Ever wonder what some of your favorite superstars do to bide their time during the summer? Hockey’s offseason isn’t exactly too long when you consider when the Stanley Cup finals end and when training camp begins. That leaves players anywhere from three to four months off depending on how long their season extends in the playoffs.
For Tampa Bay’s Steve Stamkos, being one of the league’s best players and youngest superstars means doing things a little differently. Rather than cruising the world and being a jet-setter, Stamkos is throwing on the cleats, grabbing a glove and a bat, and playing some baseball with his buddies back home in Ontario.
That’s right, Steven Stamkos is a beer league baseball player. Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star tells the story.NHL contracts prohibit players from partaking in a long list of sports not named hockey, including baseball, lacrosse, wrestling and boxing, without the club’s written consent. But consent, especially in the case of an all-world talent pursuing a near-and-dear hobby, generally isn’t denied.
“It’s a nice way to hang out with my old buddies,” Stamkos said.
His friends say Stamkos still slums it because, for all the endorsement deals and mega millions that have come his way as a pro, he’s still the same humble guy they’ve always known — except he’s been known to buy them gifts.
Last year he sprung for matching black-and-green cleats to match the team’s jerseys. (He took a ribbing when the shoes arrived with pink laces. “The laces looked white on the website,” Stamkos said.)
Better that he’s a baseball player than he is a fashion mogul, right?
It’s cool to see Stamkos take his swings in another sport like this but just how is he at baseball? Well...
Not too shabby. It’s also not quite the cutthroat kind of baseball you might’ve grown up watching on TV or playing in Little League. Think of it as the kind of baseball where the coach pitches to you and you take your swings. Easy living.
For you Lightning fans worried that perhaps Stamkos might ditch out on hockey to pursue a career with the Tampa Bay Rays instead, fear not, he’s not going anywhere especially after signing a five-year, $37.5 million contract this summer. For now, Tampa Bay fans can take pride in knowing that their best hockey player could do well taking his swings on their baseball team as well. He might not be Bo Jackson-like, but perhaps he’ll be Bo Jackson-like in video game form as the face of NHL 12.
(hat tip to The Big Lead)