It takes some guts for a lowly intern to walk out of a meeting on their fourth day of work, particularly at a world powerhouse like Nike, but Louis Boyd had a pretty good excuse.
The phone call he just had to take was from a baseball scout, and that scout wanted to tell Boyd that he was about to be picked by the Seattle Mariners in the 2017 MLB draft.
Welcome to the pros young fellow, tell your boss you won’t be coming in for a while. Given the business that they’re in, the folks at Nike had no problem at all with Boyd stepping out to take a call like that.
“It was the one thing that’s OK with them to leave a meeting in the middle of it,” said Boyd with a laugh, recalling last week’s scene at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.
“I was pretty nervous to tell them that I got drafted. I didn’t know if they were going to be upset, I didn’t know how they were going to take it. But they are a world class company, my manager who I told first just got extremely excited, jumped up, gave me a hug.”
The North Vancouver native was selected in the 24th round of last week’s draft, 723rd overall, and two days later was on his way to Seattle’s player development complex in Peoria, Ariz. It was a career reviving moment for the 23-year-old shortstop who had already given up his dream of one day playing in the Big Leagues.
It’s a dream that started at North Van Central Little League’s beautiful Chris Zuehlke Memorial Park where he and his family spent most of their summers.
“I have way too many memories in that park,” Boyd told the North Shore News. “My whole family has been totally associated with that Little League for so long, from my mom running the concession and the treasurer, my dad was one of the main coaches and coached the all-star team. … I wore the pinstripes for all-stars, always thought that was the sweetest thing in the world that we had pin-striped jerseys.
Following his time at NVC, Boyd moved on to the North Shore Twins program where he spent two years on the junior team and three years at senior. He credits his time with the powerhouse BCPBL club with turning him into the savvy, glove-first player he is today.
“Looking back at it now, (the Twins) helped me maybe more than anything,” he said. “A lot of the little things in baseball I learned from that program, especially Larson Bauck who was the coach back then. The little things in baseball is basically how I’ve gotten myself to the next level each time. It’s not necessarily hitting for power – I mean, my numbers don’t lie – so the power isn’t really there, the arm strength isn’t off the charts. It’s just knowing the game and thinking the game in a way that most people don’t, and just knowing the little things and how to do them. That’s definitely separated me and got me this far. I credit almost all of that to the North Shore Twins.”
Boyd graduated from Sutherland Secondary and went off to Cochise College, a dominant junior college program just a long fly ball away from the Mexico border in Arizona.
“I had no clue what I was getting into,” he said. “It was completely in the middle of nowhere. All you did there was play baseball. That was the perfect situation for me – there was no time for distractions or anything to get in the way. We got to focus on baseball.”
His career almost ended there, however, when he started to experience concussion symptoms in his first semester and was forced to leave the team. Months later he was still getting headaches, a problem that was finally alleviated when he went to a back and neck specialist in British Columbia who solved the mystery.
“It was just some bone was crooked or something like that,” said Boyd. “He straightened it back out. My symptoms went away in the 30-minute appointment that I had with him. … It was a complete miracle moment. He did his work with the adjustments that he made, told me to sit up and my headache was gone. I felt like a new person. It was insane.”
Boyd was back at Cochise the following season where he helped the team win a conference title and make a Junior College World Series. After three years in the program he was scooped up by the University of Arizona to play Div. 1 ball, helping the Wildcats reach the College World Series in his first year there.
Boyd ended his Arizona career with a Hollywood finish – a dark comedy finish at least – cranking his first ever Div. 1 home run in his last ever at bat with the team.
“We were down 9-2 in an elimination game, the writing was kind of on the wall for us,” he said. “I had my last at bat, I led off the inning. They were pitching me in all game so I just stepped off the plate a little bit and went for it. Thankfully I got the pitch I needed and put it over the wall for the first time.”
His dinger didn’t save the season, but it did add one more memory to an epic college career.
“That was kind of a super bittersweet moment to end that season,” he said. “My teammates were incredibly excited for me, which was super sweet. I’ve always had the support and love from my teammates at Arizona, so it was pretty cool to do.”
Boyd certainly made an impression on the Wildcats program, never as a top hitter but always as an important teammate who anchored the defence. Following his final game, Arizona head coach Jay Johnson raved about the departing shortstop.
“We could be here all day,” he told reporters when asked about Boyd’s contributions to the program. “It doesn’t always go like that with player and coach with 35 guys on your team. You love them all, but there’s a couple that rise above everybody else. He’s a special dude. That’s one you wish you could coach forever.”
As far as Boyd knew, however, his Hollywood home run was going to be the last relevant moment of his baseball career. He soon packed his bags and was off to Oregon for the next chapter of his life. Midway through MLB’s multi-day draft, however, he got a call from a coach letting him know that something was in the works. It was not a call he was expecting to get.
“It was kind of just all of a sudden,” he said. “It took me off-guard a little bit.”
In the space of a couple of days he was saying goodbye to his bosses at Nike, digging out his baseball glove, signing a contract and hitting the field for his first practices as a pro. He’s not sure where he’ll end up this year, but there’s a chance he’ll be playing short-season A ball just down the road for the Everett AquaSox, a team that plays in the same division as the Vancouver Canadians.
Boyd grew up a Blue Jays fan like most Canadian baseball players, but he’s thrilled to now be a part of the Mariners minor league system.
“My mom will definitely be making some trips down to Everett if I end up there,” he said, adding that his life has taken a huge turn in the space of just one week. “I feel like I’ve gotten a new lease on life. From being pretty sold on my career being over and going on to an internship and getting into the real world, to being drafted when I didn’t really expect it – it’s like I’m just starting to play the game again. My love for the game is at an all-time high right now, I just love being at the field.”
And if the whole baseball thing doesn’t work out in the end, he does already have a few contacts at that little shoe company called Nike.
“They told me to keep in touch,” he said with a laugh. “I’m hoping I’ve still got an entrance through a side door in the future.”
