There are a couple of lessons to be learned from what took place Monday when Bridgeport High School alum Harrison Musgrave realized what many kids dream about. Not only did Musgrave get called up to pitch for a Major League Baseball team, but pitched in a game that same day.

 

So what can we draw from that? As mentioned, a pair of lessons as I'm about to get on my soapbox.

 

The lessons are going to contradict themselves. Yet, I’m fairly certain you’ll see it makes sense. Or at least it should.

 

The first lesson is for kids.

 

Musgrave is proof positive that you can make it to the professional level in sports if you’re from Harrison County. I don’t need to tell kids or their parents anything else. By now, if you have any type of news pulse you know he’s pitching for the Colorado Rockies.

 

It was, and still remains, big news.

 

The other lesson is for parents.

 

There’s still a really high chance your child won’t be playing professionally. Chances aren’t good they’ll be a Division I athlete. Chances aren’t great they’ll be a full scholarship athlete at a smaller division school as well and if they do get the chance – which is awesome regardless of where – then it’s highly likely they won’t be getting a full ride.

 

Let’s go back to lesson one. That’s the better lesson and one I think many coaches can use and athletes can look at to see what’s possible.

 

Hard work and dedication will get you further than going through the motions. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up playing in the Major Leagues, but it does mean you’ll be able to maximize your ability and the level you can reach through giving your sport everything you’ve got. Fact is, the same lesson holds true in everything you do from school work to whatever job you hold down to any type of pursuit in life.

 

Understand, not everyone is a Harrison Musgrave. Not every kid is a big, rugged left-handed pitcher with several pitches and plenty of heat on his fastball that, well, can eventually earn you a paycheck and perhaps (and hopefully) a few huge ones in the near future. 

 

Musgrave is a combination of raw, God-given talent that, no matter how hard some work, can’t be matched. That’s okay. He’s also grown as a hard worker, first at WVU, and then for the last several years toiling at his craft in the minor leagues and overcoming issues on the injury front to get his chance.

 

None of it happens if he also didn’t work hard along the way and want to be the best he could be at youth ball and then in high school. I am certain of that.

 

Now for parents let me restate this. Your child is probably not going to go as far as Harrison Musgrave, and that's okay.  The reason I say that with pretty solid confidence is that it’s been 44 years since the last player from Harrison County – Shinnston’s Larry Brown – got the call to go to the show.

 

If you scoff at that and think the fact your child no-hit someone as a 10-year-old and you’re already putting videos together for colleges to look at, ask said child if they know who Richard Nixon is.

 

They likely won't. If they do, get them involved with history as quickly as you will be signing them up for a traveling sports team.

 

Forty-four years ago, Richard Nixon was resigning from office and became the first and the last, president to ever resign. That's how long ago since Harrison County sent a player to the Majors - I was five years old.

 

When I broke into the writing business in 1986 as a pretty raw 18-year-old, I was amazed at how many parents would try to angle the new writer into mentioning their kid was being looked at by every major college in the country in every single sport.

 

The frequency has dropped, but it still happens three decades  later.

 

Understand, with recruiting services, the internet and 10,000 media outlets it’s much harder to make the claim that your child that’s a 6’2 center – and a very good one – in high school basketball is being recruited by UConn because if that child is, then someone with high credentials knows about it and is writing about it without anyone having to ask them to.

 

In the last near 30 years, I’ve had hundreds of parents tell me their own kid as young as the age of 5 (I’m not kidding and it’s happened too many times to tell you) all the way through high school is being looked at professionally, being recruited by every major Division I program or they’ve been approached by an agent, they say, off the record.

 

This isn’t something in Bridgeport. Heck, it’s not just a Harrison County thing because I get an occasional phone calls to this day from every area imaginable about "can you help get my child's name out there" because they're getting looked at. 

 

And understand it goes beyond West Virginia. It’s a national thing. It’s a disease and it’s kind of sad that a parent can’t just enjoy the fact their child is participating in athletics and, along the way, may learn a few things about discipline,  how to deal with setback and how to handle success with class.

 

Instead, you hear about poor coaching. Blame to other players and no one wants to talk about losing because it’s too traumatic. I’ve even had parents approach me when their child signed for a school back in the old West Virginia Conference days or the current Mountain East and be apologetic their child didn’t get the Division I offer because of this situation or that situation.

 

On their child’s most glorious day on the athletic front, I’ve probably had about a dozen parents in 20-plus years of writing and several hundred signings upset because their kid didn't land where they thought they were landing.

 

Part of this lesson, again, is that it’s okay. They’re going to school. They’re going to get an education and if they’re signing then that means they’re academically qualified and about ready to graduate from high school or already have.

 

Don’t get me wrong, all of these parents I've mentioned are the minority – and a small one at that. Yet we all know them because they're sitting at every event in the country right now telling you exactly what I've just explained.

 

The good news is most parents aren't lost in the fog of getting their child to be a professional athlete. I’ve had parents so happy at a signing where their child was simply putting their name on a letter of intent with no money at all from the school in tears of joy.

 

Most parents do get it. Some always get it, some come around, and some make excuses until they arrive at their death bed.

 

And let me be the first to say I hope there’s another Harrison Musgrave from Harrison County in college right now. I hope there’s one in high school or maybe even Babe Ruth or Little League. Nothing would make me happier to write about the next Harrison Musgrave next week, next month or next year.

 

Chances are really good the next Harrison Musgrave hasn’t been born. If history is any indication you’ll see another one in about 44 years. That’s the reality of it.

 

Chances are better I won’t be around to write about it. At least parents that disagree with me here have that going for them.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo, courtesy of WVU Sports Communications, shows Musgrave during his time at West Virginia University, while he's shown in his Rockies gear in the second photo. Bottom photo is of Richard Nixon in a public domain picture during Nixon's time in the White House. Nixon resigned the same year when Harrison County last had a player make it to the Major Leagues.