Come To Think of It...On the Pilgrimage from Touchdown Jesus to Baseball Mecca

Jeff Samardzija has certainly had quite a ride already in his short but exciting sporting career. From catching touchdown passes at Notre Dame to striking out batters at Wrigley Field, the 6'5" right-handed flamethrower is enjoying life to the fullest.

And no, he insists, he is not taking anything for granted.

As he gets in his black Escalade and drives, listening to Led Zeppelin in his CD player, he drives slowly to enjoy the scenery. And not just the scantily clad female variety, either. Just enjoying the fact that he is playing baseball in such a great sports city for a first-place Cubs team and having his story told in the latest Sports Illustrated, courtesy of an article written by Luke Winn.

Some of this article was inspired by SI, come to think of it.

Samardzija knows he could be playing professional football. Heck, he was a finalist for the Biletnikoff award his junior season at Notre Dame, given to the college game's top receiver. He caught 77 passes for 15 touchdowns that season.

The following June, the Cubs' Jim Hendry took a flyer on him with a fifth-round draft selection when most everyone else thought Jeff's ultimate destination was the NFL.

That summer, Samardzija divided his professional baseball time between the Rookie League and Class-A ball. In the winter, he caught 78 passes and 12 touchdowns for the Irish, who went to the Sugar Bowl to face LSU at the Superdome.

One of the attendees at the Superdome was Hendry, who met with Samardzija a few days later at Gibson's Steakhouse in Rosemont, IL, to talk about his baseball future.

Samardzija still had options, as the Senior Bowl and the NFL combine were looming. Within days, however, he chose to take the Cubs' offer, which included a $2.5 million signing bonus that would be forfeited if he returned to football.

After some early struggles as a starting pitcher in the Cubs' system, Samardzija got off to a 4-1 start with a 3.13 ERA at Iowa this season, enough to earn him the promotion to Wrigley.

In his debut against the Florida Marlins, he hit 99 mph on the gun and has not looked back. Through 11 relief appearances—which, at week's end, had included one-inning stints, two-inning stints, even a save—he had a 1.20 ERA with a 3.5-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

He had also received a full vote of confidence from manager Lou Piniella. "He's not intimidated," Piniella says. "I'm comfortable using him in just about any situation."

"The Shark," as the 23-year-old was called at Notre Dame, can never outrun his football past. Cubs organist Gary Pressy plays the "Notre Dame Victory March" when Samardzija takes the hill, although the pitcher says he'd prefer Jimi Hendrix.

As Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild notes, Samardzija has no fear. Whatever role Lou throws him in, the bigger the stakes, the grander the stage, the better the kid performs.

In fact, some think that one of the reasons he initially struggled was that he missed feeding off of the energy created by the much larger stage of college football, with the crowds in minor-league baseball being relatively sparse in comparison.

But with Wrigley Field rocking and rolling every game, no such concern here. And Jeff is now a part of something very special brewing at Clark & Addison this year. Come to think of it, he may be providing some of the energy that this team has been missing for, oh, say 100 years or so. But hey, who's counting?

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