
DATE: Wednesday, June 4, 1997               TAG: 9706040456

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:  127 lines

2 GREAT BRIDGE STARS HIT IT BIG IN DRAFT THEY'RE BOTH PICKED IN THE FIRST ROUND BY MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS.

Mike Cuddyer was working his way through a calculus problem. John Curtice was working his way through some free pizza.

Then the calls came, and the Great Bridge High teammates turned one of the rarest doubleplays in baseball history.

Cuddyer's call was first. About 1:15 p.m., Great Bridge Principal Bob Robinson knocked on the classroom door, pointed at Cuddyer with his walkie-talkie and motioned for him to come to the main office.

Cuddyer's mother, Marsha, was on the phone.

Congratulations, she said, you're the ninth pick.

The latest, greatest young hope of the Minnesota Twins' organization walked back to his classroom. Floated back, you might say.

Finish the test later, his teacher said.

Not 15 minutes later, not even a mile away, the phone rang at the Curtice home. A scout for the Boston Red Sox was on the line.

Congratulations, he said, we just selected you with the 17th pick.

Curtice couldn't speak. His heart raced.

``It was the happiest I've ever been,'' he said.

That's how baseball lightning struck twice Tuesday at Great Bridge High. Cuddyer, a shortstop with a .500 batting average, and Curtice, a lefthanded pitcher who can throw the ball 95 mph, became only the second set of high school teammates in the 32-year history of the Major League Baseball draft to be selected in the first round.

``The odds are so great, I don't think I could even count them all,'' Cuddyer said.

The odds are astronomical. Of all the players in the country, all the high school seniors and all the eligible collegians, what are the chances that two kids who grew up together, who played in the same T-Ball league, would be so highly coveted by a pair of big-league teams?

``Scouts have told me, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, that you get two drafted,'' Great Bridge coach Greg Jennings said. ``It's very seldom you even get one.''

The only other time it happened was in 1972, when Mike Ondina and Jerry Manuel of Rancho Cordova (Cal.) were selected 12th and 20th, respectively. Cuddyer and Curtice did them three places better, going at nine and 17.

Each player can expect a signing bonus of around $1 million.

``I can't believe it,'' said Brian Eudy, a teammate of Cuddyer and Curtice on the Great Bridge team. ``Considering that we grew up with them, and have been playing with them since we were hitting off a tee.''

Eudy was among a group of 35 friends and family members who gathered at Curtice's home to await the call. After it came, they covered Curtice's 1993 Acura with shaving cream, then headed off to buy some Red Sox hats.

They checked four stores before finding what they wanted at Kinetix, a sports clothing store on Greenbrier Parkway.

``Only $15,'' Curtice said, admiring the fitted cotton hat.

Soon, Curtice may not have to watch price tags as closely. Last year's No. 17, a pitcher named Todd Noel, signed for $900,000.

As for Cuddyer, last year's No. 9, an outfielder named Matt Kotsay, signed for $1.125 million.

Neither Curtice nor Cuddyer was thinking much about money on Tuesday. Both plan to begin negotiations later this week.

Both said they were relieved the stress of waiting was over, so they could focus on a more immediate goal: leading Great Bridge to the state championship. The Wildcats play Lee-Davis in a quarterfinal game tonight at Old Dominion at 7 o'clock.

Curtice, who will pitch tonight, was a late bloomer, grabbing the attention of scouts with a 9-0 record, 0.81 earned-run average and 94 strikeouts in 52 innings.

Cuddyer's status as a high selection was cemented last summer, when he led the U.S. Junior National Team in hitting, with a .467 average.

Still, the last few days have been stressful, with the phone ringing constantly. The calls were from scouts and general managers, who were trying to gauge how much money it will take for Cuddyer to go pro, rather than accept his baseball scholarship at Florida State.

``They were really really pressing the money angle,'' Marsha Cuddyer said.

Mike Cuddyer left for school Tuesday with a lot on his mind. For one thing, he had three tests scheduled.

``Of all the days,'' he said.

At 9:30 a.m., he had a biology test.

``Good for me it was open notebook,'' he said.

Then came the math test he never finished. Another teacher let him postpone a Spanish test.

Curtice got out of school at 12:30 and made the short drive home. His friends and teammates settled in with some pizza donated by the local Papa John's, and waited.

The phone, which had rung all day, fell silent at 1 p.m. Curtice knew the next call would be the one.

After their hat run, Curtice and a dozen friends returned to his home around 2:45.

``Look at those hats,'' said Curtice's father, John Sr. ``They're all Red Sox fans.''

Curtice then headed to baseball practice, where he and Cuddyer met, and embraced.

``It's just a great time for Great Bridge and the community,'' Cuddyer said. ILLUSTRATION: STEVE EARLEY color photos/The Virginian-Pilot

Mike Cuddyer is congratulated by some Great Bridge High School

teammates as he arrives for practice after the Minnesota Twins

selected him ninth in Tuesday's major-league baseball draft. With

him are pitcher Rodney Stewart, left, and outfielder Bradford Tibbs,

right.

Great Bridge High School custodian Betty Eason shares John Curtice's

happiness after the Boston Red Sox made Curtice, a lefthanded