Sonny Gray and David Price Announce Re-enrollment at Vanderbilt

There’s nothing more inspiring than hard-working individuals doing right by their families and fixing their self-imploded lives by returning to school to finish their degrees.

That’s right, you heard me. Major League Baseball players Sonny Gray and David Price have finally found priority in their lives and decided that a college education and a bachelor’s degree are the most important things they need to complete in their lives.

And they are working at doing so immediately.

Sonny Gray, a starting pitcher for the Oakland Athletics and brand-new father to a beautiful baby boy, discussed with me personally the importance of finishing what you started and achieving your dreams.

"I need to do right by my son," says Gray. "How is he going to look up to me as some college dropout? His mother has supported me with every decision I’ve made so far, and she supports me with this, too. I mean, what can you do with a 20-year career in Major League Baseball? Get some jewelry? That’s not tangible enough. Now, a college education... That’s something you take with you the rest of your life. A degree is something your kids can be proud of and look up to you forever."

David Price, pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, had an alternative outlook on the subject. I spoke with him directly when I traveled to Port Charlotte for a small interview during Spring Training.

"Listen," Price started, "I don’t know how much money $19 million is. All I can tell you is that I bought WAY too many French Bulldog figurines and now I need a backup plan."

The fact that Price wasn’t sure of his financial situation is scary enough of the lack of education he received, primarily at a school as academically challenging as Vanderbilt.

It’s comforting, however, to see both of these players come to their senses and re-enroll at their former institutions that tried so desperately to pave their paths to success.

Unfortunately for the reigning National Championship Vanderbilt Baseball team, NCAA rule makes Price and Gray ineligible to contribute to the current team’s success after having played professionally. It appears that the NCAA actually encourages star-studded student-athletes to drop out of college and live their lives with an emptiness that could easily be filled with a college degree. Sigh. It’s a sad system we have.

But Sonny Gray and David Price understand the price of a life without a college education, and it appears to be rather gray.

(yes, this is an April Fool's post.)