Twice a pro: WSU’s Mark Hendrickson stands as one of 13 to play professionally in the MLB and NBA
By Dave Cook for Spokesman-Review 7/30/2022
There are 92 locales mentioned in the song “I’ve Been Everywhere,” made famous decades ago by the late Johnny Cash.
It would take
Mark Hendrickson a stanza or two to recite the long list of places he’s lived
and visited from spending 231/2 years of playing basketball and baseball both
at the collegiate and professional levels.
He first chased
the vision while attending Washington State University from 1992-96, and then
lived the dream as a forward in the National Basketball Association and as a
pitcher in Major League Baseball.
“You learn to
travel light, that’s for sure,” he said, seven years after ending that vagabond
chapter of his life. “I lived out of suitcases, but it is what it is. You have
to get used to that lifestyle.”
For the 6-foot-9
left-hander, the grind included preseason training camps and an 82-game season
in basketball. For baseball, it started with spring training in Arizona or
Florida for six to eight weeks, then living in a minor league town or a big
league city for a 162-game schedule.
“It was life in a
hotel,” he said in June from York, Pennsylvania, where he now shares a home
with his wife, four daughters and two grandchildren. “It becomes a very nomadic
life, even in college. I missed all the holidays and we spent them at the
coach’s house. That wasn’t the same.”
This summer marks
the 20-year anniversary of his major league debut – Aug. 6, 2002, while playing
for the Toronto Blue Jays. Born and raised in Mount Vernon, Washington,
Hendrickson’s debut came in a relief appearance versus the Seattle Mariners –
his favorite team growing up.
Hendrickson
entered in the eighth inning after a dominant outing from Hall of Famer Roy
Halladay. He struck out the first batter, Carlos Guillen, on four pitches, but
came down to earth allowing five runs on three hits and two walks before he was
pulled.
It came at the
Toronto Skydome, where he says the bullpen is under the enclosed portion of the
stadium, but the pitcher’s mound left him in the open with a swirling wind in
his face.
“It was the
weirdest thing, and on top of that I was making my debut,” he recalled. “My
heart is pounding and it just happened so quick. I don’t know if I was even
close on any of my pitches, it just worked out that I got the strikeout. Then
it was boom, boom, boom, boom. And of all teams to be playing it was Seattle,
so a lot of people were watching.”
It certainly
provided a noteworthy footnote to what would be a stellar career in the league.
“Obviously it
didn’t start out very well,” laughs Hendrickson, who turned 47 in June. “Debuts
are funny – you remember them but they sometimes don’t go the way you want.”
That was the
beginning of a 10-year career in the majors, after completing a four-year
tenure in the NBA. In all, he was in professional baseball from 1998 to 2015,
including three years in the minor leagues testing his mettle as a two-sport
player.
Hendrickson is
just one of 13 players in history listed by the Baseball Almanac to play in
both the NBA and MLB. Included are Danny Ainge, Dave DeBusschere and Gene
Conley. Michael Jordan, mind you, was a superstar in the NBA but never made it
to baseball’s highest level.
If he had to do
it all over again, would Hendrickson pursue both sports at the professional
level again? Without hesitation, Hendrickson answered in the affirmative, but
with a warning label.
“You have to have
an ego to get to the professional ranks – you have to be thick-headed and
confident because you’ll have a lot of adversity to get through,” he explained.
“You have to evaluate yourself as an athlete and make adjustments regardless of
who you are and whatever skill level you have.
“I was never the
most talented – I didn’t have any skill set that stood out as great,” he
admitted. “But my hand-eye coordination was off the charts. I picked up every
sport rather easily, and I would do it again even though the athletes are
getting more specialized.”
Hendrickson was
drafted 31st overall in the 1996 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. His
basketball journey took him to four different teams across the United States – Sacramento,
New Jersey and Cleveland were the others. He played in 114 games, averaging 3.3
points and 2.8 rebounds.
Before and during
his basketball career, Hendrickson was drafted six straight years by MLB teams.
