Mack - I Love A Great Baseball Story

In 2009, I was writing a full page a week for one of our local Morris Publishing newspapers on the Savannah Sand Gnats.

I also was responsible for putting out an additional sports page per week on local sports in both Jasper and Beaufort County, South Carolina. It included covering the Hardeeville High School baseball team.

Stay with me here.

Hardeeville made the playoffs in 2009 and an away game opening game against State powerhouse, Bamberg Ehrhardt, in Bamberg, South Carolina. This was the school that both ex-Mets Mookie Wilson and his son, Preston Wilson attended and played under long term legendary coach David Horton (who eventually retired at age 74, leaving behind 14 state championships, 889 wins, two national coach of the year honors and a legacy that might never again be matched in this state.

So, I had this great idea. Drive update, do an interview with Horton with emphasis on his days with the Wilson family. Then, I’ll cover that playoff game between the two team, I'm then told that the pitcher for Bamberg would actually be their ace and ironically was drafted by the Mets.

Wow! The story’s getting even better.

So I call the school, talk to the coach, drive up for the game, and I spend the afternoon with Coach Horton on the field prior to the game.

At game time, someone points out to me that the Bamberg pitcher’s mother is standing over in the corner, smoking a cigarette. I go over, introduce myself and ask her what it was like having her son be drafted by the Mets.

She looked at me fuming and began a diatribe on how the Mets drafted her son in the 50^th round (!), called him on the phone and told him that, not only would there be no bonus, but that they wouldn’t even be offering a contract. They did say that the kid was welcome to hop a train, at his own expense, go down to the Florida complex and tryout for the organization.

She ended by telling me that the Mets could go do something to themselves that is physically impossible.

Well, I put this end of the story to bed, went back to watching my home team Hardeeville have their head handed to them and returned home.

The pitcher?

Oh. He went on to pitch the 2010 season for Spartanburg (SC) Methodist College, He then sign on with the University of Tennessee for three years, was drafted in the 10^th round (2013) by the Cubs, bounced around both the Cubs and Arizona’s system for four years… and ended up last night getting his fourth victory of the year, throwing 7.1 innings against… 

the New York Mets.

His name is Zack Godley.

I love baseball.