The brightest stars burn the fastest

[Jaydumo20]

Forgot about the other Yankee flash in a pan guys. Spencer, Maas, Shelley... Then there are even briefer guys like Sam Militello, who was unhittable for two or three starts in the early 90s, then blew out his arm and was never able to throw a strike again. I feel like the Yanks have a random minor leaguer come up every now and again that makes people get excited, and then they're just gone. Andujar is one.

Brien Taylor was the #1 pick and thought to be a future star before he destroyed his shoulder in a fight.

brien taylor and Kevin mass were ny superstars. Thats so good
Also, Joba Chamberlain had a pretty quick ride

 

[Lafayette]

Bryce Hopkins? What, too soon?

OK - Ryan Leaf... Greg Oden?

 

[Jaydumo20]

 

[Huskybass]

Jacoby Ellsbury.

 

[DFW HOYA]

Mark Fidrych is the archetype but there have been others. David Clyde was another.

 

[Lafayette]

Mark Fidrych is the archetype but there have been others. David Clyde was another.

But the bird played 3 amazing seasons before that knee issue - his star was bright for like 3.5 years. Compared to guys like David Lin that is an eternity.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think Tim Lincecum qualifies. He really only pitched 8 seasons and had 2 Cy Young awards, 3 WS rings, 2 no hitters and led the league in K's 3 separate times.

Look up Koufax. Only had a handful of full seasons.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

As others have already mentioned, Linsanity was an exciting time to be in the Garden. Must have killed Carmelo to be overshadowed by a relative no-name at MSG especially with all the fanfare when he came back ‘home’.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Perhaps the saddest case is Tony Conigliaro.

Didn't even get much chance: Reggie Lewis, Len Bias.

 

[UCan3]

Bo Jackson - easy one to answer. No one burned brighter in multiple sports in such a short time - and then it was over!

 

[superjohn]

Connecticut boy Dark Knight Matt Harvey.

Connecticut boy Steve Blass of Steve Blass disease fame.

 

[jake14mw]

The three that came to mind for me were Jeremy Lin, Brian Taylor, and Mike Greenwell.

 

[businesslawyer]

Linsanity was incredibly cool for about 6-7 games.
Before my time, but Mark Fidyrich had a ridiculous year and then was basically gone.
In my early Yankee fandom days, Donnie Baseball was the best player I'd ever seen. Then his back decided to make him ordinary.
DRose was a MVP and then...
Penny Hardaway was Magic Johnson 2.0 and then...

Mattingly and Hardaway were both exceptional players for prolonged periods of time before having the length of their careers shortened. Fidrych and Lin are the best examples I can think of.

 

[willie99]

Johnny Football

Jamarcus Russell

 

[willie99]

Hasheem Thabeet

 

[jake14mw]

Also, for the few older CT people that follow bass fishing, Bryan Kerchal. A young CT guy who won the world series of bass fishing, the Bassmasters Classic, out of nowhere. Four months later, he tragically died in a plane crash.

 

[Horatio]

Nick Foles

 

[cwh20]

Connecticut boy Dark Knight Matt Harvey.

Connecticut boy Steve Blass of Steve Blass disease fame.

After Steve Blass pitched the Pirates to the World Series title in 1971 I met him at WBIS. I was just getting interested in major league sports that year and I picked the Pirates as my team after seeing some games on tv during the season. My best friend’s mother brought us to the Bristol radio station. I was 9 so I can’t say I really truly appreciated him but it was cool.

 

[UCTitleTown]

We can try to keep it basketball related but I'm cool if you go off of the hardwood and onto the field.

Name an athlete who unexpectedly captivated a city or the country for a short time but faded just as quickly.

(It doesnt mean they were out of the league necessarily, but became largely a common after their quick burst of stardom)

Kevin Maas from the early 90's Yankees or Gregg Oden.

 

[DW1361]

Len Bias.

 

[VA Blue Dog]

Jabba post-midges.
Daniel Jones after successful initial preseason.

 

[TheDrifter75]

Jose Jimenez Cardinals rookie pitcher in June 99 pitched a no hitter in Arizona vs Randy Johnson, Cardinals scored in the 9th to win 1-0. In that game Randy Johnson threw his 2500th strikeout. Two weeks later, in a game I had the good fortune to attend, Jimenez threw a 2 hitter vs Randy Johnson in St Louis. The Cards came out on top again 1-0. Mark McGuire hit a triple and later scored for the games only run in the 4th. Both games combined RJ threw 22 strikeouts. Against the rest of the NL I believe Jimenez had a 7 plus era. He stuck around for a few years but never again shined so brightly.

 

[superjohn]

After Steve Blass pitched the Pirates to the World Series title in 1971 I met him at WBIS. I was just getting interested in major league sports that year and I picked the Pirates as my team after seeing some games on tv during the season. My best friend’s mother brought us to the Bristol radio station. I was 9 so I can’t say I really truly appreciated him but it was cool.

He was a very good/great pitcher for 5 seasons. He dominated the World Series pitching 2 complete game wins, 18 innings with 2 earned runs total. He had one more great season and then couldn't ever find the plate again.

If you know tiny Canaan, CT it's hard to believe a stud MLB pitcher ever came out of there, it's 1,000 people and as sleepy as it gets.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Connecticut boy Dark Knight Matt Harvey.

Connecticut boy Steve Blass of Steve Blass disease fame.

Matt Harvey is a great one.
If you go back to some of those 70s uconn baseball teams they had some good prospects. I dont know how good his dad was but the son rose and set quite quick.

 

[Deepster]

Matt Harvey is a great one.
If you go back to some of those 70s uconn baseball teams they had some good prospects. I dont know how good his dad was but the son rose and set quite quick.

I guess he flamed out? He had a pretty rare thoracic joint problem, even had a rib removed to try and help it and then pitched well into a postseason run against doctors orders and was never the same.