Unlikely Rangers-Diamondbacks World Series Has Deep Princeton Roots

Texas and Arizona each made incredible turnarounds to reach the Fall Classic—and have front-office roots in the Princeton baseball program.

It was Wednesday morning, not even 12 hours after the Diamondbacks won the National League pennant to earn a World Series matchup against the Rangers, when Princeton baseball coach Scott Bradley’s phone buzzed. It was a group text. The senders were Mike Hazen and Chris Young, two of his former players and the general managers of the D-Backs and Rangers, respectively.

“Coach, we want you here,” the text said. “Whatever games you can make, we’ll make it happen.”

Twenty-five years after Young, a two-sport star from Highland Park High in Dallas, met Hazen, the Princeton senior captain and outfielder, on a recruiting visit at Princeton, the two close friends and fellow alumni are meeting in the World Series. That they immediately reached out to their former coach spoke to the bonds they have to one another, to Princeton and to Bradley. Each has called on Bradley during times of professional and personal crisis. This time the connection was to share the joy of one of the most unlikely World Series they made possible.

“Both are just unbelievable,” Bradley said. “Both are true leaders, both understand the importance of culture, both are highly competitive and both are regular, everyday guys who understand people and how important that is in this game.

“They are great at finding the right people to put in place. They find people who will challenge them and not those who will ‘yes’ them all the time. For me, the really cool thing is not just that they are both so bright and dedicated, but they understand in baseball these days the most important thing is the people.”

Among Princeton alumni are 43 Rhodes scholars—including Bill Bradley—and 25 Nobel Prize winners, including John Nash, Eugene O’Neill and Richard Feynman. A bit less famously, the school also has produced 31 major leaguers, seven of them coached by Bradley, including Young and Will Venable, now the Rangers’ bench coach. Since baseball began at Princeton in November 1864 as the school’s first varsity sport, the university has produced 97 professional ballplayers. Hazen and Young are among the 43 coached by Bradley.

Young, with the 2015 Royals, and Moe Berg, with the 1925 Senators, are the only Princeton players to appear in a World Series. (Berg later became a famous World War II spy for the Office of Strategic Services.) Now, two Princeton alumni are in the World Series as general managers who pulled off two of the most stunning pennant-winning turnarounds in modern times.

Over the two seasons entering this year, Arizona and Texas lost more games than every team except Washington and Pittsburgh. Just two years ago, the Diamondbacks lost 110 games in Hazen’s fifth season running the team, and the Rangers lost 102 games in Young’s first season with Texas.

“We’ve been texting back and forth throughout [the postseason],” Young said of Hazen. “We missed playing together at Princeton by one year, but he was one of the first guys I met on my recruiting trip. I could not be happier for him, especially after all he’s been through.”

Hazen lost his wife, Nicole, to breast cancer Aug. 4, 2022.

“What Mike has done as Nicole battled her illness ... it just breaks my heart thinking about it, what he and his boys went through,” Bradley said.

Hazen was Bradley’s first captain. A former nine-year major league veteran, Bradley took over the Princeton program in 1998.

“I had been an assistant at Rutgers, and Mike had caught my eye,” Bradley said. “Just the way he did things you could see he was a dynamic leader.

“He was my first captain his senior year. He was a terrific player. I wasn’t that far from playing and I kept calling up local scouts. ‘Where are you guys?’ He was a throw left, bat right outfielder who was a phenomenal baserunner with tremendous leadership qualities.

“It was my first team, and it was important to build a culture. There were times when something would happen on the field, and I would start walking over to talk to someone, and Mike would put his arm up in front of me to stop me and say, ‘I got it, Coach.’ He knew when to take somebody aside. He would tell me, ‘You and I are going to the dining hall. Let’s talk.’”

The Padres drafted Hazen in the 31st round in 1998. He played two seasons in the low minors before an arm injury prompted the Padres to release him. Hazen called Bradley.

“Coach, I just got released,” Hazen said. “I don’t know what to do.”

Hazen didn’t want to go home to Massachusetts. He wasn’t sure if he was truly done playing.

“Why don’t you come here?” Bradley said.

Hazen moved in with the Bradley family. He continued to work out in case another opportunity arose. After a short while, Bradley called up Peter Gammons, the baseball writer.

