Early hero of National League Wild Card game would have been top football recruit if he wasn't so good at baseball.
Brandon Crawford as star shortstop — and quarterback/defensive back — for Foothill High School in Pleasanton, Calif. in 2005.
File photo from Dennis Lee
football coach Matt Sweeney currently has one of the top quarterbacks on the West Coast in SMU-bound senior
Kyle Kearns. Before that he had Sean Mannion, now a senior at Oregon State who is on the verge of breaking the Pac-12 Conference record for passing yards.
But neither of those young lads were the most highly recruited Foothill quarterback Sweeney has had since taking over the Falcons in 1986.
That distinction goes to Brandon Crawford, the San Francisco Giants' shortstop who slugged a grand slam in an 8-0 win over the Pirates in the NL Wild Card game at PNC Park. Crawford, of course, was a top baseball recruit, but could have been a blue chip football player, says his former coach.
"He might have been the best all-around athlete we ever had in our program," Sweeney said last week of the 2005 graduate. "There was nothing that kid couldn't do. He was an All-League defensive back as a junior and moved to quarterback as a senior.
"If he focused just on football, he would have been a top recruit. No question. But everyone was after him in baseball. He made a good choice."
At Foothill, he hit .357 with 23 doubles, five triples, nine home runs and 51 RBI in his three-year career. He went on to be a two-time MVP at UCLA before being drafted in the fourth round by the Giants in 2008.
He's had a load of big hits in his career as a Giant – including a grand slam in his first Major League game (one of six players to ever do so) — but none were bigger than the grand slam he hit off of Edinson Volquez to give San Francisco a 4-0 lead over the Pirates.
It was the first grand slam by a shortstop in a Major League postseason game. ... ever. It was a fact the stunned most, especially Crawford.
"That's crazy," Crawford said after the game. "With all the great shortstops that have played this game, that makes it extra special. I'm happy I was the first to do it. ... The last thing on my mind in that spot was to hit a home run."
The slam took the crowd right out of the game, helping Giants' ace Madison Bumgarner to shut out out the Pirates on just four hits.
"That was huge," Bumgarner said of Crawford's slam. "It went from 0-0 to 4-0 just like that."
