Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Looking back: Haley Barbour, star pitcher

In today's Clarion-Ledger, you will find a look back at the baseball career of Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.

Or, you could call former Major League All-Star Jerry Moses, Barbour's childhood and high school teammate, and get a first-hand scouting report. When the two played little boys baseball, then high school and American Legion ball together, Barbour caught when Moses pitched and Moses caught when Barbour pitched. They were an interchangeable battery that helped Yazoo teams at various levels to three state championships. In the summers, they came to Jackson and helped Cooter Berry's and Willis Steenhuis' old Jackson Bombers American Legion team win two state titles.

"Haley was a really fine pitcher," Moses said by phone from his New Hampshire home Tuesday. "He didn't throw all that hard, but he had really good movement, great breaking stuff and pinpoint control. He was what baseball people used to call crafty. He knew how to pitch."

Come to think of it, a scouting report on Barbour, the politician, would not differ all that much from Barbour, the former pitcher. How many times have we heard the word "crafty" used to describe Barbour's political savvy? And then there's this, which would be the pertinent information of a combination baseball/politics bubble gum card: Haley Barbour (R-Mississippi), bats right, throws right, leans decidedly right.
But Barbour gave up baseball in college--he earned an athletic scholarship at Ole Miss--for student government and then politics.

Related post:

Haley Barbour at CPAC

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