Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 17, 1993 TAG: 9308170609
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN DeVIDO STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NARROWS LENGTH: Long
All things considered, Michael "Whitey" Blankenship was feeling pretty good as he walked toward his house one Saturday afternoon in late June.
School was out for the summer and Blankenship had just completed a tryout with the Atlanta Braves at Radford University.
"It went good," said the outfielder, who will be a senior this year at Narrows High School. "All the people there were older, but I was the only one to hit one out."
His mother was standing at the door with good news. A coach from the United States Olympic Festival had called.
"I kinda didn't believe her," he said.
But Blankenship called anyway, and was pleased with what he heard.
"The coach asked me how I'd feel about walking into a stadium, see 60,000 people cheering for me, and have the chance to represent my country."
Blankenship's response?
"I about dropped the telephone," he said.
Soon the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Blankenship was flying to San Antonio, Texas, to play in the United States Olympic Festival baseball tournament. He was there from July 21 until July 31.
Blankenship was one of 64 players chosen from across the nation to play in the tournament for 16-to-18-year-old athletes. More than 500 players' names were submitted to a committee of Olympic Festival, college and major league coaches and scouts.
Maybe it was his .579 batting average over the past two years that got Blankenship one of the spots. Maybe it was the fact that he's stolen 37 bases in 47 attempts the past two years. Whatever it was, Blankenship was excited to play against the top players in the nation.
"Just by being around those other 63 people showed me what I need to do if I'm going to play past the high school level," he said.
Blankenship played on the 16-man East team, which went 1-4 in the festival. Pitching was a problem for the East. Two of the five pitchers came down with injuries, and so did Blankenship.
Three days after he got there, Blankenship suffered nerve damage in his right shoulder and arm. In a scrimmage, he fielded a ground ball while playing right field and threw it to home plate.
That's when the pain started.
"There was a runner on second, and I was so excited, I threw it harder than usual," he said. "I yanked all the nerves out of my arm. It felt numb."
Blankenship ended up playing in only one game - he lined out in his one at-bat - but he said the experience was well worth the trip.
"My speed was one of the bigger things I noticed there," said Blankenship, who has run a 4.3 second 40-yard dash. "I can cut the ball off quicker than most outfielders."
He also found out that he needs to improve his arm strength. And now that it's feeling better, he'll be able to work on it.
"Some of those guys had some guns," he said. "One of the coaches told me to cut a tennis ball in half, put pennies in it, and throw it. I'm gonna start doing that."
Blankenship also got to meet many of the top young baseball players in the nation, including Alex Rodriguez, the high school infielder from Miami who was picked first in this year's major-league draft by the Seattle Mariners. Rodriguez played on the South team.
"He was arrogant, but he was good," Blankenship said of Rodriguez. "His teammates would be in the dugout, and he'd be in the outfield doing situps and sprints. Of course, every camera in the place was on him."
But when the cameras were off, and the players went back to the campus of St. Mary's University, they enjoyed the sights of San Antonio.
"It was different from being in Narrows," Blankenship said. "I was afraid if I stepped off the sidewalk I'd get run over."
One night, some of the players celebrated their lone win - over the West team - by going into town and eating out.
"We went to an Italian restaurant, then went to an Olympic festival basketball game, and walked around San Antonio," Blankenship said. "We saw the Alamo, and it was about 10 p.m. at that point."
Curfew was at midnight, so they went to the bus stop. They had a ball game the next day.
The only problem was, the buses stopped running at 10.
"We waited until 11 and then called the bus company," he said. "They told us no more buses were running."
Oops.
"So we're stranded in San Antonio, and all we've got is about a dollar and some loose change between the seven of us," Blankenship said.
They finally called a cab, scraped up enough money to pay the driver, and made curfew - with five minutes to spare.
"It was crazy," Blankenship said of the cab ride. "We were laying all on top of one another, trying to fit in the cab."
But Blankenship said he enjoyed the camaraderie with his new teammates.
"Most of the guys on my team are going to be playing for ACC schools this year," he said. "It'd be cool to see some of these guys again on the field one day."
He has spoken with coaches from Stanford, Notre Dame, Delaware, Massachusetts, N.C. State and LSU, but Blankenship said he's unsure what he'll do right now.
"The majors would be great," he says, sipping a soft drink and leaning back in a reclining chair. "But some things might not happen."
He takes a long gulp of the cold drink, and sits up. His mind wanders for a moment, trying to decide what to say. Finally, he speaks.
"I want to at least say I was in the majors one day."
by CNB