How effective would this guy be at baseball? Would he walk in every plate appearance? He's 3' 7" and walked in his only plate appearance in the majors. Then replaced by a pinch runner. https://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/more-sports/the-shortest-man-in-mlb-history/86214851/
The league has Billy Hamilton already, and clearly he isn't that highly regarded despite being able to play the game. The A's once signed a sprinter just to run by the name of Herb Washington. That was a failure. You need other skills to go with it. Baseball is an incredibly difficult sport. Base Running in itself is hard to do. Hitting is near impossible for most people.
In fairness, if you can get on the field and run a 40 in under 4.4, an NFL team would probably at least take a chance on you. Heck, Al Davis would pick you in the 1st round if you ran it under 4.3. Being 7 foot once upon a time probably warranted a look to see, but not in today's NBA, and not in modern NBA history would simply being 7 feet get you drafted/signed without showing other skills. That really only exists at the amateur level.
I think he could absolutely be trained to steal bases for about year then become good at it. The Minor Leagues have been known to employ sideshows so I think he could make "pro" status. Once he learned how to read pitchers and get jumps, there wouldn't be many catchers throwing him out on any level. People pay to watch him run.
Teams won't want to waste a roster spot for an entire season on a pinch runner they won't need in many games.
Taking a chance on a fast guy and having that fast guy make a living in professional football don't go hand in hand. Those guys are essentially gong to be receivers, corner backs or return men. Those have specific skill sets that don't grow on trees.
I don't believe I ever said no one could do it. I argued that just because a guy is fast doesn't guarantee he can make a living at professional football.
Would be interesting to see how the Kentucky Derby winner would do as a pitch runner. Better not block the plate.
Personally I question why Sumo Wrestlers were not used as catchers. They could have stopped 100% of the runs on plays at the plate before the newer rules by simply sitting on the plate.
I wondered about this with sumo wrestlers as hockey goalies... until this: https://interestingengineering.com/sumo-goalie-vs-nhl-player-bigger-goalie-better
What about Eric Yelding? I would use Gerald Young but I think he would have been good if not for the crack pipe
Hasek kinda proved that as skinny as he was, granted with the pads, he still took up a ton of space by the end of his career.
