Gene Frenette: Darren O'Day baseball journey a testimony to perseverance
One of the most unique careers in Jacksonville sports history came to a close this week when Bishop Kenny High product Darren O’Day decided to call it quits after 15 seasons pitching for six different Major League Baseball teams.
His story was the greatest rags-to-riches tale among any local MLB player. O’Day went from a baseball afterthought, initially rejected as a walk-on at Florida, to undrafted, to a big-league career as a submarine-style pitcher that lasted longer than any other Jacksonville native.
“It’s absolutely bonkers,” O’Day said in a phone interview from his Atlanta home. “Nobody ever thought I’d pitch in the big leagues, including myself. I was a better MLB pitcher than I was in college or high school. It’s been a pretty wild ride.
“Part of me wanted to keep going, but I just don’t actually enjoy pitching as much as I used to because I’m not as good at it now.”
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The 40-year-old O’Day was pitching overhand in a Jacksonville men’s adult baseball league in the summer of 2002, having been cut the previous fall at Florida. Then he tried out again after messing around with a three-quarters sidearm delivery, made the team, eventually finishing with 23 wins and 20 saves in his Gators’ career.
After college, he had been accepted into UF medical school and had a three-year window in which to start the process of becoming a doctor. He instead decided to give pro baseball a shot.
Nobody drafted O’Day, but Los Angeles Angels scout Tom Kotchman convinced the team to sign him in 2006 and he needed just two years to reach the big leagues.
O’Day parlayed that one opportunity into an MLB career where the situational reliever finished with a 42-21 record, 2.59 ERA, 637 strikeouts in 609 innings pitched and was named a 2015 All-Star for the Baltimore Orioles.
His life path was altered when O’Day changed his pitching style just casually throwing the ball around with his brother, Kyle, at the family’s summer house rental on Kingsley Lake in 2002. He went to a sidearm-type delivery, eventually morphing into a submarine-style pitcher.
Once O’Day got to the big leagues with the Angels, he found a role as a setup man. His funky delivery kept him in the big leagues until throwing his last pitch for the Atlanta Braves on July 11, 2022 before going on the disabled list with a calf muscle strain.
From his MLB debut on March 31, 2008, until last season, O’Day appeared in 644 games — the only Jacksonville pitcher with more is BK product and longtime MLB closer Jonathan Papelbon (689) — and made a combined 30 postseason appearances with the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles and Braves.
During his MLB ride, he endured a torn labrum in his shoulder and hip, a hamstring issue that required surgery and a blown-out elbow.
When announcing his retirement on social media, O’Day said he was no longer willing to cope with the mental and physical demands of continuing to pitch, while missing time with his wife, television newscaster Elizabeth Prann, and their three kids (ages 8, 5 and 2).
“The decision [to retire] wasn’t made lightly,” O’Day said. “Being around the clubhouse is so much fun and competing to win a championship is the best thing ever.”
However, O'Day was unlucky in one respect. He never got a World Series ring, losing with the Texas Rangers to the San Francisco Giants in 2010.
When he signed with the New York Yankees in 2021, after rejecting a lower offer from the Atlanta Braves, his sole purpose was to improve his odds of winning a World Series. Instead, the Braves won it all before he returned to Atlanta last season.
“They won the World Series without me, those b-------,” O’Day said jokingly.
It’s about the only thing that didn’t go right for O’Day in a remarkable baseball journey. He never did become a doctor, but made nearly $50 million performing a different type of surgery on a lot of MLB hitters.
A tip of the cap to Darren O’Day. He beat some incredibly long odds to forge an MLB career that should serve as an inspiration for athletes across the sports landscape.
Jaguars finally got best of Brady
No quarterback quite had the Jaguars’ number like Tom Brady, who won eight of the nine head-to-head meetings during his time with the New England Patriots. He completed 221 of 310 passes for 2,399 yards, 21 touchdowns and two interceptions. His career quarterback rating of 113.63 against the Jaguars (minimum 5 meetings) was second only to his QBR of 113.71 while going 10-1 versus the Atlanta Falcons.
