Article: Danny Ainge Had The Best Jump Shot In Toronto Blue Jays History

[Seth Stohs]

Come up with a list of the top athletes of all-time? Often times Danny Ainge doesn't get mentioned, but he probably should. 

When we talk about the greatest athletes in the past one hundred years, certain names come up quickly. For me, the greatest athlete of my lifetime has been Bo Jackson. Deion Sanders falls a close second. Brian Jordan is a name that doesn’t get mentioned enough. Hockey fans might want to include Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby in the discussion. How about Eric Lindros? He’s even got a baseball card of him taking batting practice. 

Somewhere down the list, you have to consider former Blue Jays infielder Danny Ainge, right? 

The Blue Jays drafted him in the 15th round of the 1977 MLB draft out of high school in Eugene, Oregon. The Jays first seven selections in that draft never saw the big leagues. Jesse Barfield was picked in the eighth round and obviously went on to a very strong baseball career. 

In high school, he was an All American on both offense (Wide Receiver) and defense (defensive back). And that was his third-best sport. 

He signed with Toronto but also headed to Brigham Young University where he averaged 38 minutes played in 30 games as a freshman on the basketball team and averaged 21 points, nearly six rebounds and over five assists and two steals per game.   

Feeling the need to keep Ainge happy, the Blue Jays had Ainge start his professional baseball career in the spring of 1978 by sending him straight to Triple-A Syracuse. In 119 games, the then-19-year-old hit just .229/.263/.291 (.553) with 10 doubles and four home runs. 

He returned to BYU and in his sophomore season, he averaged 18 points, 4.5 rebounds and about two assists per game.    

In 1979, Ainge again began the season in Syracuse. In 27 games, he hit .248/.309/.327 (.636) with four doubles and two triples. In mid-May, the Jays decided to call him up to the big-league club. After primarily playing shortstop as an amateur and in his pro debut in 1978, he came up as the team’s second baseman. In 87 games, he hit .237/.269/.286 (.554) with seven doubles, a triple, and two home runs. He played solid defense, posting a .977 fielding percentage. 

In his MLB debut, he went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. He grounded out off of Rick Wise in his first at-bat. An inning later, he gave the Jays a 4-1 lead with an RBI single off of Wise. He added a seventh-inning single off of Don Hood, and in the eighth frame, he singled off of Victor Cruz. 

The next day, he went 2-for-4 with another RBI. In the bottom of the second inning, he singled to score John Mayberry and give the Jays a 1-0 lead off of Mike Paxton. He singled again in the fourth inning and scored on an Alfredo Griffin double that ended Paxton’s day.  

After batting ninth in the first two games, he was moved to the leadoff spot. He responded by going 1-for-2 with a walk (and a sacrifice bunt). 

On June 2, Toronto was in Seattle. Leading off the top of the seventh inning, Ainge ripped a shot to left field off of Mariners reliever Joe Decker for his first MLB home run. At 20 years and 77 days, he remained the youngest Blue Jays player to hit a home run until Vlad Guerrero, Jr., hit one at 20 years and 59 days. He added his second homer in late August, again in Seattle - and again in the seventh inning. This time he hit it off of John Montague. 

Following his rookie season, he again returned to Brigham Young where he averaged 19 points, four rebounds and five assists over 29 games. In 1980, he split his time between the big leagues and Triple-A. In his 38 MLB games, he hit .243/.263/.315 (.579) with six doubles and a triple. He played mostly at third base and struggled a bit at the hot corner. 

In his senior season at BYU, he played in 32 games and averaged 24.4 points, 4.8  rebounds, and 4.0 assists. He was a consensus first-team All-American with Isiah Thomas, Mark Aguirre, Ralph Sampson and Steve Johnson. He won the Wooden Award as the nation’s top player. 

He was drafted in the second round by the NBA’s Boston Celtics with the 31st overall pick in the 1981 draft. 

He spent the 1981 season with the Jays and in 86 games, he hit just .187/.258/.228 (.486) with six doubles and two triples. However, it’s not as if Toronto was going to give up on him. He was still just 22 years old. 

As he acknowledged at the time, “I’ve failed at things before. I think I’ve failed at baseball the last three years.” 

In fact, just days after the conclusion of the 1981 season. According to the Sports Illustrated vault, he voluntarily retired from baseball saying, “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not a part of the Toronto Blue Jays. I’m going home to Utah to get in shape for basketball. I’m retired from baseball.” 

