BONUS BABY: When Hall-of-Famer Harmon Killebrew signed with the Washington Senators at the age of 18 in 1954, he was what was known as a "Bonus Baby"- a young kid who according to baseball rules at the time had to remain on the major league roster for the entire season. The Bonus Baby rule is long gone, however, as baseball is the only sport now in which players must prove themselves at the major-league level in order to make the really big bucks.
If only we could say the same about hoops... in an age in which LeBron James can sign a $90 million shoe contract two weeks before graduating from high school, and soccer star Freddy Adu celebrates his 14th birthday by signing for millions with Nike, I suppose it was only a matter of time before basketball saw a bonus baby who was an actual baby.
Now we have Mark Walker. A Missouri native and lifelong basketball enthusiast, Walker will soon be appearing in a series of ads for Reebok in which he shoots baskets in his driveway and is advertised as "the next Michael Jordan." And he's got some time to refine his game in order to reach that high level- Mark Walker is three years old.
Probably the youngest athlete ever to sign away his amateur athletic eligibility (presumably Walker, or his mother, has hired an agent as well), Walker can supposedly make 18 consecutive free throws in front of the cameras. Even worse, the commercial is meant to encourage other underage (as in, 15 years underage) children to embrace their inner Jordan and crave the limelight.
I am the only one who realizes just how vile this is? People worry about whether LeBron James, who is 18, can handle the pressures of the limelight. Mark Walker is 3. Do you think he had any choice in the matter? Could he have told his mother not to embark on this self-aggrandizing, money-grubbing crusade even if he'd wanted to? We also learn that Walker will soon make an appearance on "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." Three-year-olds shouldn't even be allowed to watch that show, let alone appear on it. And even worse, how can they expect Walker to know who Michael Jordan is? Jordan won his last championship in '98. Walker was born in 2000.
Never mind Nike and their unsavory sweatshop record. It's the Reebok execs who are going to hell first.