Diamond Dinner: Decision OK with Holliday - Tulsa World (1-29-2007)

[ORUTerry]

Diamond Dinner: Decision OK with Holliday

By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

1/29/2007

Tulsa World Link

Ex-Stillwater standout admits he wondered if he should return to football.

Believe it or not, this fall will mark 10 years since Colorado Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday last played competitive football.

"Against Jenks," he said. "I think it was the '97 season."

Indeed, it was Nov. 21, 1997, when the Rocky Calmus-led Trojans pounded Holliday's Stillwater High team 63-0 in the second round of the 6A playoffs.

No, that outcome didn't push Holliday out of football. But his love of baseball, combined with his uncommon ability to play it at a high level, did.

That combination also put him in Tulsa on Sunday night as the keynote speaker at the John A. Ferguson Diamond Dinner, benefiting ORU baseball. Holliday has long been friends with ORU coach Rob Walton (Walton pitched for Holliday's father, Tom, at Oklahoma State), and he accepted an invitation from Tulsan and Rockies broadcaster George Frazier to attend Sunday's event at the Marriott Southern Hills.

Stillwater's record with Holliday as the starter was 30-6. He rallied the Pioneers from 22 points down against Union in the last six minutes of a '97 first-round playoff game. A USA Today and Reebok All-American, Holliday passed for 68 touchdowns 

and more than 6,200 yards in his career. SuperPrep ranked him the No. 2 QB prospect in the country. He was hailed as the most polished high school quarterback out of Oklahoma since Troy Aikman. He was the jewel of Oklahoma State's 1998 recruiting class -- but never played a down as a Cowboy.

Instead of trying both baseball and football at O-State -- a rare feat at which fellow Pioneer Josh Fields later excelled -- Holliday began his professional baseball career in 1998.

OSU fans, both football and baseball, wilted a bit when Holliday signed a pro contract. For years afterward, Cowboy football followers held out hope that he might someday follow the recent nationwide trend and return to be a gridiron gladiator. But that would require failure on the diamond.

There were times, Holliday said, when he thought about it.

"I think earlier in my career, in my life, I had maybe more of those thoughts," Holliday said. "But as I got a little bit older and started to put in some serious time in baseball, I just really enjoyed baseball. I can't wait to get to the field every day. I love what I do. I love all aspects of it. I can't wait for the season to start up."

With his participation last summer on the National League All-Star team, it's obvious Holliday made the right decision. Holliday was paid $500,000 last year, but his performance -- a .326 batting average, 34 home runs, 114 runs batted in, 119 runs scored, a team-high .586 slugging percentage -- got him a significant raise. On Jan. 16, the day after his birthday, Holliday avoided salary arbitration and agreed to a one-year contract worth $4.4 million.

"I'm extremely satisfied," Holliday said. "I'm glad it didn't go down to an arbitration hearing. Both sides compromised a little bit to get the deal done."

Last year was Holliday's third in the majors. He hit .290 with 14 home runs and 57 RBIs as a rookie in 2004, got a raise from $366,000, and in 2005 batted .307 with 19 homers and 87 RBIs.

Before that, he spent two seasons in Double-A, including the 2003 season with the Drillers. That included a prolonged hitting slump in '03 during which his batting average dropped to .230. It was then, soon after his father had been fired as head baseball coach at OSU and soon before his wife, Leslee, gave birth to their son, Jackson, that he got a lot of questions about returning to football.

"I really enjoyed playing football, and there were times in the minor leagues when things weren't going my way that I did think, 'Well, maybe I should have played football, or maybe I should go back and try it,' " Holliday said. "I couldn't help but have those thoughts at certain points in my career."

Instead of quitting, Holliday worked harder than ever before.

"God has blessed me with talent to play this game, and I try to work as hard as I can," he said. "I feel like I've learned a lot over my career, and mentally, I feel like I'm in a pretty good place. Baseball is a very difficult game for hitters mentally. You're dealing with failure a lot."

Frazier said Holliday is a rare talent.

"There were five guys I'd pay to go watch the game. He's the sixth guy," Frazier said. "I'm talking Dave Winfield, Kirby Puckett, Ron Guidry -- he fits into that category for me."

Holliday said he's kept up through the years with Fields, who became a football immortal at OSU, beating Oklahoma twice. He was also a two-time All-Big 12 third baseman. Now he's projected as either the starting third baseman or an outfielder for the Chicago White Sox.

"I have a lot of respect for how his career has turned out and the hard work that he's put in," Holliday said. "I'm sure it was difficult playing both sports and also having academics to deal with in college, but that was the decision he made and it's turned out good for him. I guess my decision has turned out all right for me, also."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John E. Hoover 581-8384

john.hoover@tulsaworld.com