Over the course of 16 years since the Texas Rangers made him their first-round draft choice (18th overall in the 1996 draft), pitcher R.A. Dickey, who is likely headed to the Blue Jays, has spent significant parts of 14 of those seasons in the minor leagues. (Getty Images/Files)
TORONTO - Befitting a man whose success depends on the erratic flight of a pitch that many can throw but few can master, there are no straight lines in R.A. Dickey’s remarkable career path.
Over the course of 16 years since the Texas Rangers made him their first-round draft choice (18th overall in the 1996 draft), Dickey has spent significant parts of 14 of those seasons in the minor leagues. Somebody once figured out that Dickey had moved 30 times in one 10-year period.
It is without a doubt the strangest route any pitcher in history has ever taken to a Cy Young Award, the prize he earned this past year when all the work, all the perseverance and all the knowledge manifested itself in one stunning season.
Now, at the age of 38, it appears that Dickey’s long, long baseball highway will pass through Toronto as soon as all the details of what is believed to be a seven-player trade between the New York Mets and Blue Jays have been finalized.
