It was Wednesday morning, not even 12 hours after the Diamondbacks won the National League pennant to earn a World Series matchup against the Rangers, when Princeton baseball coach Scott Bradley’s phone buzzed. It was a group text. The senders were Mike Hazen and Chris Young, two of his former players and the general managers of the D-Backs and Rangers, respectively.
“Coach, we want you here,” the text said. “Whatever games you can make, we’ll make it happen.”
Twenty-five years after Young, a two-sport star from Highland Park High in Dallas, met Hazen, the Princeton senior captain and outfielder, on a recruiting visit at Princeton, the two close friends and fellow alumni are meeting in the World Series. That they immediately reached out to their former coach spoke to the bonds they have to one another, to Princeton and to Bradley. Each has called on Bradley during times of professional and personal crisis. This time the connection was to share the joy of one of the most unlikely World Series they made possible.
