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David Justice plays the role of designated talker for Thomas More as well as he hit it back in the day


By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter

As on the money as the decision the Atlanta Braves made 38 years ago in selecting David Justice in the fourth round of the MLB Draft, his alma mater might have matched it Saturday.

Thomas More brought their most famous alum back to talk to his former team – and its fans – on Senior Day at – where else? – Thomas More Stadium in Florence.

David Justice throws out first pitch to former teammate Bobby Young (Photos by Dan Weber/NKyTribune reporter)

Did we say talk? Talk doesn’t begin to describe what the 14-year major leaguer with seven World Series appearances, 21 postseason playoff series, two World’s Championships, more than 1,000 RBI and 300 home runs on top of his Rookie of the Year honor does best after a career with four franchises – Atlanta, the New York Yankees, Cleveland and Oakland.

Just another in a series of smart Thomas More decisions as the Crestview Hills school begins its transition from the NAIA – where it could hardly have been more successful – to the NCAA’s Division II for next season.

“You all don’t know how happy I am to be here,” said Justice, who turned 57 Thursday, after a redeye flight from his San Diego home. “I haven’t been back to my alma mater since I signed in 1985.”

David Justice stops for photo with 95-year-old TMU Hall of Famer Cubby Lyon and family.

Justice hasn’t forgotten them, he said. One of the questions he said he answered most from major league players from places like UCLA, Florida, Texas, all the big schools, was: “Where the heck is Thomas More?

“You have no idea how many times I talked about Thomas More,” Justice told the crowd of Saints boosters. “I put Thomas More on the map with my major league teammates . . . I could talk all day,” – and boy could he ever — as he was moved from one place to another by handlers like TMU AD Terry Connor, son of Justice’s basketball and baseball coach at TMU, the legendary Jim Connor.

One of the cool moments was when Justice met Hep Cronin, former Covington Catholic coach and the Braves scout who pleaded with the organization to both come and see David in person as a 19-year-old senior – and move him up their draft board as far as they could.

“How did you know about me . . . and why did you come to see me?” Justice still wanted to know from Cronin as a young basketball player who only took up baseball, he admitted, to get out of offseason conditioning running.

TMU fans line up for a meet-and-greet with David Justice.

Was it the grand slam he hit against Xavier? Nope. Hep had always known about David from his basketball at Covington Latin where there was no baseball team. But another scout mentioned David’s name and Hep realized he had to go see him.

“It was shocking to me,” David said that anyone was interested in him since no one had ever talked to him about playing pro baseball.

The long, level lefthanded swing and that powerful arm in a 6-foot-3, 195-pound body was all anybody needed to see. Hep, father of UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin, had the good fortune to be involved with similar long, lefty swingers for the Braves like Chipper Jones (a switch-hitter) and Freddie Freeman but Justice was the first.

Getting Braves Hall of Fame scouting boss Paul Snyder to fly up to see David in his last college appearance, a doubleheader against Kentucky State, was what made it happen. Cronin had to go over the Louisville area scout to get that done, he told David.

And then David did the rest on an — as best as everyone can remember — eight-for-12 day that included, according to Cronin, at least three home runs. Or according to David, four triples.

Signing memorabilia and souvenirs

“Our field didn’t have a fence,” David said of the old baseball field behind the dorms, “and teams could play you as deep as they wanted.” And legging out home runs wasn’t his forte. “Coach Connor gave me lots of stop signs at third,” he said with a laugh.

“How high do we have to take him?” Cronin recalls Snyder’s question of him after trying to hide David from the rest of the scouts locally. “If they asked me if I’d seen him, I’d say “No.” They even got him away from his own coach since Jim Connor was a Chicago Cubs bird dog.

When the Braves brought all their draft picks to Atlanta, they sat them down in a circle after the workout. And all the 30 or so scouts met to decide on how much money to offer them to sign.

Snyder told Hep to offer Justice a then quite-decent amount of $30,000. One California scout questioned the amount. Snyder quieted him with this line: “He’s our best prospect.” And indeed he was, one of just two of 32 drafted players in that class to make it to the majors.

Justice spent the rest of the day signing autographs, taking photos, reminiscing with old teammates and enjoying being back home.

