Detroit News: Pro baseball player Anthony Bass earns WSU business degree
Recent surveys show that less than five percent of big-league players have earned a college degree. In 2012, according to a survey done by Fox Sports, only 39 of the more than 900 players that played in a big-league game that year had their degrees. At age 30, Anthony Bass, earned his degree from the Mike Ilitch School of Business, more than 10 years after he was drafted by the Padres. “I’d always wanted to finish my college education, even before I went to Wayne State,” Bass said. “My goal when I went there was to get my degree and play baseball. It just so happened I was fortunate enough to continue to play professional baseball.” In between cameo appearances on the E! reality show "Eric and Jessie," in between getting married and having a baby daughter, in between chasing his baseball dream from Round Rock, Texas, to Japan, back to Round Rock and then to Des Moines, Iowa, — Bass somehow found time to complete his bachelor’s degree. He returned to take classes in the fall 2009 and 2010. But he was still 36 credit hours short of a degree. As he ascended through the Padres’ minor-league system, he put his educational pursuits on hold for six years. Bass met with academic advisor Kimberly Clexton, who helped him map out a path to degree completion. “He was really thoughtful about it and we talked to the assistant dean of the business school and she was fantastic, working through the logistics, which were difficult,” Clexton said. “He was in Japan for most of it, playing professional baseball, and he also got married and had a baby. And, by the way, he got spectacular grades while he did it, too.”
