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Charley Walters: Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin Love had a mound of potential as a young baseball pitcher
Pioneer Press
Updated: 03/10/2011 11:16:24 PM CST
The Timberwolves' Kevin Love broke a modern-day NBA record Wednesday for consecutive double-doubles (points-rebounds), but if he were left-handed, he said, he might not be playing basketball.
Mychal Thompson, the former Gophers great who was in town recently as radio analyst for the Los Angeles Lakers, talked about what a phenomenal baseball player Love was as a youngster.
"A Little League legend," Thompson said.
Thompson knew because his sons played baseball with and against Love and watched him pitch perfect games while growing up in Lake Oswego, Ore.
Love passed up playing baseball in high school to focus on basketball despite possessing a fastball clocked at more than 90 mph as a ninth-grader.
"I always wanted to be like (future hall of fame pitcher) Randy Johnson because he was 6-10," said Love, who also is 6 feet 10. "But he was a lefty. If I was a lefty, I'd probably still be playing baseball. I still love baseball, and I always think about what if I were out on the mound."
