You wouldn’t think that a typical Major League Baseball ace would draw inspiration from former MLS striker and current Real Salt Lake assistant coach Ted Eck, but Noah Syndergaard isn’t exactly your typical ace.
Nicknamed “Thor” for his long blonde locks and huge 6-foot-6, 240 pound frame, the New York Mets star took a bit of an unusual path to the big leagues, not emerging as a legitimate prospect until very late in his high school career.
Along the way, he got a bit of inspiration from Eck, meeting the striker after an FC Dallas (then the Dallas Burn) game at the Cotton Bowl that his parents took him and some friends to for one of a birthday during his childhood.
From Sports Illustrated’s Ben Reiter:
Afterward, he went down to meet some of the Dallas Burn players. All of them were nice to him, but one stood out: Ted Eck, who was nearing the end of a long and winding career. Eck spent 10 minutes with him, just talking. “I can remember every minute of it. How I was sitting, what he looked like—a little bit like Richard Branson,” Syndergaard says. “You just never know if you’re going to create some kind of impact with any little youngster.”
According to Reiter, that one interaction with Eck continues to serve as an example for Syndergaard, whose favorite off-day activity in New York is hopping on a Citi Bike, riding through Central Park and talking with any fan who says hello to him.
