If Marvin Freeman had not become a Major League Baseball pitcher, he may just have ended up making violin bows for a living.
When Freeman was a student at Chicago Vocational High School, he studied cabinet making and part of the curriculum was applying for a job. He did so, putting in an application for at a bow-making company.
“I wasn’t sure what it was about,’’ the former Braves reliever said. “I just knew it had to do with wood. I had no idea it had to do with violin bows.’’
Freeman got the job and at 6-foot-7 and 175 pounds, the kid started making bows.
“I was pretty good at it and I was making like $25 an hour in high school,’’ he said. “My boss felt like I had a career in front of me with bows but he also understood how important baseball was to me. He told me that they had been making bows for 200 years but a lot of kids like me don’t get an opportunity to play pro baseball. He told me I could always come back to making bows.’’
Freeman never had to, putting together a nine-year major league career which included with a $2.5 million salary in his last year with the Colorado Rockies.
“The great thing about that high school was it was vocational and everyone learned how to do something,’’ he said. “I guess to some people, a tall, skinny kid making violin bows is pretty funny. But I really enjoyed it, though I am glad I picked baseball.’’
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