again his senior year (the '97 team was captained by Ryan Keyes, the school's all-time best baseball player statistically speaking).