The first time
was out of high school as a 13th-round pick in 1992 by Atlanta. The sixth came
in 1997 when he was taken in the 20th round by Toronto. He played in the Blue
Jays organization for three seasons from 1998-2000 while also playing in the
NBA.
Once Hendrickson
dedicated his career to baseball he moved quickly through the minor leagues to
the majors.
Despite a rocky
start versus the Mariners, he became a starter and finished his rookie season
in 2002 with a 3-0 record and a 2.45 earned run average in 36 innings.
Hendrickson
played for Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Florida and Baltimore, finishing his career
with a 58-74 record and 5.03 ERA. He made 328 appearances and 166 starts and
finished with a total of 1,169 innings and 666 strikeouts. And that doesn’t
even include numerous stops in the minor leagues to both begin and end his
baseball odyssey.
And through it
all, he had nary a multiyear contract – just one that included a second-year
option.
“Every athlete is
trying to survive. It makes it very challenging to come back and continue to
perform,” Hendrickson said.
His challenges
started at a young age.
…
Hendrickson was
just five months old when his father, Thomas Hendrickson, died on Nov. 17,
1974, at the age of 31. A Washington State Patrol officer, Thomas was killed in
the line of duty by a drunk driver.
That left his
mother, Barbara, to watch over Mark and his older brother, Steve. Two years
older than Mark, Steve would also eventually attend Washington State and watch
over his younger brother in Pullman. Their grandfather helped instill a love of
sports into the brothers, and they would play any and all sports as they grew
up.
A natural lefty,
Mark would grow from 6-foot-1 to 6-foot-7 between his freshman and sophomore
year at Mount Vernon High School. That meant as long as he could learn to deal
with his growth spurt, his youth soccer skills and point guard skills in
basketball would be assets on the court and on the diamond.
As a sophomore at
Mount Vernon, the Bulldogs were humbled by Battle Ground 95-63 for the State AA
basketball title. They came back to win the championship the next year with a
59-52 victory over Battle Ground, then in his senior season were undefeated and
repeated as state champs with a 56-38 victory over Shorecrest.
In baseball, the
Bulldogs also won State AA titles in 1990 and 1992. The summer after his senior
season while playing American Legion baseball, his team won the state tile and
lost in the championship game of the regional tourney.
“We weren’t
spoiled by winning, but we appreciated it,” he says of his high school days. “I
remember crying after my senior year of basketball when we won the state
tournament. I was sad it was done, and to that point I had spent 18 years in
Mount Vernon.”
…
Mark Hendrickson
was a dominant presence inside for the Washington State basketball team from
1992-96. (Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review)
Success seemed to
follow Hendrickson to Pullman, and he played considerably as a freshman in the
1992-93 season. He averaged 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds as he was named to the
five-member Pac-10 All-Freshmen Team.
The next season,
the Cougars earned their way into the NCAA Tournament under Kelvin Sampson, who
would depart Pullman after that year for Oklahoma.
In 1995 and 1996,
Hendrickson would earn first team All-Pac 10 honors and help the team advance
to the NIT both seasons under new coach Kevin Eastman.
Hendrickson
finished his career as the Pac-10 active leader in double-doubles with 43 in
108 games and became the first Cougar to lead his team in rebounding all four
seasons. Hendrickson concluded his basketball career by holding the school
record in career field goal percentage (.567), while ranking second for career
rebounds (927) and third for points (1,496).
Hendrickson also
made eight appearances on the mound for the Cougar baseball team during his
junior year in 1995 under new coach Steve Farrington, who succeeded legendary
coach Chuck “Bobo” Brayton. The Cougars won the Pac-10 North Division title
that season.
“I was ready for
it emotionally,” he said of waiting until his third year at WSU to dive into
the life of a dual-sport athlete. “College was an eye-opening experience. Coach
Sampson was demanding, and it was good for me. Those were two years with a
steep learning curve to really understand the commitment to basketball and the
training involved. It was a big jump from high school.”
