The tallest pitcher in the history of professional baseball is now a beach volleyball star

UNITED STATES - MARCH 31: College Baseball: Portrait of Notre Dame Ryan Doherty, South Bend, IN 3/31/2005 (Photo by Darren Carroll/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (SetNumber: X73265 TK1) (Darren Carroll/Getty Images)

For a while, it looked like Ryan Doherty was ticketed for a career in basketball. He was a star center at New Jersey's Toms River High School East, and by the end of his junior season, he'd already heard from Division I programs from Duke to Princeton.

And then, one day, he walked into coach's office with an announcement to make: He wouldn't be playing basketball as a senior. Doherty -- all 7-foot-1 of him -- wanted to concentrate on his pitching career.

Fittingly, Randy Johnson had a lot to do with that decision. As Doherty told ESPN the Magazine back in 2002:

"I started to fall in love with baseball right around the time Randy Johnson was making a name for himself with the Mariners. I had a hero for life. I think I might have had a decent future in basketball, but my height in baseball makes me a real oddity. Guys just aren't used to facing pitchers my height."

He might not have been the Big Unit, but he could definitely pitch: After going 10-0 as a junior, Doherty posted a 1.14 ERA and struck out more than 12 batters per nine innings as a senior. Intrigued by his potential, Major League scouts began to take a look -- but the righty had his heart set on playing ball at Notre Dame, so he eventually went undrafted.

Doherty soon became a star with the Irish, racking up 44 K's in just 28 2/3 innings as a freshman and eventually becoming a third-team All-American as a junior. Anxious to start his professional career, he eschewed his final year of college to sign with the D-backs as an undrafted free agent in June 2005. (The man who signed him? Mike Rizzo, then Arizona's vice president of scouting operations and currently GM and president of baseball operations for the Nationals.)

Just a few days later, on June 23, Doherty made his first appearance for the short-season Class A Yakima Bears, striking out three over two perfect innings -- and, in the process, becoming the tallest player in the history of professional baseball.