WI: Charlie Sheen plays baseball instead of acting

I watched Major League 1 yesterday and 2 this morning and i saw on IMDB that Charlie Sheen actually was offered a scholarship after high school to play baseball. WI Charlie had gone on to become a MLB player instead of a Hollywood player. How would this change Hollywood, if at all? Would he become a starpitcher ITTL?
 
I watched Major League 1 yesterday and 2 this morning and i saw on IMDB that Charlie Sheen actually was offered a scholarship after high school to play baseball. WI Charlie had gone on to become a MLB player instead of a Hollywood player. How would this change Hollywood, if at all? Would he become a starpitcher ITTL?

1 and a half men would be less juvenile, for one thing.
 
We are the Champions!

Emilio Estevez has a longer career,including his present day starring role on America's top rated TV sitcom. But this only after dealing with serious marital and drinking problems, and well as nearly getting canned from his show following the publication of "Ginger's Memoir".

Charlie Sheen gets drafted into the Detroit Tigers farm system, but though he advances steadily through the ranks of Detroit's minor leagues Charlie is frustrated. He can clearly see that the Detroit farm system's personnel were a motley collection of old cronies and he just wasn't getting any help at all. But there were bright spots.

It was while he was pitching for the Detroit AA affiliate the Glens Falls Tigers that he met someone who would become his closest friend in baseball. John Smoltz. Smoltz was having a horrific time, with no control of the plate whatsoever, despite having the best stuff in AA at the time. The older Sheen took him under his wing, as they sensed in each other the inner demons that plagued the two men, Sheen his anger, Smoltz his belief in himself. Smoltz' good humor helped to balance Sheen's mood swings, Sheen's example as the confident professional ballplayer (plus his skills with the ladies). The two men fed off each other, and their game began to improve.

When the Detroit Tigers asked the Atlanta Braves for Doyle Alexander (they were on their way to winning the division in 1987), General Manager Bobby Cox said: "You can have 'em, but I want those two kids Smotlz and Sheen. My scouts tell me they're joined at the hip." After spending the rest of 1987 in Atlanta's AAA farm club in Richmond, Sheen and Smoltz found themselves in the big leagues for the first time in April of 1988. Playing for the miserable (though rapidly improving) Braves in the very unfriendly confines-for pitchers-of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium (the "Launching Pad") was tough for a pair of young rookies.

Both struggled through the year, amassing a .500 won-loss record but with ERA's that should have given them more wins had either of them any run support. This continued into 1989 when their fortunes finally turned around. Smoltz still struggled with control at times, but Sheen burst out onto the scene with a complete arsenal of fastballs and a nasty curve. Both men made the All-Star team that year, and Sheen pitched two perfect innings.

In 1990 Bobby Cox named himself the new manager. His pitching coach Leo Mazzone told him he was concerned about Sheen. The more time he spent in the majors, the more time he was messing around having the wildest nightlife of any member of the team. Also, he was showing consistent signs of tiring in his games. Unhittable for 5 innings, then progressively worse and worse. He couldn't even be considered a candidate for a complete game, and was burning out the bullpen. Cox considered, and said: "Well, sounds like he's bullpen material himself. We've got starting pitching, but relievers are getting scarce. Let's see how he does as a closer."

Sheen was NOT happy about being sent to the bullpen, so unhappy he even threatened to quit baseball and follow his brother into acting. The film "Major League" had just come out the previous year and Charlie was red with jealousy over Emilio's fame. Also, the nightlife had been wearing him down to the point where it was getting harder to pitch, and people were noticing. His friend John Smoltz came to the rescue. "Look, Charlie, nobody can control your life but you. Ask yourself this question:'Do I want to party, or do I want to play?'. Because if you go into acting the partying will never stop. If you could wreck yourself like this IN ATLANTA FOR GOD'S SAKE, YOU WILL KILL YOURSELF IN HOLLYWOOD!"

Sheen took his friend's advice, and decided to play. He walked into a rehab center and stayed there thru the month of August, 1990. When he returned to the team, he spent the rest of the season converting to his new role as a closer. Though the team had finished last again, years of first round draft picks, and savvy scouting, had left the Braves farm system, considered the best in the nation, flush with young talent and ready for the next year.

Sheen spent much of the early part of 1991 frustrated by the relatively few save oppotunities, as the Braves were stumbling and looking to finish the season in the middle of the pack. But the team started to congeal at last, and started a 25 game winning streak that caused them to catch up and finally surpass the Dodgers for the divisional title. Sheen was on fire, not allowing a single blown save from June onward. Sheen's chance to shine in the NLCS had come. In Games 2 & 6, he quickly disposed of the Pirates 1-2-3, picking up two saves.

The World Series was, at first, one long frustration for Sheen, as save opportunities just could not be found. He pitched an inning in the blowout Game 5, to stay fresh, but was still waiting for that penultimate moment on the mound. In Game 6, with the Braves up 3 games to 2, Sheen again watched as his teammates just couldn't seem to get a lead, only tie. As the game went on into extra innings, Sheen was ready to explode.

Finally, in a tie game, Sheen was brought in. Playing in ties was not good for closers, Charlie knew that. But this was for all the marbles. Cox had had no choice. Sheen shut the Twins down cold, allowing only a walk to Shane Mack who was promptly picked off. Finally, in the top of the 13th, Mark Lemke drilled a liner down the gap between right and center. Mack, who had been watching the line, had to leave retrieving the ball to Kirby Puckett, who loped over to throw to the infield, but not in time to prevent Lemke's fourth triple of the series. After Lemke's having scored on a suicide squeeze, Sheen, watching all this, went wild with joy.

With the start of the bottom of the 13th, Charlie was determined not to fail. He'd turned his back on a Hollywood career for this. He knew his family, his father, his brother, were watching. It had all come down to this. He quickly blew away the first two batters, but the most dangerous batter the Twins had was coming to the plate in the hulking body of Ken Hrbek. Hrbek had not been hitting well in the series, but that Brobdignagian bat of his certainly looked threatening enough to Charlie. He looked in on his catcher, Greg Olson, took the sign, and fired. Hrbek fanned at a blazing fastball letterhigh right down broadway. The next pitch went the way of the first. Finally, Charlie Sheen unleashed his secret weapon. He didn't use it often, as it put a lot of strain on his arm, but it was perfect for this.

As the pitch sailed to home plate, Hrbek swung to protect the strike zone and prevent a called third strike. What he didn't realize was that Charlie had thrown a split-fingered fastball. Such a pitch looks exactly like a straight fastball until just before it reaches the plate. Then if it's thrown correctly it dives to the ground and bounces on home plate. If the batter doesn't swing, its just a ball, leading to a 1:2 count. If he swings low, easy ground out. If the ball fails to dive, it's going long and deep. If the batter swings straight thru the strike zone-even as these thoughts flowed thru Charlie's mind-STRIKE THREE!

He didn't get his World Series Save, but he got the Win, and was on the mound when the Atlanta Braves won their first World Series. As his teammates hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him around the infield, Charlie Sheen thought to himself: "Who would ever want any other life than this?"

To be continued?
 
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And, of course, there was that time he walked Robin Yount, and Bob Uecker said, "Juuuust a bit outside..."

But, in baseball, would he go by Charlie Sheen or Carlos Estevez?
 
Nothing would be different. Sheen would probably still be overpaid and often in the company of women with questionable priorities. Given the synergy these days between the various fields of entertainment and his background as the son of one actor and brother of another, he'd still be in Hollywood too, just much less.
 
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