A family affair: Hardaway’s Anthonys pursue career, impact others through baseball

Eric Anthony and his sons, Josh and Sam, sat in a dugout at the Edgewood baseball park on Thursday of this week. They were discussing the importance of baseball to themselves and to their community.

The sport has been a big part of all three of their lives. Eric coached his sons growing up and, over the past four years, has led the Georgia BlackCrackers summer travel team. Josh, after graduating from Hardaway in 2014, played two years at Western Oklahoma State and will continue playing at Auburn next year. Sam just graduated Hardaway and will get his college career started at Western Oklahoma next season.

Eric gestured over to a small gravel-covered field behind the dugout.

“That’s where it all started,” he said. “That’s where they started playing tee ball.”

Josh was 5 and Sam was 3. Sam wasn’t quite old enough to play with the others, but he cried every time his brother got to go play until Eric relented and brought him along. Eric had played baseball as a youth, with some college and professional opportunities, so watching his sons fall in love with the game so much meant a lot to him.

“I was trying to live my dream through them,” Eric said.

The boys took to it in a big way, showing different strengths as their games developed over the years. When both played at Hardaway, Josh was known more as the offensive player in the family. As a senior in 2014, he hit .425 with 18 RBIs and 14 extra-base hits. Sam is more defensive-minded, becoming a wall on the left side of the infield.

“And I’m better than both of them,” said Eric, who played in a state championship as a member of Lee County in high school.

It was a joke — sort of. They are a competitive bunch, as one might expect a group of athletes who grew up together to be.

“We try to be the best at anything,” Sam said. “Baseball, basketball, football. Anything we do, I want to be the best at.”

Determining who is the best is another issue entirely. Asked which sports he’s best at, Sam said all of them. Josh conceded that his brother could outdo him in basketball, but not much else. Their competitive natures, though, are what drove them to have success in athletics over the years.

“Brothers are competitive, and I don’t want him to be better than me at anything,” Josh said. “That’s just going to push me harder to get past him. He’s the same way.”

And that competition has allowed them to have high goals for themselves and for each other. Josh, who was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 16th round this year, has high hopes of getting drafted again next year after playing a year at Auburn. Like his brother, Sam wants to turn Western Oklahoma into a Division I or professional opportunity down the road.

Both said that chasing their degrees, though, was the most important thing.

“I owe that to their mom,” Eric said. “She’s real grounded when it comes down to their studies. Me, I’m all baseball. When it’s raining, we’re out here. When it’s snowing, we’re out here. When other people are laying down, we’re out here. And we just hope that hard work translates into a career later on.”

The biggest impact baseball has had on any of them, though, is what it has done for their family, both blood and non-blood.

“I don’t think people understand how important baseball can be to elevate this community to another level,” Eric said.

He mentioned the number of sons he came across who were growing up without fathers of their own and mothers who were working multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Youth baseball and the BlackCrackers became a method by which he and his sons were able to impact others in the community.

Over the four years he has been involved with the BlackCrackers, Eric said that 31 players have gotten scholarships. He gained a lot more sons, and Josh and Sam gained just as many brothers.

“It’s more than just us,” Josh said. “That’s our whole family.”

This story was originally published July 9, 2016 at 5:27 PM with the headline "A family affair: Hardaway’s Anthonys pursue career, impact others through baseball."