In June 2014, the prestigious spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated went to the Houston Astros, who were then coming off three consecutive seasons with at least 105 losses and had a 36-48 record that season.
The cover boldly predicted that the Astros would be World Series champions in 2017, and it was backed up by a story from Ben Reiter titled "Astro-Matic Baseball: Houston's Grand Experiment," which took readers through the Astros' rebuilding process with an in-depth look at the team's front office as it prepared for the draft and planned the team's future. George Springer would be 28.
With the Astros' Game 7 win Wednesday night, Reiter's bold prediction came to fruition.It was one of those slow-developing ideas. The Astros were so bad. Losing 105 games three seasons in a row, Alex Trebek is making fun of them on "Jeopardy," they're putting up 0.0 local television ratings — it just seemed from afar like a total disaster. So we were thinking, "What is going on down here? What's the plan?" And this was before the Sixers started "The Process" — this hadn't really happened in sports to this degree.
The question that should precede the sardonic answer is, "What is a blowout preventer?"
Stutter -to speak in such a way that the rhythm is interrupted by repetitions, blocks or spasms, or prolongations of sounds or syllables, sometimes accompanied by contortions of the face and body.
Early in high school, George Springer was 5-foot-2. By his senior year, a growth spurt added nearly a foot. Even as he flourished on the field, he had to contend with a stutter that was evident at a young age. Self-conscious of it, he became withdrawn and avoided speaking in school or other public situations. Kids can be mean so the best way to avoid ridicule was "to not speak at all."
Springer was called up to the big leagues in April 2014, adopted new techniques to help with his speech, and later became a spokesman and fund-raiser for the Stuttering Association for the Young.
“It took a lot of courage,” his father said, adding: “This didn’t happen overnight. It was hard work, most of which, quite frankly, George did. We were there to guide, assist, coach and support, but he was the one that had to be comfortable in his own skin. He was the one that had to adopt all the techniques. I give him all the credit.”
“I can’t spread a message to kids and adults if I’m not willing to put myself out there,” said Springer.
Sports Illustrated got it right when they put George Springer on the cover three years ago. The Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres are possible choices to win the World Series in 2020. Alex Trebek is working on questions for these two perennial losers.
Paul Murphy
Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy
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