Would you turn down $250,000 to serve?

Mars wrote:


http://byu.scout.com/2/982146.html



" "The Kansas City Royals... wanted to draft me in the 12th round but pay me fifth-round money," said Hannemann... "It was a lot of money they were going to offer me. I'm just out of high school and so it can be tough when someone starts talking about offering you a lot of money to play baseball. They were going to offer me $250,000 total [which included] a $125,000 cash signing bonus and a four-year scholarship to any college I chose if they release me, or something like that... They said they keep the players drafted for about three years no matter what," he said...



"It was really hard," Hannemann said. "I know that I could still have a chance to play in the future if everything works out. It's a great opportunity. But what I'm saying is I feel I need to go serve a mission first before any of those opportunities come around. It was tough because I felt like I was being pulled in both directions, so I really wanted an answer from Heavenly Father on what I should do. There was a time when I thought that the opportunity for me to play for Kansas City was a blessing for me and that's what I should do. I was thinking that maybe he was giving me this opportunity and this is what I was supposed to do. I was planning on serving a mission but the [Royals] didn't want me to go on my mission... They... wanted me to start right away... I also knew that serving a mission was the right thing to do, so I struggled with what lay before me and needed to find out was best for me. I think maybe that playing baseball is something I can do in my future, but just not right now. "



...Through prayer, he was able to make his decision. "I felt really good about serving a mission," he said. "I called them up a Monday before the draft and let them know not to draft me. I told them that I was 100 percent sure now I was going to go on my mission … After that I felt peaceful and happy and relaxed. It was a change of night and day in how I felt... The Kansas City Royals called me back and said they were still going to draft me, but in the 48th round... They still ended up drafting me even though I told them I was leaving to serve my mission in Little Rock, Arkansas. They told me that I could start right up with them when I come back. I don't know if it's just a five-day contract type of thing to see if I can still play after serving for two years or what, but when I come back I really want to go to play football at BYU first. That's what I told them and that's what I'm going to do when I come back off my mission."



Hannemann will sacrifice much to serve two years as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as attend BYU directly after. It’s something that not everyone can understand, the Kansas City Royals included. "They were actually pretty good about it," Hannemann said. "They said, 'We respect you and your decision, but we don't really understand.' They just couldn't understand why this decision was an important one for me. They don't get the whole mission thing... That's kind of how we ended things. The world doesn't really understand. I plan on coming home and playing football for BYU. Coming off my mission, I think the coaches want me to redshirt, so I'll do that my first year. I also think I have a starting spot at center field for the baseball team as well. All of my friends and family were excited to know that I'll be playing football over there at BYU." "

Wow. When I quit my job before I left for the MTC I think I was making $8/hr-ish, way to man up! He'll probably be sent to some place where they can't even look up "baseball" on wikipedia.

Or Little Rock, Arkansas. ;)

Maybe he was just turning down the chance to play for the Kansas City Royals..... ;)





Ultimately, I wonder if this kid plays a down of football for us. This reminds me a little of the McKay Christensen deal, except that McKay was a much higher pick was blazing fast, and of course Christensen ultimately chose baseball, and even played in the majors for a bit.

I would. Baseball is boring :)

It's called faith. Now I know I'll get lambasted for saying that because so many have this particular perspective on faith that it means "faith in a higher power" but I don't mean it like that. Some people have this all mixed up. They believe God has this unknown "will" that governs our lives and if we try to go contrary to that will everything will go awry for us. So we convince ourselves always that we're doing the "right" thing or the "wrong" thing, based on what we imagine God's will to be.



For me, faith, in it's most basic and truest form, doesn't take God's unknowable "will" into much consideration. Doing so always leaves a door open for doubt, which is the enemy of faith. Recall the miraculous power that sustained the Stripling Warriors. They weren't told by their mothers that if it was God's will, they would be protected, but simply, "if they did not doubt". There is where our personal power lies in life, and if this Hanneman kid keeps believing in himself this way there's no telling what he'll accomplish as an athlete. If he believes in himself to then he'll serve a mission, play football AND baseball a few years at BYU and then possibly be a pro baseball or football player just because he can, just because he believes in himself. Good for him. It reminds me of Roger Staubach. The Navy was willing to let him out of his five year commitment to play in the NFL after he won the Heisman trophy. Guess they figured it would be good publicity for them. He turned them down outright. Amidst the jeers of "experts" in the media, trainers, coaches, friends, etc. They all said he was crazy; that there were plenty of other guys to serve in the military and that he shouldn't "waste such a God-given talent". Since he was so good at football everyone tried telling him the elusive "will of God" was clearly pointing him toward the NFL. He calmly said, "The NFL can wait." Everybody thought he'd never be the same but he served those five years, never doubting himself and turned everybody's opinion around within the first season he played as a Dallas Cowboy. No reason they called the 'Boys "America's Team" for so long. With examples of faith and personal determination like that, why wouldn't we want to emulate that? (Just for the record, I'm a Niners fan. I see the cowboys at times like a see the Utes, but you can't deny a great history when you see it.)

Stories like these have soundtracks built into them. You can practically hear character being built and snapped into place.

I remember being in a meeting with one of the members of the First Quorum of the 70's and he told us that his mother, a non-member, had offered to by his son a brand new Mercedes of his choice if he would decide not to go on a mission. His son went on a mission.

$250K is a lot of money, hats off to this kid for having the courage to base his life on the things he deems truly important.