He wanted to play in the NBA. He had seen so much success on the basketball court, and while he was clearly rushed to the big leagues (and Triple-A way too fast by Toronto), the struggles were very real. Scouts had mixed opinions, but most believed that he wouldn’t ever hit enough and didn’t have power or arm strength. He was fast though, and he had a great jump shot. 

Unfortunately, in his Blue Jays contract, there was a line that said that he could not play basketball. Ainge claimed that they had a verbal agreement to rescind the “no basketball” provision, but the jury sided with Jays’ President Peter Bavasi or VP Pat Gillick. They said the Celtics were guilty of contract interference for negotiating with the shooting guard. 

The Jays wanted $1 million from the Celtics to release Ainge from the three-year, $525,000 contract. The clause in his contract not allowing him to play pro basketball came with a $300,000 bonus. Ainge offered to give it back. 

Ultimately the Celtics paid the Blue Jays about $500,000 to get Ainge released so that they could sign him. 

It’s kind of difficult to argue with his decision. Ainge went on to play 14 seasons in the NBA, the first seven-plus seasons with the Celtics. He also spent time with the Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers and Sacramento Kings. He won two championships with the Celtics, in 1984 and 1986. He was an All Star in 1987. 

In his career, he averaged about 11.5 points and four assists. However, over a six-season stretch in the middle of his career, he averaged 14.9 points and 5.6 assists per game. He wasn’t afraid to scrap a bit, fitting in well with the 1980s NBA. 

Since his playing career, he has remained in the game, and remained busy. He spent time as a head coach. He has been an analyst on TV. He was later hired by the Celtics and Executive Director of Basketball Operations and was maybe even more aggressive making transactions as he was playing the game. However, in 2008, he put together an NBA championship team for the Celtics. He has spent the past few years as the CEO of the Utah Jazz. 

Yeah, I would say basketball was the right choice for him. But we shouldn’t forget his years with Toronto. He was an All American on both side of the football field in high school… and that was his third-best sport. He got to the big leagues in baseball, and certainly could have stayed their longer. And he still had a 14-season NBA career, an industry that has kept him active for the nearly 30 years since he played his last game. 

MLB and NBA Cross-Overs
It seems like there was more people who played Major League Baseball and in the NBA in the 1940s through early 60s. It was the early years of the NBA and baseball was still king. Since Danny Ainge 40 years ago, there haven’t been many who even got close to playing in both. 

There is a Blue Jays tie with the most recent player to do it. Mark Hendrickson, a 6’-9” southpaw, pitched for the Blue Jays from his MLB debut in 2002 and again in 2003. He went 12-9 with a 4.94 ERA over 195 innings before being traded. He spent time with the Rays, Dodgers, Marlins and Orioles over a 10-year career. Before that, he had spent four seasons in the NBA, spending time with the Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings, New Jersey Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers.

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[Brownie19]

I must admit - I never knew Danny Ainge played baseball at all, let alone for the Blue Jays.  

This really shows how much baseball has changed.  I know the Jays were still a s***** expansion team at the time, but they sent a 2 sport athlete, drafted out of high school, directly to AAA, where he was terrible - and then called him up and gave him 331 PA's at the age of 20 (where he produced a 45 wRC+ and -0.7 WAR).  Unreal.  

[Brock Beauchamp]

Great story, Seth! I had no idea there was a contract dispute between the Jays and Celtics, which adds an interesting twist to the entire situation.

[Brock Beauchamp]

54 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I must admit - I never knew Danny Ainge played baseball at all, let alone for the Blue Jays.  

This really shows how much baseball has changed.  I know the Jays were still a s***** expansion team at the time, but they sent a 2 sport athlete, drafted out of high school, directly to AAA, where he was terrible - and then called him up and gave him 331 PA's at the age of 20 (where he produced a 45 wRC+ and -0.7 WAR).  Unreal.  

Teams did some really stupid crap back in the day. 

[Seth Stohs]

I've just always been so impressed by great athletes, and specifically multi-sport athletes as pros. I just don't think that Ainge gets mentioned. He wasn't great at baseball, but as noted, he was pushed way too unfairly and too young... obviously cuz they saw his basketball talent and didn't want to lose him. Would be interesting to go back in time and see how things might have turned out had they started him in A-ball and brought him along at his own pace.