Sticking with the theme of basketball stars who were once baseball players, there was a shooting guard for the 1980s Boston Celtics NBA Finals-winning teams that actually first played baseball before stepping a foot onto an NBA court. I'm sure Bostonians know his name: Danny Ainge.
Ainge, a native of Eugene, Oregon played basketball professionally from 1981-1995 with the Celtics, Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers, and Phoenix Suns. However, prior to his NBA career, he had a short MLB career. In 1977, Danny Ainge was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 15th round of the '77 amateur draft. After rising through the minor leagues, Ainge finally got his first taste of big league ball in 1979 with Toronto.
He was only a role player in his baseball career from 1979-1981 with the Blue Jays, but he performed nicely. In his first season, Danny hit .237 in 87 games and smacked his first and last two career home runs. In 1980, he only appeared in 38 games, but raised his batting average to .243. Finally, in 1981, Ainge played only 86 games, batted .187, and retired from baseball at the old age of 22. But he retired for good reason; just a few months into the 1981 MLB season, specifically on June 9, 1981, Ainge was drafted 31st overall to the Celtics in the '81 NBA Draft.
So although Danny Ainge didn't have the greatest MLB career, at least he made a name for himself in the National Basketball Association. Anyway, thanks for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it. Check back soon for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."
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