The Ray Lewis of Baseball

Ray Lewis

After 17 seasons, Ray Lewis, linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, is retiring from the National Football League. He is considered to be the best middle linebacker in the history of the NFL, and he has helped motivate numerous athletes across the country become hard working and determined individuals. He isn’t the biggest linebacker by NFL standards (6’1”, 240 lbs), but his outrageous work ethic, leadership, and passion for the game has made him into the successful athlete he is today. Every major sports network has been reminiscing on Ray Lewis’ career while he is playing out his final weeks of football during this NFL postseason, and it got me thinking, who is the Ray Lewis of baseball? The answer took me a while to figure out because this player had to exhibit the same type of passion, leadership, and determination that Lewis has shown throughout his entire career. This MLB player also had to be an inspiration to others in the same way Lewis has been for so many aspiring athletes in the United States. After pondering over who was most deserving of this Ray Lewis comparison, I came to the easy conclusion of who that player should be.

As a 5’8” 2^nd baseman out of Arizona State University, Dustin Pedroia was not considered to be a potential superstar at the Major League level. But against all odds, Pedroia has become the face of the Boston Red Sox. Also known as “Laser Show”, Pedroia was the easiest choice for this comparison because he possesses the same qualities that Ray Lewis has exhibited throughout his 17-year career. Although a lot of players in the MLB have passion for the game, no player has more passion for the game as Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia plays with intensity and ferocity that would make every player playing against him afraid of what he might do next. He plays every game like it is his last, and leaves everything out on the field every night; it sounds cliché but I can honestly say that Dustin Pedroia is one of the few players in all of baseball that gives 100% every game of the season. Like Lewis, Dustin Pedroia plays the game with heart and guts, but that is only the beginning to this Ray Lewis comparison.

There aren’t a lot of players in baseball that are 5’8” AND are as successful as Pedroia. Because he doesn’t possess the physical characteristics a majority of MLB players have, Pedroia has had to work twice as hard to reach the point of where he is at today. Most athletes of Pedroia’s physique would have called it quits after hearing from scouts that they were too small, but not Pedroia. Being told so many times that he couldn’t make it, and still striving to reach his dream shows how hard he has had to work over the course of his life to become a Major League baseball player. Having the determination to prove every professional scout wrong is what makes Dustin Pedroia a special player in baseball today. Because he has been so successful in at the Major League level while not being the most physically gifted, Pedroia has given hope to many young athletes with dreams of becoming a professional athlete. He has proven every fan and scout wrong, and has shown the sporting world that you don’t have to be the biggest, or the strongest, or the fastest person in order to succeed in sports; you just have to work extremely hard and never give in to anyone saying that you can’t accomplish your goal. For being such an inspiration to other aspiring young athletes, it is safe to say that Dustin Pedroia has had as big of an impact off the field as he has had on the field.

Jose "Papa Grande" Valverde

Disappointingly, Dustin Pedroia does not quite have the dancing moves Ray Lewis has shown throughout his career during his pregame entrance before every Baltimore Ravens home game. I could only think of one player in baseball that had the exquisite moves Lewis had exhibited throughout his NFL career, and the obvious choice was Jose Valverde. Otherwise known as “Papa Grande”, Valverde exhibits the most peculiar dancing rituals every time he sets foot on a baseball field, and for being the crazy relief pitcher he has become, he is the MLB player that best resembles Ray Lewis’ pregame dancing routine.

Over the course of his 7-year career, Dustin Pedroia has shown that he plays with as much love for the game as a little kid. He has proven every doubter wrong and continues to be an inspiration for young athletes across the country. He has become the face of one of the most storied franchises in professional sports, the Boston Red Sox. He has been the leader of a World Series winning team, and is now one of the elite players in Major League Baseball. There is a very clear comparison of Dustin Pedroia to Ray Lewis on so many levels, and for that reason Dustin Pedroia is continuing to be as successful as he is at the Major League level. Although Pedroia doesn’t have the smooth moves yet, he still has time to perfect his own dancing routine so he can be the exact MLB version of the future Hall-of-Fame linebacker, Ray Lewis.

-Hayden Carter