Virgen’s View: Hendricks happy to help as Sportsman of the Year
It doesn’t seem all that long ago when Kyle Hendricks could describe himself as a player who didn’t receive much attention and flew under the radar while competing in baseball in Orange County.
Hendricks said he enjoyed those days when he honed his skills as a pitcher while playing club and for Capistrano Valley High School, where he graduated in 2008. Hendricks, the Chicago Cubs pitcher who started Game 7, quickly realized it would take a lot of work to become among the elite in Orange County.
Nowadays, Hendricks is not under the radar. He’s in the spotlight after a sensational season for the Cubs that helped bring a World Series championship to Chicago and its long-suffering fans.
Hendricks wants to give back to Orange County, and he plans to do so next week. He has been named the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation Sportsman of the Year. The organization (www.ocysf.org), which funds several projects for youth sports in Orange County, will celebrate the Cubs and Hendricks at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach on Wednesday night.
“A lot of what got me ready was the competition that I played against while in high school,” said Hendricks, who is living in Newport Beach temporarily before spring training begins. “I was playing against guys who were top-10 draft picks. I kind of flew under the radar. I didn’t have much attention on me. It puts things into perspective as a young kid, to see that competition, to see if you can do it and to see where I needed to go. It just provides a good perspective for kids.”
Before he went on to play at Dartmouth, Hendricks said he was motivated to improve but at times he was intimidated by the abundance of talent in Orange County.
“When your confidence is not there you might be intimidated,” Hendricks said. “The more and more you play with those you get the competition. Putting yourself in those situations it just develops your game. It gave me the confidence and showed me where I had to go and what I had to do in order to have my chance.”
Hendricks’ game was at its highest level last season for the Cubs. He had MLB’s lowest earned-run average at 2.13 and finished third in the National League Cy Young Award voting. That certainly helped the Cubs’ capture the championship.
He’s been enjoying Cubs’ fans gratitude ever since Chicago’s Game 7 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Usually, the dinner program for the OCYSF Sportsman of the Year includes roasting, but that will be a challenge this time.
“It was a dream come true,” Hendricks said of being the Game 7 starter. “When you’re a kid, in the Little League fields, you’re always messing around, and in those settings you are pitching Game 7. It was really surreal just to have that opportunity, just to have the ball in your hand. You have to keep your emotions under control. You never want to go out and lose. We had early run support. In the end, the way it went down with the Cubs winning that way, it just had to end that way. It still hasn’t sunk in 100%. You dream about it for so long.”
Hendricks has so much happiness in his life, including the World Series championship and the upcoming Sportsman of the Year honor. Recently he became engaged and plans to marry Emma Cain in November.
They met while Hendricks was playing minor-league ball in Spokane, Wash. after being drafted by the Texas Rangers. Hendricks met her at a party. She had been in nursing school at Washington State. Hendricks said they were in a long-distance relationship for four years.
Cain was among those who saw Hendricks rise through the ranks and become an elite pitcher.
Hendricks carried a quiet demeanor throughout and usually garnered a label of intelligence from his Ivy League days at Dartmouth.
“All these labels get put on you but it really doesn’t matter,” Hendricks said. “At the end of the day you have to go out there and do what you need to do. It’s about knowing where you have to go and knowing where you have to progress.”
Hendricks admitted that he had not heard about the OCYSF prior to being named Sportsman of the Year, but he said he quickly got on board of wanting to help Orange County’s young athletes.
“It’s pretty awesome, the message and the meaning overall [from OCYSF],” Hendricks said. “In Orange County you have all these talented kids. Youth sports are what it’s all about. Just to be involved in this is pretty awesome for me.”