Of Brady’s 48 career playoff games, his best completion percentage (92.9 percent) and top QB rating (141.4) came in a 31-20 victory over the Jaguars after the Patriots’ perfect regular season in 2007. Nothing about his career was more mind-boggling than this: he won Super Bowls at ages 24, 26, 27, 37, 39, 41 and 43.
A small consolation for the Jaguars is they did get the last laugh on Brady, who retired Wednesday at age 45. They beat him in their final meeting, 31-20, at TIAA Bank Field in Week 2 of the 2018 season.
Jaguars/Brady trivia
Who are the only Jaguars to intercept a pass off Brady? Hint: it happened in the same game. Answer at bottom.
Saban: Don’t put hand out
Say or think what you want about Alabama football coach Nick Saban, but the man is spot on when it comes to railing against entitlement.
At an Alabama Football Coaches Association event last week, he reportedly told Baker High coach Steve Norman exactly what he thought about recruits focusing on payouts.
“Someone with one of the best [high school] corners in the nation came to me and asked if we’d pay them $800,000 for the player to sign here. I told him he can find another place to play,” Saban said, according Norman. “I’m not paying a kid a bunch of NIL money before he earns it.”
Saban critics may well roll their eyes at that comment, believing it to be disingenuous. But the truth is Gator Collective and many other school collectives would be well-advised to heed that advice.
Players seeking immediate riches should prioritize developing their games for the NFL or NBA, which is where the real money is. No matter how much college athletes deserve some type of compensation, making millionaires out of 18-year-olds isn’t in the best interest of any sport.
Officiating had too much impact
The second-half officiating severely diminished the entertainment value of the AFC Championship game. Yellow flags, and at times the lack of them, became too much of a factor. A terrible late-hit penalty on Kansas City Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes by Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai, which led to the game-winning field goal, was the right call.
However, the men in stripes also missed an obvious holding call by KC lineman Trey Smith against the Bengals’ B.J. Hill on the same play. Not suggesting anything was intentional, but the game had an uneasy feel of calls tilting too much toward the Chiefs. KC’s 23-20 victory on a last-second field goal by Harrison Butker should have been a game decided in overtime.
Quick-hitting nuggets
Sometimes you got to pay a steep price to get the right head coach, which the Denver Broncos did by giving up a first-round and second-round pick (they get a third-rounder in return) for Sean Payton. The Broncos are stuck with the large contract given to Russell Wilson, but it’s hard to imagine a better choice out there to fix the slumping Super Bowl-winning quarterback than Payton.
Condolences to Jaguars’ backup quarterback C.J. Beathard on the passing Wednesday of his grandfather, Bobby Beathard, a legendary NFL executive who had his greatest run as the Washington Commanders GM in the 1980s when they won two of their three Super Bowls. He also served in the front office of the Miami Dolphins during their perfect 1972 season.
In the college basketball net rankings, six out of 10 teams from the loaded Big 12 are in the top-20. Kansas State (18-4), led by former Florida big man transfer Keyontae Johnson (18.1 ppg), has pulled off a most remarkable turnaround from its 14-17 record last season. The Big East made its historic breakthrough when it advanced three teams to the 1985 Final Four — Georgetown, Villanova and St. John’s. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the battle-tested Big 12 duplicate that feat.
With NFL officiating being under so much scrutiny, the Chiefs can’t be happy that the Super Bowl officiating crew is headed up by Carl Cheffers. He officiated Super Bowl LV when Kansas City lost to Tampa Bay, with eleven of the 15 penalties going against the Chiefs. The eight first-half penalties flagged on KC is a Super Bowl record.
Trivia Answer
The only Jaguars to intercept a pass off Brady are safety Chris Prosinski and cornerback Derek Cox. Both accomplished the feat in the first half of the Jaguars’ 23-16 loss to New England on Dec. 23, 2012, at TIAA Bank Field.
Pigskin forecast
Kansas City Chiefs over Philadelphia Eagles by 1 (improvisation master). Last week: 1 right, 1 Indianapolis Colts marathon coaching search.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Gene Frenette: Tip of cap to Darren O'Day on forging 15-year MLB career