Hendrickson said
he always considered baseball a summer sport, partly because he grew up on the
rainy west side of Washington where the high school baseball season was
essentially crammed from mid-April to the end of May. So even though he didn’t
play collegiately his other three seasons at WSU, he honed his skills by
playing semiprofessional baseball in the summers.
“Baseball started
so early in college, then they would go south for a while,” he said of the
collegiate baseball season which began in January just as league play in
basketball was beginning. “And with basketball going as long as it did, (my
college baseball career) didn’t amount to much. But I always played in the
summers.”
He says now his
desire to play professional baseball was “always there” when he was in college.
But what the Cougs accomplished on the basketball court was more important.
“Being a part of the NCAA Tournament was a big deal to me.”
…
When his WSU
hoops career concluded in 1996, the Seattle SuperSonics were high on his list
of potential teams to play for in the NBA. He was 5 years old when they won the
NBA title in 1979, and in 1996 Seattle won the Western Conference title the
same year Hendrickson was to be drafted.
Hendrickson
remembers having a pre-draft workout with the Vancouver Grizzlies in the
morning one day, then flying to Seattle for his workout with the Sonics that
afternoon. Seattle had a pick at the end of the first round that he hoped to
snag, but Seattle traded it away for two second-round picks.
“Because it was
the Sonics and I was from that area, I had the best workout of any of my
workouts,” he said of his hopes of being the 28th pick overall. “That crushed
me. I really wanted to play for them.”
As it turned out,
three selections later he was picked by the 76ers with the second choice of the
second round. He had impressed the brass at Philadelphia during his final
pre-draft workout, and ended up on a squad with No. 1 pick Allen Iverson out of
Georgetown.
“I caught fire,”
he said of his visit to Philly. “Any drill we were doing I just couldn’t miss.
So I wasn’t surprised when they picked me, but I was pulling for Seattle for
sure.”
Because his
parents were both from York, he had a built-in fan base of family members his
rookie year. He played in 29 games that season, then 48 the next season for
Sacramento.
He also had two
stints in New Jersey, including the final five games of his career in the
1999-2000 campaign. None of the teams he played on reached the playoffs.
“I was able to
play well enough to play into a contract the rest of the year,” he said of his
four years in the NBA. “But people don’t realize just how many people are
trying to get into the league.”
…
Baltimore
starting pitcher Mark Hendrickson tosses against the Texas Rangers during game
action at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas in 2009. (Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth
Star-Telegram)
While in the NBA,
he played semiprofessional baseball in the offseason before signing with the
Blue Jays on May 22, 1998. He spent time with A and AA minor league clubs in
1998 and 1999, and again in 2000 after he quit basketball.
He sometimes
wonders what would have happened if he would have signed with the Braves out of
high school, but knows he took the best path possible to the majors. He found
out firsthand what the minor leagues are like but was thankful he didn’t go
through it as an 18-year-old.
“That’s a brutal
life. It’s survival of the fittest. There will be instruction, but they don’t
give you instructions on the grueling grind of playing every day, living off of
pennies and staying in hotels.”
After his third
year in the NBA, Hendrickson was invited to the Arizona fall baseball league
for top prospects and where scouts congregate. It was an opportunity he
couldn’t pass up and he performed well, but he knew he had to quit the NBA to
give him the best leverage. So early in 2000, his basketball career was over.
“I said, ‘I’ll
see you at spring training, Toronto.’ And that’s all she wrote – I didn’t look
back. I had to commit.”
He played for
Syracuse in the AAA International League in 2001 and 2002 before getting called
up by the Blue Jays.
The most innings
he pitched in MLB came in 2004 with 1831/3 for Tampa Bay (10-15, 4.81 ERA),
then pitched 1781/3 the next year (11-8, 5.90). His lone postseason appearance
came in the 2006 National League Divisional Series while he was with the Los
Angeles Dodgers. He appeared in all three games and gave up no runs in 22/3
innings, but the Dodgers were swept by the New York Mets.
“It’s all
chemistry,” he explains of what makes teams into playoff contenders and
champions. “Players have an inner circle where they can’t do anything wrong, so
it’s very difficult to get them to buy into a team aspect when there is so much
at stake individually.
