Back from Kansas City: A Tim Collins Update
Written on April 3, 2011 at 8:07 am, by Eric Cressey
After I published my feature on Tim Collins’ rise to the big leagues the other day, I had quite a few requests from readers to update them on how Tim did – so I thought I’d post a quick blog about it today.
Tim actually made his MLB debut on opening day, entering the game for the ninth inning with the Royals down 4-2. He pitched one inning, and gave up one hit and one walk, but no runs. He had one strikeout…of Torii Hunter (who’d hit a mammoth 461-foot HR earlier in the game).
It was a pretty special day for all of us. Sorry for the grainy photo (taken from my Blackberry), but here’s Tim with my business partner, Pete, and me prior to the game.
As an interesting little aside to all of this, the phrase “Tim Collins” was actually trending on Twitter at the time that he entered the game on Thursday. My original piece was retweeted 75 times and recommended 270 times on Facebook, making it the busiest traffic day in EricCressey.com history – so that had to get the ball rolling in some regard. More importantly, I think a lot of people had really just been waiting for the debut, as it’s an awesome story.
On a funny aside, we were joking that although he was trending on Twitter, no Kansas City fans would recognize him out of his jersey when we went out to dinner after the opener. That was true; we had a quiet dinner with Tim and his parents. The only recognition came when an arm reached back to grab Tim as we left the restaurant at 10:15PM.
It was Torii Hunter, the 13-year MLB veteran who is making $18 million this year and surely meets hundreds of new people every day. However, he recognized Tim – and took the time to congratulate him on his debut, tell him he was impressed with his stuff, and wish him well this season and beyond. Class act. Maybe we ought to all be Angels fans for a day in his honor?
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support.
UPDATE: Tim wound up picking up his first MLB win on Sunday afternoon, pitching the 11th, 12th, and 13th innings for the Royals in their win over the Angels. His final line was 3IP, 2H, 0BB, 0ER, 5K. Check out the video highlight of his appearance.
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April 3rd, 2011 at 8:46 am
Eric,
As a long time resident of Kansas City, it’s fun to see all the young talent the Royal’s are developing, thanks to guys like you. It’ll be enjoyable watching Tim develop throughout the season.
The only problem I see with that picture is….your sweatshirt…this is the land of Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go KU!
April 3rd, 2011 at 5:01 pm
….and, Tim just got his first major league win in K.C.’s 13 inning victory over the L.A. Angles.
April 4th, 2011 at 11:15 am
Just added Tim to my fantasy team! Great article last week and update this week!
April 6th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Eric, Great article. Love to hear about success stories such as Tim’s. Will be on the lookout for him when I go down to catch KC take on my Detroit Tigers.