Sports Illustrated has a feature piece on the eccentric Trevor Bauer. I’ll say this: it is not boring. Bauer is quite the unique individual, who has made it as a pitcher by obsessively doing things his own way. He also sounds like a real peach to go out on a date with.
When Bauer meets a potential romantic partner, he outlines for her the parameters of any possible relationship on their very first date. “I have three rules,” he says. “One: no feelings. As soon as I sense you’re developing feelings, I’m going to cut it off, because I’m not interested in a relationship and I’m emotionally unavailable. Two: no social media posts about me while we’re together, because private life stays private. Three: I sleep with other people. I’m going to continue to sleep with other people. If you’re not O.K. with that, we won’t sleep together, and that’s perfectly fine. We can just be perfectly polite platonic friends.”
Seems like an offer no one could possibly refuse.
The piece is littered with gems, from Bauer’s interactions with teammates (he and Gerrit Cole basically didn’t speak during their time at UCLA after Cole cursed him out for his unique training regimen) to his obsession with some key numbers.
“My new five-year goal is to be the most internationally recognizable baseball brand,” Bauer says. That is one reason why he continues to engage on social media, despite its pitfalls, and why he gets into so many online tiffs and references the numbers 69 and 420 so much, because his research has suggested that’s what audiences like.
He also is going to eschew the current fight over longterm contracts and believes he can make more by taking a one-year deal each season. He also has lofty plans to join Russ Hanneman in the Three Comma Club.
“I want to be a billionaire,” he says. “Not for any other reason than just to say I did it.”