“In baseball, you
can’t cheat a 182-game season.”
Hendrickson also
became the first pitcher in Toronto Blue Jays history to hit a home run, which
he did against the Montreal Expos on June 21, 2003. He played in 2008 for
Florida and 2009-11 for Baltimore. The Orioles extended contracts in 2013 and
2015, but he was released both times.
“You have to put
the work in to stay, and it’s harder to stay than to get there,” he says. “You
have to have the motivation every day. There is no guarantee for tomorrow.”
…
He says one of
the lessons he absorbed and tries to pass along to others was to learn how to
be a good practice player and become very efficient in preparation.
“Getting drafted
can’t be the climax, the euphoria and the ultimate dream,” he warns, likening
it to climbing Mt. Everest. “You are up there for maybe two minutes, and now
all of the sudden the real work begins because you have to get down the
mountain.”
In 2015,
Hendrickson settled back in York, a small town of about 45,000 in Southern
Pennsylvania. He says when he retired, he cried in a parking lot because that
part of his life was over.
“It was hard to
do, and I see why athletes really suffer when they retire. That singular
motivation, focus and attention to detail you have year-round is no longer
there. I was walking around in a daze.”
Hendrickson,
though, was motivated to get over it by the new-found time with his family, and
working out and being healthy. “That lifestyle has never changed for me.
“It was a long
time, and a lot of commitment,” he said of his time in collegiate and
professional sports. “I always had the dream when I was a kid that I would play
until I was 40 and then take it year-to-year after that. It’s a much different
mindset when your body goes through the changes, I don’t think the average fan
understands. You have a lot of wear and tear on your body, and it comes down to
trying to bounce back and play game-after-game-after-game. That’s the hardest
part.”
After a year off,
Hendrickson coached a couple of years in the Orioles organization, and for the
most part was able to commute to his job in Aberdeen, Maryland. “I loved it
when I was interacting with the players, but I was missing out. I just decided
I couldn’t do it.”
Former Washington State basketball player Mark Hendrickson poses for a photo with his youngest daughter Elliana. (Courtesy of Mark Hendrickson)
So instead, he
turned to interacting with his own kids by coaching his daughter’s basketball
team. She’s 9 and in the third grade now, and one of his other daughters is 11
and helps coach. Even his 4-year-old is involved.
“It was probably
the first time I’ve been on a basketball court in a team setting since my NBA
days,” he admits. “It got the juices flowing again. I have way too much to pay
forward.”
His 27-year-old
daughter is married and has two daughters of her own.
“I have girls,
girls and more girls,” he laughs.
In York,
Hendrickson owns a company called Major League Properties, a firm that
specializes in buying and renovating homes. He’s also doing some public
speaking, and hopes to do more as he shares the lessons he’s learned in life.
He looks back
fondly to his induction into the Washington State University Athletics Hall of
Fame in 2016. In 2008 he was selected to the Pac-12 Conference Hall of Honor.
He’s still a big
fan of the state of Washington.
“I enjoy watching
the teams in the state, obviously the Cougs, but I’m not opposed to rooting for
Gonzaga or UW,” he said. “It’s good to see the state of Washington do well.
“I miss
Washington – I don’t get back to Pullman or Mount Vernon as much as I would
like,” he added. “But it was a good spot to grow up for sure, and Pullman was a
good college town. It was just big enough, and I can tell people when I went to
college Washington State had the best basketball team in the region.”
Hendrickson said
he isn’t sure if the number of NBA/MLB two-sport athletes will increase from
13.
Advances in
technology, facilities and training regimens have changed the face of college
and professional athletics over the years. But he knows it still comes down to
a human component when determining if an athlete can handle the rigors of
competing in two sports at a high level.
“Everything is
better than it was, but athletes are still human,” Hendrickson said.
“Committing to one sport full time year-round, I don’t how much better that
makes you without taking some time off. I don’t foresee two-sport athletes in
the future.”
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