Phenom
Sep 2, 2007 Americana
Before Clay Buchholz made his major league debut two weeks ago, the Boston Red Sox told him he was going back to the minors — even if he pitched a no-hitter.
Got to keep the kid now.
The 23-year-old rookie pitched that no-hitter in just his second outing, using a dazzling three-pitch assortment of fastballs, curves and changeups to beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-0 Saturday night.
He might never win another game. He might not be ready. He might be anything, but one thing he is is amazing.
Anyone who thinks you can’t learn anything about real life from sports does not get it. Being good enough — getting good enough — to make it into major league play already requires enormous commitment and discipline, as much mental as physical. But what this kid did was throw a no-hitter — a task that gets geometrically harder to achieve, as a psychological matter, the further you proceed toward its completion — in one of the most intense sports environments in the world, Boston’s Fenway Park — in only his second major league game ever.
I don’t know anything about Buchholz. He could be an axe murderer, a dogfight promoter, a drug kingpin. I am not saying that professional athletes ought to normally be considered heroes for their on-field performances, nor emulated by children or adults because they are good or even great at what they do. A lot of them are huge lugs, worthless or even downright menaces to society.
People can achieve amazing things, though, on their own terms, and Clay Buchholz is one of those people — no matter who he really is and no matter what else happens.
