"I'll tell that story until I'm dead" - Chris Sale's hilarious take on giving up a homer to fellow pitcher Jacob deGrom in high school
Chris Sale and Jacob deGrom are among the most experienced and well-respected starting pitchers. However, instead of opposing each other on the mound, the veterans faced off with the latter having the bat in hand during a college game.
Sale appeared on JM Baseball's podcast "The Compound" where he was asked about his development in college baseball before transitioning to the professional leagues. Sale was asked about a particular incident from that time when he gave up a home run to deGrom when they faced each other in a 2010 Atlanta Sun Conference tournament game.
"I'll tell that story until I'm dead. I love that. Um, I want to fact-check it, but I'm pretty sure it was his only home run in college. And the even funnier fact about that is, if you look at the tape, it didn't scrape the fence - like, it was off the bat, and every single person in that play, all 58 people who were watching, thought it was out," Sale said.
"It's kind of cool too because, like, it's not like I got taken deep by Pete Alonso, who's going to hit 500 home runs in his career. And deGrom's such a good dude, so it's like, if he was a punk or something, it might leave me a little salty. But that's it. I love stuff like that. That's awesome."
Chris Sale wins Comeback Player of the Year award
Sale earned an All-Star cap for five straight seasons from 2012 to 2016 with the Chicago White Sox. So when he transitioned to the Boston Red Sox in 2017, he was expected to carry the same form. He did win two more All-Star caps with the teams, but the last four years were a disappointment as he made only 31 starts from 2020 to 2023 due to injuries.
However this year he proved to the world that he is not done with his best in the big leagues. Sale won the first pitching Triple Crown since Clayton Kershaw did for the Dodgers in 2021. He was voted the Comeback Player of the Year alongside fellow pitcher Garrett Crochet.