Blue and Gold Illustrated

April 2013

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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irish in the pros Cubs To Send Out Jeff Samardzija On Opening Day By Wes Morgan F ormer Notre Dame dual-sport star Jeff Samardzija will join a prestigious list of Major League Baseball pitchers April 1 when he starts for the Chicago Cubs on 2013 opening day in Pittsburgh. The right-hander will be the 69th pitcher to start on opening day for the Cubs since the franchise became a major league team in 1876. The Cubs have an all-time record of 74-60-2 on opening day, and Samardzija will be just the fourth different pitcher since 2003 to lead the organization into a new campaign. Samardzija signed a five-year, $10 million, deal in 2007 after only 30 innings of pitching at Class A, which was a way of steering the promising wide receiver away from the National Football League after a record-breaking career at Notre Dame. He bounced around every Samardzija posted a record of 9-13 with a 3.81 ERA and 180 strikeouts in 1742���3 innings in 2012. photo by Stephen Green/courtesy Chicago Cubs level of the Cubs organization from 2008-11 before earning a spot in the Cubs��� starting rotation last spring. Samardzija, 27, posted a 9-13 record, a 3.81 ERA and 180 strikeouts in a 1742���3 innings of work (33 more innings than his previous high of 1412���3 in the minors in 2007). In his last 11 starts of the year, he registered a 2.58 ERA. ���I went through some humbling baseball experiences in ���09 and ���10,��� Samardzija told the Chicago Tribune. ���It puts a lot of things in perspective. I���m excited. The best thing as an athlete is [doing] all your hard work and you see positive gains from it.

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