As Toronto pitcher Mark Hendrickson strode to the mound last night – as he stretched out his 6-foot-9 frame to its full, intimidating height and dominated the Yankee lineup – one couldn’t help but think he would’ve made a good basketball player. Turns out he was.
Hendrickson played five seasons in the NBA with four teams, including the Nets, before giving up basketball. After pitching a rain-shortened, 8-0 complete-game shutout last night, clearly he made the right call.
Recalled from Single-A yesterday, the lefty held the Yanks to five hits and two walks in his seven-inning Stadium debut. He cruised through the first four innings, and with men on second and third in the fifth, he fanned red-hot Derek Jeter with a 2-2 cutter to end the inning.
“I was happy out there; I felt relaxed. It’s a fun atmosphere to be in,” Hendrickson said. “Maybe in the offseason I’ll look back and say ‘Wow, I got a chance to pitch in Yankee Stadium.’ “
It’s a performance that probably seemed impossible three years ago.
“I have great respect for the guys who’re good at this. It’s a hard craft to perfect,” said Hendrickson (6-6), who’d allowed seven runs in 12/3 innings when he faced the Yanks on April 2. “I strive to be good and there’s a lot of things I can improve.”
Hendrickson averaged 3.3 points and 2.8 boards in 114 NBA games, but by 2000, he was ready for a career change. By last August he became the 10th man to play in the NBA and the majors. That takes a special kind of perseverance.
Hendrickson’s father, a Washington State Patrol officer, was killed in the line of duty when Mark was just five months old. His paternal grandfather got him into sports, before passing away while Hendrickson was in junior high.
Hendrickson has always had potential in baseball, but a passion for hoops. He was twice named All-Pac-10 at Washington State, and despite playing just one year of baseball, it was enough to get drafted.
Atlanta originally selected him in the spring of 1992 but he refused to sign. The big left-hander would be drafted six straight years, always refusing to sign, telling teams the NBA was his dream. And after the 76ers drafted him in 1996, he was determined to pursue basketball, playing 29 games for Philly that season.
Not until the Blue Jays agreed to let him pursue his hoop dreams in 1997 was he willing to sign a baseball contract. Toronto let him play 48 games for the Kings in 1997-98, and 22 for the Nets – including six starts – in 1998-99. But after playing just five games for the Nets the next season and 10 with the Cavs, he finally made baseball a full-time gig.
Looks like a good career move.
“I did better tonight than when I played in New Jersey,” Hendrickson grinned.
Last August, Hendrickson joined Danny Ainge, Gene Conley, Dave DeBusschere, Dick Groat, Frankie Baumholtz, Cotton Nash, Ron Reed, Chuck Connors and Steve Hamilton in reaching the NBA and the majors.
