An errant throw ended what could have been a promising baseball career.
We know Billy Bob Thornton as an Oscar-winning writer and actor. However, Thornton was a solid baseball player, too, and he had visions of playing in the major leagues.
Thornton grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and came to love the game of baseball at an early age. He was an avid Cardinals fan and played high school ball, too, a crafty right-handed pitcher with an excellent fastball and a nasty slider.
He was good enough to get a tryout with the Kansas City Royals, and not long into the tryout, Thornton was called to the mount. It was his opportunity to show what he could do. What happened next is very different from what he expected. An infielder threw a ball that accidentally struck Thornton and shattered his collarbone.
One play and his major league dreams were vanquished. His baseball career was over.
With baseball now out of the picture, Thornton became a great actor. He has even done a few sports movies, with the redux of Bad News Bears (2005) and Friday Night Lights (2004) perhaps the most notable.
Billy Bob Thornton could have been a major leaguer. He became a major actor instead.
I think Billy Bob Thornton is a great actor. However, I had no clue about the baseball side of him. What a very interesting article. Great job Matthew Paris.