See Ya Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya
Waving goodbye to a batter in the middle of your windup in the middle of an immaculate inning might be the cockiest move in sports history
Sports has seen some pretty cocky moves over the years. Babe Ruth calling his shot. Terrell Owens pulling a Sharpie out of his sock. Tiger shaking hands with Abraham Ancer before his clinching putt even dropped (sort of). All towering monuments of self-belief, but we’re going to go out on a limb and say Wesleyan Christian pitcher (and Mississippi State commit) Sam Cozart waving goodbye to a batter in the middle of his windup in the middle of an immaculate inning might just be the cockiest of them all. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get nuts.
If you’re going to survive in the rare air of professional sports, you need a full-size ego. None of that compact car crap. We’re talking four doors, a bed for haulin’, and a diesel under the hood. All the best ones have it, both on the mound (see: Roger, Nolan, Doc, Pedro) and elsewhere in the arena of sports (see: a particularly self-assured fella by the name of Michael). From the looks of things, Cozart has also inherited that gene.
It remains to be seen how far it will take him, however. His fastball sits at 88-91 and blowing away high schoolers—even three on nine pitches in the same inning—guarantees you exactly nothing in the game of baseball. But he does appear to have that moxie, that zing, the je ne sais quois. That will take you places, good and bad, if you let it.