Before LeBron James won Cleveland a championship he was fresh out of high school and partaking in some baseball activities in Cleveland.
LeBron James just won Cleveland its first championship in 52 years after his Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
He made it clear he won that title for the city he has been associated with since being drafted by the Cavaliers in 2003.
Before he was bringing championships home, he was a newly drafted player who was invited out to a Cleveland Indians game as part of his introduction tour.
Right after the 2003 NBA Draft, James was invited to Jacobs Field to throw out the first pitch in a game between the Indians and the Cincinnati Reds. He also met with the players and was able to take some batting practice.
The day was rehashed by Bryan Horowitz of MLB.com, who cited an article from when James was a young man enjoying some summer baseball.
From the 2003 article:
"After the Reds finished their pregame batting practice, James jumped into the cage for a few swings — and a lot of misses. With former Reds pitcher Tom Hume, now the club’s bullpen coach, lobbing pitches to him, James fanned on the first nine pitches before hitting a soft liner to right field. “Whew,” Hume said when asked about James’ swing. “He needs a lot of work.”"
James is obviously one of the best basketball players to ever play the game, but he was also a standout football player during his time at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron. But baseball was never in the equation, and that became clear on that day back in 2003 when things were much simpler than they are now.
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The city of Cleveland has a title, and luckily baseball did not come into the equation for LeBron at any point in time.