Shane Larkin Combine Q&A

Shane Larkin, G, Miami

SI.com: Your father, Barry Larkin, is a Hall of Fame baseball player. Why didn't you get into baseball?
Shane Larkin: "Pete Rose and Tony Perez taught me how to hit. Tony Perez had the whole bat waggle and Pete Rose lifted his leg. I had those things in my game early on, as an eight-year old. I was playing baseball at a YMCA in Orlando and when I came up to bat my coach saw my whole routine and he told me 'Stop what you're doing; whoever taught you how to hit doesn't know what they are talking about. Give it up. Plant your foot, keep the bat still and you will be way more successful.' So I tried to do what he said, but I couldn't hit the rest of the season. And that was the last year I played organized baseball."

SI.com: Did you ever feel pressure to play baseball because of your father?
SL: "Not really, because he never put any pressure on me. Of course, when I was in the clubhouse the guys on his team were always like, 'When are you going to get out here on the field,' but it was never pressure from my Dad. He actually wanted me to play football. That was the only sport he made me play. I wanted to play soccer because the kids at my elementary school played soccer, but he said, 'Football was fun, I [have to play] football -- he went to Michigan on a football scholarship -- and if you don't like it you don't have to play again.'"


(cnnsi.com)