Royce: How did you get into baseball and the Braves’ organization?

George: Well, I knew I was going to have a shot at getting drafted, just ‘cause nowadays they draft players so young and they feel they can develop an athlete into a baseball player.

And I actually got quite a few letters from a lot of major league teams when it came down to your high school season and being recruited for the amateur draft. But, no one took me serious – no one thought because I had so much going for me with football.

And I was going to play baseball in college, too. It wasn’t like I was just going for football.

But they didn’t know about my signability. And, they don’t want to waste a first-, second-, or third-round pick if they are not going to be able to sign a guy.

So, I did the workouts for the Braves. It being in Atlanta, they had a few scouts there and they got to know me pretty well. And, basically, I told them it came down to, if I got first-round money, then it was something I couldn’t pass up. And I ended up getting my school paid for – my college paid for – and it was definitely an opportunity I didn’t think I could pass up.

Royce: Have you gone to college at all?

George: I haven’t started. I did take a few classes that didn’t go toward my credit, my first off-season, a financial course, an investing course, and a couple of Spanish classes.

Royce: And you had signed with Georgia?

George: I’d already signed my national letter of intent. We had the whole little press conference, and the ESPN Scholastic Sports people happened to be there the day that we did the press conference. They let the football players in, the staff, the teachers at the high school. That was a real exciting time.

Royce: And what month was that?

George: Right around January, because January is right around National Signing Day.

Royce: And when did you start getting serious about, here’s what I need to change my mind and go to baseball?

George: It would be going into your high school baseball season. That’s when all of this started. Opening day, I think we had about 10 scouts show up, which is, if you have a good high school player that’s going to be drafted, that’s common, to see a lot of scouts.

Royce: And when did you find out the Braves were going to draft you?

George: Well, I didn’t.

Right there at the end of May – the night after graduation – we had the workout down at Fulton County Stadium and they had 75 to 100 players come in. I was in the early group, so I had about an hour-and-a-half of sleep. We took batting practice, they ran us, and we threw a little.

And that’s when I had a little bit of advice saying that you need to tell the Braves if you’re serious about being drafted, because right now no one was taking me seriously.

And then I actually went on a senior trip that I had got a really good deal on to go to Hawaii – I had never been to Hawaii. So there are six girls and six guys and our chaperon and we did a lot of little educational things on different parts of the island.

And so one day it was like, "I need to be at a phone to make the phone call." I think my dad, Willie Stargell, and Chuck LeMar all met at Ted Turner’s place in Atlanta, the CNN Center. That’s where they do the draft, out of CNN. And so, it was 9:00 Atlanta time I was supposed to call. It was a six-hour difference so I said to the counselor, "Make sure you have me a phone at 3:00."

At about 2:30, I was actually swimming on Kauai, and he said, "George, you’ve got 20 minutes to make this phone call." So, I come in and find a pay phone right on the beach. First of all, there’s a guy waiting on the phone, so we sat in line – and I said, "Oh, gosh, we’re late, we’re late, we’re not going to get through." And so, my friend, a guy named Robert Peterson, he gave me his calling card. And we called, and I sat for like 30 minutes on the phone just talking about what it would be like to play minor league ball and stuff like that.

Two days later, I get a phone call at the hotel that says, "Congratulations, you’ve been selected in the second round with the Atlanta Braves."

Royce: And I heard you signed in Hawaii.

George: I didn’t sign the official contract there.

I had no idea what I was getting into. No clue. I hadn’t even talked with an agent – not a thing. So, they go, "George, we’re going to send the contract over to you to sign. We want you to sign it right away and send it back."

That’s when I was starting to get nervous. I thought, oh, gosh, what are they, I gotta, this is, I’m signing my life away right now.

Royce: Putting pressure on you.

George: Yeah. And they said, "In twenty minutes, this is going to be released to the press, that you’ve been drafted." And, the reason they wanted me to sign it is because they knew as soon as it got out with the Georgia alumni – and, they wanted me to sign before I came back.

You never know, if I came back to Atlanta before I signed the contract, then there’s a chance I could never be playing baseball. Because, I’m sure there was going to be a lot of bribes coming (laughing).

It was funny, because right then I was like, "I need to call Coach Goff." And, actually, they called me, and he goes, "As bad as I hate to lose you, if this is what you want to do then I want you to make your decision." But, he really wanted me to wait until I got back.

And that’s when he said, "There’s an agent I want you to talk to, because you’re going to meet a lot of bad agents." It was a guy named Lonnie Cooper who was out of Atlanta.