Recalling Brandon Webb: How a dirty C'burg kid came to terms with the legitimacy of Brandon Webb

hindsight is 20/20

1. (idiomatic) In hindsight things are obvious that were not obvious from the outset; one is able to evaluate past choices more clearly than at the time of the choice.

It's a day that most have seen coming for quite some time. Today was a day that a star finally burnt out, and faded away.

It was nothing in the cosmos, though, that pointed to the event. It was 'tweet'.

Ashland native and 2006 National League Cy Young winner, Brandon Webb, has retired from Major League Baseball.

Webb, was one of the most out of nowhere success stories that I can think of. Maybe not to folks in Ashland, but to me, yes.

Let me explain. Brandon was a year older than I, played in a different little league, in a different town. My first contact on a diamond with Webb was in 1989. He played for Ashland American Little League's 9-10 year old All-Stars, myself suiting up for the Gate City's version. In those days, there was no State Tournament for 9-10 year old's to play for. We played in scattered tournaments around the area, and a few of those saw us paired up against Webb's Ashland teams. Now, memory is a tricky, and fickle thing at times, but if we played Ashland 3 times, we won 2 of them.

I don't remember Brandon being some sort of prodigy or sure thing for the future. I remember a 10 year old kid who was put on the mound, and was fairly good on the hill, was kind of lanky, and not at all hard to hit. And like a few other kids, would kick the dirt and throw some mild fits during some less than stellar innings on the field. At least that is what I remember in my 9 year old recollections. I could be way off, but that's how I remember things.

The next year, in 1990, Brandon Webb led Ashland to a State Championship as an 11 year-old. 

Fast forward to high school. Webb was a stand-out at Ashland, however he was, and at the time deservedly, over shadowed by the likes of Omar Henry and Tony Barrow.  Once again, I'd like to point out that I am not dissing Webb's ability at all, he was very talented, I just never saw him as a future Major Leaguer. 

Webb was on the mound during a game against Boyd County, I believe in 1994, and he was on the losing end of a no-hitter during an odd 8 inning JV game, that was tossed by the Lions that evening. Webb pitched well in his high school appearances, had some really great outings as a matter of fact, but still, never dreamed he was one day going to suit up in a Major League uniform.

I didn't get to face Webb much in high school. I was one of those that clashed and butted heads with a certain establishment in local high school baseball, so I was blackballed and banished to the desolate land known as Connie Mack Baseball.

I plugged away and did some good for the fair city of Catlettsburg, dressing in the Red, Blue, and Gray of the Cardinals. I wore that like a badge of honor, though. In my mind, I didn't give in and conform to a certain regime west of the Big Sandy. Looking back, it was more teenage angst and lashing out against something that maybe was more in my head than existing in reality. However, like a good movie, it was based on a true story. Besides that, we honestly felt that Catlettsburg Connie Mack was the high school team that consolidation years before our birth, robbed us of.

Anyways, I do remember hitting a home run off of Webb during those summer double-headers. Webb, and this is where it gets foggy, either played for Post 76 or Ashland Connie Mack Athletics during the summers. and once more, as dysfunctional and , at times, Bad News Bears-ish we were in those summers, we seemed to always have Ashland's number. I don't recall coming out on the losing end of too many of those later year's contests, either.

Brandon Webb managed to parlay his skills into a scholarship to the University of Kentucky. I didn't really hear too much about Webb in those days, as I was still in high school, and keeping up with Kentucky Baseball wasn't really in vogue those days. 

Brandon kept working in Lexington. Soon enough, Webb had become the ace of the Wildcat staff. Once again, I thought to myself, 'really ?'

That had to be it, right? He had somehow became a good enough pitcher to anchor an SEC pitching staff, but that was as far as kid from the neighboring town was going. I mean, if Juan Thomas was stuck in farm league purgatory, surely Webb's long-term prognosis was bleak.

Then, once more, I was surprised when in the 2000 Draft, Webb was an 8th round selection of the Arizona Diamondbacks. I thought, well, that's the last we will hear of Brandon. Good for him. He got drafted. I thought of  about 20 locals who I thought were  better ball players than he; who never as much sniffed being on a draft board. Then,  I thought of those from here who were drafted, and for various reasons, didn't pan out. Some, for very unscrupulous reasons.

I thought for sure this was to be the case. Not the unscrupulous reason part, but the not panning out part. I envisioned him coming back to Ashland, charging kids absurd hourly rates to be taught baseball by a former draft pick down at Central Park or some metal building. I wouldn't have blamed him, either. 

I was sure, that he would be like some others I knew who spent some time playing Rookie and A ball, constantly telling anybody within earshot that such and such team wanted to sign them, or they were headed to various cities to work-out for this team or that team.

What  I was, unknowingly, doing was selling one of the hardest working and deserving players to ever button  up a uniform, short. I did it for a long time too, apparently . However, I have to say, it honestly was not out of envy or spite. I just didn't see it. 

Brandon Webb is a great person, whether or not he would have amounted to anything on the diamond. That's just who he is, first and foremost. It was never about that. I just didn't think much of Brandon Webb, the ball player.

So what did this tall kid, from up 23, end up becoming?

Nothing but a 3 time MLB All-Star, a Cy Young award winner and runner-up twice, all 3 accolades in consecutive seasons, and twice having more wins than any other pitcher in the National League. 

Webb's first Major League appearance came in 2003. 

87 wins and a career 3.27 ERA  in 7 seasons in the 'Bigs' later, Brandon Tyler Webb is calling it a day.

Brandon Webb made a believer out of me, and left a little egg on my face.

In the height of his rise to the upper echelons of current day pitchers, albeit all too brief, Brandon Webb always stayed who he was, he always remained humble, and he always kept his sense of family and where he came from. He always worked hard. He had become, and probably always was, what every Major Leaguer should be. A decent person.

To add some more egg to what's already on my face, I'll share this little anecdote: One day, he made a purchase or two at a local retail store during this time, and the guy who never saw it coming, who even thought that his home run he hit off him was some kind of monumental accolade, carried his purchases out to his new, luxury SUV.  "Thank you, Sir", I said. And he probably didn't know me from Adam.

And none of this was because life isn't fair. It was all because life, is indeed fair.

Yeah, all this seemingly came out of nowhere. I should've maybe looked a little harder, maybe even focused a bit more.

Now, I still feel as if there were several, if not many, others who could have played a child's game for money. I'm not abandoning that notion. That's my belief, and I am fairly certain it is one that is shared by lots of folks. However, I don't think that too many of those same players, if any, are more deserving than Brandon Webb.

I guess a part of me is always going to wonder how this ever happened. Another part of me, is going to look at things and know exactly how it all came about. Hopefully, those two parts won't fight each other too hard, or often.

And just so you know, no matter where he grew up, and the shade of his baseball uniforms, Brandon Webb is a guy rooted deep in The Burg. His family is from the fair, former timber capital of the South, and his father, Phil, was not too shabby of an athlete at Catlettsburg High.