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“Peter, I’ve got a kid here from Abington, Mass.,” Bradley said. “He just got released by the Padres. He’s got a great baseball IQ and wants to stay in the game.”

Said Gammons, “For a few thousand bucks, he can go scout the Cape [Cod Summer League] and give me reports on the players there.”

Hazen took the gig. After three weeks, Gammons called Bradley.

“You ought to see these reports,” Gammons gushed. “They’re amazing.”

A 1998 Princeton graduate, Hazen took over as Arizona’s general manager in 2017 :: Rob Schumacher/The Republic/USA TODAY NETWORK

Within a day or two, both Gammons and Bradley called Mark Shapiro, a Princeton alum and Cleveland general manager, to rave about Hazen. Shapiro gave him an internship. A month later, Shapiro called Bradley.

“This kid is going to be a superstar,” Shapiro said. “He’s going to make his mark on the game.”

Said Bradley, “Mark Shapiro made sure he had a scouting background. Mike was overseeing scouting and directing minor league operations. Everybody knew he was an Ivy League guy, but the fact that he had played gave him even more credibility.”

Hazen joined the Red Sox in 2006 and was hired as the Arizona general manager after the ’16 season.

Young’s path to Princeton began with a phone call to Bradley from a kid from Texas named Ryan Cotton.

“Coach, I’ve just been admitted to Princeton,” Cotton said. “I can’t throw, I can’t hit and I can’t run. But I love baseball and would love to help you in any way.”

Cotton said he had been assisting the Dallas Mustangs, an elite travel team run by Sam Carpenter.

“That’s great,” Bradley said. “Is there anybody on that team I should be interested in?”

“Well, there’s this 6'10" pitcher. He’s really bright. Really talented. You should talk to him.”

Bradley soon called Young.

“From the very first conversation we ever had I was impressed,” Bradley said. “The conversations were unbelievable. I asked him, ‘Where do you see yourself in 15 years?’ He said very firmly, ‘Standing on a major league mound.’”

Bradley followed Young’s basketball season at Highland Park through news reports. It seemed as if he were dropping 20 points every night. An idea came to Bradley.

“Would you like to play two sports in college?” he asked Young.

“I would love to.”

Bradley walked down the hall to the Princeton basketball offices, where assistant coach John Thompson Jr. was sitting.

“John, what are you guys looking for in your next recruiting class?” Bradley asked.

“We need size,” Thompson said.

“Is 6'10" enough?”

Bradley told him about the center at Highland Park.

“Hey, I think we had tape of Highland Park another kid sent us,” Thompson said. “Let me see if I can find it.”

Said Bradley, “About 10 minutes later he comes storming back to my office, practically knocking the hinges off the door. Chris basically became basketball’s top recruit. He became a force. If he stayed all four years, he probably would have broken some of Bill Bradley’s records. He was the absolute perfect, tailor-made Princeton player. He could shoot and pass the ball.”

Young last pitched during the 2017 season, and became the Rangers’ general manager in ’20 :: Tony Gutierrez/AP

Young pitched 13 years in the majors with a 79–67 record, the most wins by a Princeton alum. One night during the pennant race of 2015, Young was preparing for his start in Kansas City the next day when he learned his father, Charles, had lost a three-year battle with cancer. Young wanted to honor his father and his commitment to his teammates, and took the ball the next day. He threw five no-hit innings.

“After his dad passed,” Bradley said, “and the Royals got to the World Series, he called me and said, ‘Coach, I need you here.’ He put us up in a hotel in New York.”

Young won 2015 World Series Game 1 against the Mets with three shutout innings of relief, and started a win in Game 4 with four strong innings.

After winning his ring as a player, Young is four wins away from winning one as a general manager. But to get there, his Rangers must beat an Arizona team run by his friend and fellow alum. When it comes to the architects of these two storybook turnarounds, this is an all-Princeton World Series. Tiger vs. Tiger. Hazen vs. Young. Bradley’s first captain vs. Bradley’s first major recruit, 25 years later. And right there in the stands at Globe Life Field, just as together they wished it to be, will be their coach.

“I just booked my flights and I will be there for Games 1 and 2,” Bradley said. “And I’ll be rooting for the World Series to end in a tie.”