“When I think of Thomas More, I just start smiling,” David said, “there was never a bad day at Thomas More . . . this is my team . . . I love Thomas More . . . we had the best of times.”

This is how you handle an inside pitch, Justice shows the Saints hitters.

“It’s been fun,” TMU AD Connor said as he followed Justice from one stop to another.

Here are some of the day’s highlight quotes:

• On his teammates like Bobby Young and Mitch Kroell, the second baseman and shortstop, he was thrilled to catch up with them. Of Owen County’s Young, who hit .504 in 120 at-bats, “This is the best player on our team, hands down” Justice said of Young, who picked him up at the airport at 3 a.m.

• On how he got into baseball after not getting to play it in high school and then finishing last in the fall offseason distance running/conditioning program for basketball: “If I play baseball, I can get out of this stupid running,” he realized as he watched the fall baseball guys working out. And by the time fall ball was over, basketball would be in the gym. “I can run all day in the gym,” he said. So he went home to Cincinnati that night, got his glove and spikes and tried out for baseball.

• On perspective: The Braves sent their draft picks to their Pulaski, Va., farm team and when they got there, all new equipment from spikes to batting gloves awaited them. And the nice minor league park had a fence and maybe 300-400 fans would show up. “Isn’t this a piece of bleep,” a fellow rookie from Pepperdine whispered to Justice, accustomed to even finer things at the Malibu school. “I thought it was great . . . we used to play in an open field . . . we used to get like six fans, 10 fans . . . that may have helped me make it.”

• The toughest pitcher he faced? Not even close. Hall of Famer “Randy Johnson, by far,” Justice said. “He was a 6-foot-9 lefty and he didn’t care if he hit you or not. I struck out the first three times against him in Seattle and realized from then on, I’d be taking off one of our four games there every series.”

Justice turned 57 Thursday.

• The toughest place to play? Two answers here. Boston, where if you were a Yankee, the fans were on you from the time you were out trying to get a meal in a restaurant. Or for an opponent or a player not pulling his weight, Yankee Stadium. Justice recalled a Cleveland teammate getting hit in the chest with a grapefruit as David chose to stay in the dugout rather than take a chance in the on-deck circle . . . “Yankee Stadium was the best environment for the home team, the worst environment for visitors . . . there’s no bigger, better stage.”

• Best fans, best baseball town? “St. Louis.” No one loves baseball like the folks in the city of St. Louis, Justice said.

• His portrayal as the veteran leader at Oakland in the movie “Moneyball.” Not one of my scenes (portrayed in the movie) actually happened . . . they messed up my part . . . that was my last team . . . I was already the leader of that team when I got there” and did not have to be convinced to take on that role.

• How Cronin helped the Braves’ Snyder get a good look in Justice’s final college appearance: “I knew the home plate ump,” Cronin said. “I told him no walks, no strikeouts for David. We want to see him swing. The first at-bat, they throw him way over his head and then way outside so the third pitch is down by his toes. ‘Strike,’ the ump calls. There were going to be no walks.” And there weren’t.

• On one more California connection with Cronin for the two Cincinnati guys by way of Northern Kentucky: While Cronin’s son, Mick, is the UCLA basketball coach, David’s son, DJ, is a junior wide receiver for UCLA.

• On meeting 95-year-old Cubby Lyon, the man who hit the first-ever home run in TMU history and played with the Red Sox organization with a man named Ted Williams: “I want to be you,” David said to Cubby with a hug.

• His advice to the Saints pitchers: “Pitching to a lefty, you’re not pitching inside enough . . . don’t worry about hitting them . . . and don’t be doing all that dancing . . . stay mature out there.”

• To the TMU hitters: “All of us are fast ball hitters . . . I’m sitting on fast balls for the first two strikes . . . you’ll be amazed at how many fast balls you get . . . and at how much they’ll help you out . . stay on the fast ball for the first two strikes . . . if they give you a fast ball inside, pull it into the dugout

• On throwing out the first ball before the TMU-Cumberlands (Ky.) doubleheader: “I told him not to go back,” Hep said of Justice’s bounced ball thrown on a line to home. “You’re nearly 60 years old, throw it up in the air and don’t go all the way back to the mound.”

• The quintessential Justice answer: As he was being tugged away from one engagement to another, “I have a time limit,” he said. “One more question.”


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