BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Toe Nash
| Toe Nash | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Outfielder | |||
| Born: February 16, 1982 Baton Rouge, Louisiana | |||
| |||
Gregory Nash (born February 16, 1982), nicknamed "Toe" or "Big Toe", is a retired professional baseball player. He played minor league baseball in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now Rays) organization in 2001. Standing at 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) and weighing 220 pounds (100 kg), Nash received his nickname due to his size 18 (US) shoes.
A high school dropout, Nash was discovered by the Devil Rays while playing in a semi-professional league in Sorrento, Louisiana. His life story seemed so improbable that baseball executives at first thought Nash was a hoax, similar to Sidd Finch. Despite his natural ability, compared to Babe Ruth,[1] and the fictional Roy Hobbs character from The Natural, Nash's legal troubles shortened his professional career.[2]
Biography
Nash is from Sorrento, Louisiana. His mother abandoned him when he was 12 years old, and his father raised him along with his younger sister. He was expelled from two schools for fighting,[2] and later dropped out of school altogether after being suspended for a fight in the eighth grade.[3][4] When he was 12, Nash played a Little League game inHammond, Louisiana where he struck out 17 of 21 batters he faced with a 70-mile-per-hour (110 km/h) fastball, and hit two home runs.[2] Tampa Bay Devil Rays scout Benny Latino, whose hometown is Hammond, watched the game, and made a note to look for Nash in the future, assuming he would be a star in high school. As he did not attend high school, however, Nash fell into obscurity and Latino spent seven years looking for him.[3][2][4]
In lieu of a high school education, Nash went to work in his cousin's sugar cane fields at age 16. At the age of 18, Latino found Nash playing in a semi-professional league, known as the Sugar Cane League. The scout witnessed Toe hitting 400-foot (120 m) home runs from both sides of the plate.[5][6][4] The Devil Rays brought Nash to their minor league camp in Princeton, West Virginia, for a workout, where he threw in the high 80s, topping out at 95 miles per hour (153 km/h). He also hit towering home runs, drawing comparisons to Yankee legend Babe Ruth for his power.[3][1][4] After Nash went undrafted in the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft, the Devil Rays signed him for a $30,000signing bonus. He was assigned to their fall instructional league, where he played in the outfield alongside Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford.[5] Nash's agent, Larry Reynolds, introduced Nash to his brother Harold Reynolds, an ESPN analyst and former major league infielder, who invited him to a baseball camp in Los Angeles in February 2001. There, Nash worked out with MLB players, including Tony Gwynn, Eddie Murray, and Alvin Davis.[5] He also discussed Nash on television.[3] Officials from other organizations felt that the story reminded them of the hoax of Sidd Finch.[2]
Despite legal troubles, including an arrest for felony robbery, Nash reported to spring training with the Devil Rays in 2001.[7] They assigned him to extended spring training,[2] and then to the Princeton Devil Rays of the Rookie-level Appalachian League in 2001, playing alongside future major leaguer Jonny Gomes. In his first season, Nash hit .240 with eight home runs and 29 runs batted in in 47 games played, and was considered a long-term project for the organization due to his lack of formal training.[8][1]
According to Latino, Nash "couldn't read, couldn't write...Just wasn't ready to function in society...with an education and social skills of a kid about thirteen years old."[1] Returning to Louisiana after the 2001 season, Nash spent nearly nine months in jail in 2002 for statutory rape, after allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl. Nash was given as 10-year suspended sentence, and the Devil Rays still released Nash in September 2002, the day after he was released from jail.[8][1]
After being released by the Rays, the Cincinnati Reds signed Nash in the 2002–03 offseason.[9] The club voided his contract for unspecified legal reasons, believed to be a bar fight for which Nash was arrested.[10] Nash was arrested again in 2005 for a parole violation, and was charged for drug possession, leading him to serve the full 10 years of his previously suspended jail sentence.[11][1] Nash was released in November 2013.[1]
Personal
Nash's cousin, John "Hot Rod" Williams, organized the Sugar Cane League team on which Nash played.[5][3][4]
"The Story of Toe Nash" was featured ESPN's SportsCenter on June 27, 2014. The feature recounted the now 32-year-old Nash being reunited with Benny Latino, and his return to the Sugar Cane League.[1]
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