The Natural

March 31, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. We’re the kind of guys who call out of work on Opening Day.

We love this game like Jimmy Fallon loved the Red Sox in Fever Pitch.

Like really, really big fans.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a guy from nowhere who almost made it to the big leagues against all odds.

Some scouts said this guy could’ve been the next Babe Ruth.

So where did he come from?

Greg “Toe” Nash was born in a trailer park in Sorrento.

It was actually bum-fuck Louisiana.

Anyways…

Toe grew up in really tough conditions.

His mom abandoned the family when he was young so his dad raised him and his sister while working on a sugar cane farm.

There wasn’t much going on in Sorrento, so Nash would go to a local bar, dig bottle caps out of a trash can, and hit them with a broomstick.

By the time he was 12, he was 5’ 10” 140 lbs and the kid could hit bombs.

Toe pretty much had zero opportunities to be discovered, but you know what they say…

If you’re good enough, they’ll find you.

One day, Toe was playing in a Little League game and a part-time scout named Benny Latino happened to be in attendance.

Latino wasn’t there on business, his friend just asked him to come by and he had nothing better to do.

Luckily for him, Benny witnessed Toe strike out 17 of 21 batters and hit two home runs that day.

After that game, Toe and Benny didn’t see each other for many years.

Latino became a full-time scout for the Rays, and things really went sideways for Nash.

He was expelled twice in high school - once for fighting and another time for threatening to stab a teacher.

After Toe dropped out, he got a job from his uncle, who happened to be Hotrod Williams, an ex-NBA player.

Williams owned a sugar cane farm and also ran the Sugar Cane Baseball League - an adult league mostly with guys in their 30’s and 40’s.

They played on a sugar cane field and got paid in gator meat.

It had been six years, and Benny Latino still found himself thinking about Nash, but Toe hadn’t played organized baseball since 14 years old.

Latino couldn’t find any information about Nash anywhere, so he went to Sorrento and just started asking around.

He found Toe playing in the sugar cane league, and watched him play.

Toe hit 460 foot bombs from both sides of the plate and Latino instantly offered him a pro tryout.

Nash didn’t even know how to drive so his friend took him.

Once he got there, it was pretty clear this kid had no idea what he was really doing, but his raw talent was insane.

He was thrown 50 pitches (25 from each side of the plate) and went yard 26 times.

Then he got on the mound and started throwing 90 mph.

After a couple of mechanical tweaks, he was running it up to 95.

The Rays immediately signed him to a deal for $30K.

Unfortunately, Toe didn’t know how to read, or he would’ve probably made millions that day, but nonetheless he just happy to be playing ball.

By the time he was signed by the Rays, he had never even been outside the state.

He didn’t even have a birth certificate or social security card.

The whole story was so ludicrous, people legitimately thought it was a hoax.

Toe got a book deal, they were writing a Hollywood script about his life, and Oprah even reached out to have him on her show.

Everyone started reporting on the story and unfortunately, they dug up a lot of dirt on Toe.

He had been arrested five times in 10 months.

A couple times for drugs, once for domestic violence, and once for robbery.

But most of the serious charges were bogus, so the judge dropped them and Toe was allowed to continue playing ball.

When Toe got to Tampa, the Rays realized he would need special guidance since he didn’t have much life experience.

Toe had never even ordered a pizza.

Basically, all Toe knew how to do was play baseball.

His agent’s brother happened to be Harold Reynolds.

Toe went to California to live with Reynolds for a bit and Harold was like a mentor, life coach, and hitting coach - all rolled into one.

Harold introduced Nash to people like Tony Gwynn and Eddie Murray, and when he left California, things were looking up.

He went to play for the Rays’ rookie ball team in West Virginia.

In 47 games, he had 171 AB’s and struck out 69 times.

BUT, he was sixth in the league with eight home runs.

Nash was ranked as the 11th best prospect in the league, one spot behind David Wright.

That off season, Toe went back to Sorrento and committed a terrible crime.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having sex with a 15-year-old girl, and the Rays immediately released him.

The judge gave him a suspended sentence so he could continue pursuing his career as a ballplayer, and he was miraculously signed by the Reds.

But nothing changed.

Shortly after, he got in a bar fight, failed a drug test, and went to jail again.

That was the last time Toe Nash ever played pro baseball.

Free Merch

In celebration of opening day, we teamed up with our peeps at Homage to give away a few of these badass shirts.

If you’re reading this, you’re almost qualified to win.

Just follow the other two steps on our tweet to enter:

Three winners will be announced in tomorrow’s email.

Best of luck to everyone!

Strange Names

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Quinn was a relief pitcher for the Cubs back in ‘41 and he lived up to his name.

He pitched in three games, racking up a total of five innings and giving up four earned runs.

Other than this brief taste of the Big Leagues, Wimpy played in the minors for 13 years.

The Dead Legends Archive

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