OT: Clayton Kershaw and Matthew Stafford: The Wonder Years
Bleacher Report has a really interesting article about how 2 kids who grew up playing various little league through high school sports together now have contracts worth a combined $291.5M. Apparently, Clayton Kershaw and Matthew Stafford were childhood buddies. Pretty crazy.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2100609-clayton-kershaw-and-matthew-…
Before they were Matthew Stafford, starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions and first overall NFL draft pick, and Clayton Kershaw, two-time Cy Young Award winner and ace of the Los Angeles Dodgers, they were two little boys playing soccer as their moms and dads cheered and their friends played alongside.
They played on the same youth soccer, baseball, football and basketball teams together. They played freshmen football and two years of varsity baseball together and both graduated from Highland Park High School in 2006 after dominant final seasons.
Kershaw compiled a 13-0 record with an ERA of 0.77. In a five-inning mercy-rule game, he struck out all 15 batters.
Stafford led the Highland Park football team to a 15-0 record and a state championship (59-0) by throwing for 4,013 yards and 38 touchdowns.
is truly remarkable. I have never seen tape of his high school career. And Kershaw with a .77 ERA is incredible.
Even more incredible is Kershaw pitching 5 innings and striking out all 15 batters. That's insane.
59-0 was the score of the state championship game, not Stafford's W/L record.
Helped get our team to the state semifinals. One really good pitcher can take a team pretty far. This story is like Randy Moss and Jason Williams without all the legal trouble.
Maxpreps had Stafford's high school stats still up, or at least some of them. As a senior, he also threw 209 completions in 322 attempts, which translates to 64.9% completion percentage. He averaged 19.7 yards per completion and 273 yards per game as well. There was no data on INTs, but his stats translated - by their calculation - to a 147.9 QB rating (NCAA calculation).
He actually put up 8 rushing TDs as a senior as well, according to Maxpreps, gaining 212 yards on 42 attempts.
The guy dominated the baseball game against my high school. Didn't quite strike out everyone, but close and then hit a few homers to boot. Pretty much won the game by himself.