Did Larry Bird play college baseball? 3x NBA champ's collegiate career with Indiana State explored
Larry Bird is best known for his incredible NBA career with the Boston Celtics, but he also played college baseball.
Bird is a three-time NBA MVP and three-time NBA champion who played college basketball at Indiana State. During his time with the Sycamores, he played a college baseball game.
Bird was often in the training room icing his legs and getting massages when Indiana State baseball coach Bob Warn took a shot at Bird.
"I told him, 'You know? Real men play games with balls this size.' " Warn said, forming his hands into the shape of a baseball, via IndyStar.
"I said, 'Anybody can play games with balls this size. You just have to have a large basketball or you can't do it.'"
Did Larry Bird play college baseball?
After Warn's comments, Bird quickly fired back at Warn saying that he could play baseball with ease.
Larry Bird ended up agreeing to play a baseball game for Indiana State in a doubleheader against Kentucky Western.
"Warn wanted Larry to try baseball primarily because he knew that it would boost crowd attendance against a lower level opponent," said Tom James, the sports information director at ISU at the time. "Coach was big on trying different things in order to boost attendance."
Bird did not start the first game, and stat sheets weren't available in 1979, but the summary of the season shows that he had a .500 batting average.
He played first base, and had immediate success playing college baseball.
Why did Larry Bird drop out of college?
Before Larry Bird played college basketball at Indiana State, he was on a scholarship at Indiana but dropped out of college just a month into his freshman year.
He reportedly found the adjustment between his small hometown and the large student population of Bloomington to be overwhelming and dropped out in just 24 days.
After a year away from school, Bird ended up returning to college butt his time at Indiana State.
Did Larry Bird ever win a NCAA tournament?
Larry Bird never won a NCAA tournament with Indiana State.
Bird did help Indiana State reach their first NCAA Tournament in school history with a 33–0 record in 1979. The Sycamores also made it to the national championship game, but Indiana State lost 75–64 to Michigan State in a game Bird went 7-for-21 on shooting.
Bird ended up getting drafted with the sixth overall pick in the NBA the year prior but opted to return to Indiana State for the 1979 season.