Vin Baker played for six different franchises over the course of his 13-year NBA career. The 6-11 power forward and center was named to four All-Star teams and made more than $97 million during his career, according to basketball-reference.com.
Baker struggled with alcoholism later in his playing days, and in 2007 he was arrested in Norwich, Conn., after failing a field sobriety test. That addiction, plus a series of financial missteps that included a home lost due to foreclosure and a failed restaurant, combined to wipe out Baker's NBA earnings.
Now 43, newly married and with four children, Baker is training to manage a Starbucks franchise in North Kingstown, R.I. He thanks CEO Howard Shultz, the former Seattle SuperSonics owner, for the opportunity. Baker is also a trained minister who works at his father's church in Connecticut. Most importantly, he's been sober for more than four years.
Baker doesn't see his life as a tragic fall from grace. He said his story is one of redemption.
"When you learn lessons in life, no matter what level you're at financially, the important part to realize is it could happen," Baker told Kevin McNamara of the Providence (R.I.) Journal. "I have to take the story and show that you can bounce back. If I use my notoriety in the right way, most people will appreciate that this guy is just trying to bounce back in his life."
Baker recently accepted an invitation from former teammate Jason Kidd to work with the Milwaukee Bucks coaching staff in the Las Vegas Summer League. With age has come perspective.
"For me, this could have ended most likely in jail or death. That's how these stories usually end," he said. "For me to summon the strength to walk out here and ... try to provide for my family, I feel that's more heroic than being 6-11 with a fade-away jump shot.
"I get energy from waking up in the morning and, first of all, not depending on alcohol, and not being embarrassed or ashamed to know I have a family to take care of. The show's got to go on."
Touch them all
Baseball is a simple, yet complicated game.
The rules are easy to comprehend, but there are a lot of them and being astute enough to follow the game's nuances is easier said than done.
One minor league baseball team learned that the hard way Sunday.
Elier Leyva of the Delmarva (Md.) Shorebirds, the Class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, hit what would have been the game-winning home run in the ninth inning against the Augusta (Ga.) GreenJackets but missed home plate and was called out on appeal.
So the game remained tied, and the GreenJackets won it on an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning.
"Ya live and ya learn, right?" Mike Bertha of MLB.com wrote.
Sports quiz
Where did Vin Baker play college basketball?
Answer
Baker played at the University of Hartford in Connecticut before being taken with the eighth overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Sports on 07/31/2015