 A lot of baseball players get their starts in tee-ball, or little league. The story is true for Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Kevin Hart, only with a twist. Hart played tee-ball, sure. But until he was seven, he did so in an uncommon locale: Bangkok, Thailand. Hart lived in Asia until he was seven years old. From there he moved back stateside, to Atlanta. It’s here, at age 12, that he had one of the greatest baseball experiences of his life. “My team was two games away from going to the Little League World Series,” Hart said. “That was some of the most fun I’ve ever had.” After living in Atlanta for five years, Hart’s family moved again, this time to Dallas. It was there, living in the Texas heat, that Hart became fully immersed in baseball. “When I moved to Dallas, baseball became a year-round event.” Part of the reason why Hart was able to get to practices and games year round was due to his family. It’s his family, Hart said, that kept him in baseball. Hart’s brother played through college, and his dad is a former coach. “Having an involved family rally helped me stick with baseball and enjoy it,” Hart said. When Hart made his debut with the Cubs at Wrigley Field, his parents were the first to see him play. “The first time my mom came to Wrigley I think I saw tears in her eyes,” Hart said. “My dad was more excited than I was.” Hart’s ascension from tee-ball in Bangkok to pitching in front of the Wrigley crowd is an incredibly remarkable and rare one. The one piece of advice he has for major league hopefuls: just enjoy the game. “You should enjoy the game, you should enjoy working on it,” Hart said. “If you stop enjoying it, it just becomes a grind.” |