The Phils were on their way to the National League East title, and led the second-place Expos by five games entering the contest. The visitors trailed, 3-0, entering the sixth inning, but touched up Montreal starter Dennis Martinez and a pair of relievers for 7 runs in the top of the frame. The home squad scratched across a run in the bottom of the inning, but entered the seventh down three.
The score was still 7-4 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when the first two Expo batters reached base. Manager Felipe Alou called on rookie Curtis Pride, a September callup, to bat for pitcher Chris Nabholz. Then this happened (go to 2:56 if the link doesn't take you directly there):
And that's only a very small part of the story. Pride, who was 95% deaf from birth (note in the video above that third-base coach Jerry Manuel has to tell him to doff his cap to acknowledge the crowd, which he couldn't hear), went on to bat .250 with 20 homers in 421 major league games. But before that, he was a member of the U.S. National U16 soccer team, and named one of the world's 15 best youth soccer players after the 1985 U16 World Championship.
He was also, as you may know, the point guard of the William and Mary Tribe from 1987-1990. Pride played 94 games for the Wrens, averaging 5.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game (good for 10th in the all-time W&M record books in the latter category) for some of the worst college basketball teams you'd ever want to see. But consider this: he earned a four-year NCAA Division I scholarship in his third-best sport.Pride is now the head baseball coach at Gallaudet University, and two-time NEAC Coach of the Year. The Bison won a school-record 25 games in 2012, and went 11-3 in conference play last season.
Curtis Pride, we submit to you, is one of the sickest all-around athletes of all time. And we didn't even get to see him at his best, in his best sport(s).
Do better.
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