IQ and ERA a Good Match

The Yankees already have a resident braniac and NY Times crossword puzzle connoisseur in Stanford grad, Mike Mussina. The Yankees may have some ivy hanging in the locker room if Princeton alum Ross Ohlendorf makes the squad.

When high-schooler Ohlendorf was choosing between schools, he was also choosing between basketball and baseball, with the thought of possibly playing both. Local schools Texas and Baylor were highly interested, but the 6'4" right-hander wanted to go out of state.

It was. I kind of actually approached Princeton about it, because I wanted to go there. A lot of people from my high school (St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin) went out of state. It was a small high school, but several people each year would go to Ivy League schools.

And I did well in high school, so it was expected I would at least apply to the Ivy League schools.

From the school standpoint, I really liked Princeton. From the baseball standpoint, I liked coach (Scott) Bradley (a former big-league catcher and ex-Yankee) a lot. I liked the players when I met them. And I had an opportunity to play right away. In part because I (had) focused more on basketball during high school, I was really raw. In high school, I hit 95 (mph) I think once, but most games I would range on my fastball between 83 and 93. I would throw hard and then I would always fall behind (in the count) and I would just lob it in -- I had no idea what I was doing.

Ohlendorf nearly played for then Princeton basketball coach John Thompson III, but decided to concentrate on baseball. He left his basketball pursuits to playing on a club team.

Ohlendorf majored in operations research and financial engineering- no, we don't know what that is either-and signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks after his junior year. But as part of his deal, Ohlendorf was able to complete his final year of schoolwork as well as participate in graduation.

The Big 'O' (our apologies to Oscar Robertson) isn't all about brains and baseball though. In the off-season he works on his families cattle farm. In fact, he helped create their website .

It's actually not that hard. I use (the program) Dreamweaver. It's pretty simple, depending on how fancy you want it to be. I imagine I could do a little more if I were really into it.

The Yankees are hoping Ohlendorf can weave his dream and make the club, and contribute out of the bullpen.

Source: Star Ledger