He’s 30 years old and a multimillionaire, talent is pouring out of his ears, he’s 1.90 meters tall and has the face of a Hollywood actor: Quebec Capitales’ new power hitter Greg Bird seems to have it all. However, this is not the case. He was thrown out of his dream by an evil large catapult.
“Do you really want us to get involved in all this? My story is completely crazy, man,” he asked me Saturday night after his game against the Capitals.
A little over a year ago, Bird returned to the Yankees organization to try to rebuild his place with $8 million in his bank account. A month ago, he stopped playing baseball and was coaching at a high school while preparing to major in theology or business in college. Today he is in Quebec and wants to restart his career. It happens in his life.
He was kind enough to drink his beer with me for 30 minutes after the game. Manager Patrick Scalabrini introduced himself mid-interview, thinking I was taking advantage of his new star player’s availability, but it was Bird himself who opened another beer to tell Scalabrini everything was wonderful.
Independent baseball leagues often add former major league players to their ranks. However, these are often players who have only made it into the big leagues. They are often older.
A young baseball star
But for those less interested in baseball, let me explain why the Greg Bird case has nothing to do with it.
Bird doesn’t just play in Major League Baseball. Bird was the Yankees’ top prospect alongside Aaron Judge. Bird was named the best player in the Arizona League, which brings together all the stars of tomorrow.
Greg Bird, after a three-run home run against the Blue Jays in 2017. AFP
Greg Bird is a guy who received a $1.1 million signing bonus when he was drafted, which was the equivalent of a first-round pick.
This was the Yankees’ future at first base. He was considered the successor to superstar Mark Teixeira, who hit 409 home runs in his career.
He was the one who was a New York hero in 2017 when he hit a late home run against Andrew Miller, one of the best pitchers in the world, in the American League finals.
But after numerous injuries, it all came crashing down: shoulder in 2016, missed 162 games; right foot in 2017, missed 114 games; right ankle in 2018, missed 80 games; Kalb in 2020, did not play a single game.
At age 22, he had hit 11 home runs in 46 games when he entered the Major Leagues. It was crazy. This was a better debut than Aaron Judge. I wrote about Bird on our pages and mentioned that he is a player to keep an eye on for the 2016 season. Those who make baseball pools went after him.
“That was a good prediction,” he told me, laughing.
“Everything was going so well and I finally blew it in 2016. And the next year everything went well again and I hit a foul ball on my foot at the beginning of the season… it started to get weird, I didn’t make it. I didn’t really understand it. I had no luck.”
Heavier and heavier
In 2021, he was only 28 years old. His talent hadn’t disappeared. But Major League Baseball is less friendly with older players who have been frequently injured.
He ended up with the Colorado Rockies at the AAA level and had great success with 27 home runs. But the call to the big leagues never came. For what? “Ask her!” he answered.
AFP
He tried out with the Yankees again last year, but was released after about 60 games at the AAA level. “I didn’t play well,” he admits quite simply. Everything changed very quickly and drove him out of his dream.
So this year he decided to return to where he grew up, to a small town in Colorado where he coached high school baseball. He had signed up for college before getting the call from the Capitals.
But his life was designed for him to remain a Yankee for a long time. The first player he admired was Babe Ruth, because of the baseball movie The Little Field. Like Ruth, Bird is a left-handed power hitter.
The Yankees wanted him so badly that they offered him a signing bonus equal to a first-round pick, even though he was drafted in the 5th round.
Aaron Judge and Greg Bird hug after his home run during a game in April 2016. AFP
Bird has nothing but praise and fond memories of the Yankees.
However, he does not hide the fact that the pressure was enormous. Especially since in his early days the media emphasized that he was part of the new core four.
The core four were Derek Jeter, Mariane Rivera, Andy Pettite and Jorge Posada: four legends who helped the Yankees win.
Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Luis Severino and Jorge Mateo, according to several New Yorkers, it was this new heart that would continue the Yankees’ tradition of excellence. Hello pressure.
“It’s New York! Bird says, laughing. The expectations are high. Everywhere you go people come to see you, you’re a Yankee.”
“It was incredible and so beautiful. Yes, we always want to do better, but what happened, happened,” he continues.
“I like baseball”
Bird is described on social media as a flop who is always getting injured, but he isn’t too upset about it.
“People in New York are tough, but when things are going well, they’re great. I didn’t want to get hurt. It wasn’t intentional. I told myself it was out of my control. It definitely had an impact on me and it was difficult, but that’s what it is. There are many more people who have supported me than the other way around. “In our world, it’s not the positive that sells, but the negative,” he says.
For this reason, he believes negative voices can sometimes make more noise. But in his opinion there were many more positives.
Bird clearly got a taste of the luxurious life in the Major Leagues. What’s it like now, the bus and the humbler life in independent baseball?
Photo agency QMI, PASCAL HUOT
“I don’t care. I like baseball. I really like baseball,” he replied. “It’s not a question of money, I’m lucky for that.”
In fact, it’s not about the money, as his salary with the Capitals is likely to be around $1,000 per week (his salary is confidential, it’s an estimate I make).
How come when you make millions of dollars at such a young age and it all stops quickly? His total career earnings are $8 million.
“I was always smart about it. “I mean, smart for a 25-year-old living in New York,” he says with a grin. Seriously, I haven’t made any expenses that I regret. Life in Major League Baseball is very expensive. Fortunately, the older Yankees often paid for the younger ones.”
Additionally, he has great love for several veterans he has played with: notably CC Sabathia, Chase Headley, Brian McCann, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Aroldis Chapman. Note that he came a year after Derek Jeter.