Purdy has work ethic of pro baseball-playing father.
To fully understand Brock Purdy is to learn about Shawn Purdy, the quarterback’s father who was a professional athlete long before his famous son became a Super Bowl quarterback.
Decades before Brock Purdy took over the QB reins for the San Francisco 49ers, Shawn Purdy succeeded as a minorleague pitcher with the San Francisco Giants.
“Shawn was kind of a bulldog and just had a lot of confidence,” said the elder Purdy’s good friend and former teammate, Chris Singleton, an outfielder who played six Major League Baseball seasons and later broadcast for ESPN. “It runs in their blood. They’re kind of spitting images of each other.”
Shawn Purdy pitched for eight seasons in the minors, three in the Giants’ system, and nearly got called up to the majors out of Triple-A Phoenix in 1997. He pitched one more season in the Braves’ organization before retiring to run his business and raise his family.
Clearly, Shawn’s traits were passed down to his son. Singleton spoke of Shawn’s “work ethic, commitment and resilience,” similar to descriptions of Brock. Shawn wasn’t tall for a pitcher, like Brock isn’t tall for a quarterback, but the younger Purdy inherited key intangibles: intelligence, toughness, fearlessness and a mental strength that gives him an edge.
“I think there’s a lot of Shawn you see in Brock,” said former Giants general manager Bobby Evans, who was assistant director of player development in the 1990s. “Nothing rattles him. I don’t care what the situation is. He’s going to find a way out of it. That was Shawn’s approach on the mound. It shows a lot in the guts that Brock plays with.”
Brock Purdy might have been “Mr. Irrelevant” as the last pick in the seven-round NFL draft, 262nd overall in 2022, but his dad had to wait a lot longer in the baseball draft. Over a fiveyear span, Shawn Purdy was drafted in the 46th round by the Pirates, 44th round by the Royals, 26th round by the A’s and 16th round by the Angels — finally signing out of the University of Miami as the 428th overall pick.
Unlike in football, where college players go right to the NFL, baseball draftees can ride around in buses for years before reaching the majors. Or, in Shawn Purdy’s case, without reaching the majors.
“He had a nasty breaking ball and great stuff and unfortunately had some injuries that derailed things,” Singleton said. “If not for the injuries, he would’ve deserved a shot in the big leagues, and who knows? He might’ve done better than everyone thought and exceeded expectations, like Brock.”
The Giants acquired Shawn from the Angels in the 1994 minor-league Rule 5 draft. He pitched in Shreveport in 1995 and 1996 and was promoted to Phoenix in 1997. In July, he was feeling the vibe that he’d soon get called up especially after a visit from Dick Tidrow, then director of player personnel.
“All the guys were, like, ‘Shawn you’re outta here, man,’ ” Purdy said on a 2019 Sports Spectrum podcast. “I was, like, good Lord, they might be right.”
Everything changed on July 31 when the Giants made a blockbuster trade to acquire three veteran pitchers from the White Sox, Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez and Danny Darwin. Suddenly, the Giants’ pitching staff was full to the brim.
“I was like, well that’s a wrap on that,” Purdy said.
The three pitchers helped the Giants win the National League West, and Purdy chose to go elsewhere as a minorleague free agent. He signed with the Braves and pitched extremely well at Triple-A Richmond at the start of 1998, posting a 1.83 ERA in 16 outings through May.
Again, he seemed on the verge of a promotion to the majors.
“My agent called and said ‘I think you’re outta here in a couple days,’ ” Purdy said on the podcast, “and I was, like, ‘Well, I think I hurt my arm last night. I just felt a little something on a pitch.’ ”
Purdy was shelved. A cortisone shot didn’t help. He underwent elbow surgery. He tried rehab. He was 29. His agent lined up some offers for the following season. But by then, he and his wife, Carrie, had their first child, Whittney, and with Brock on the way, and with Purdy starting a new business, “I was, like, you know what? Time to be a big-league dad, and that was the path I chose. I don’t regret it.”
Evans recalled Purdy as “very competitive and very focused on going above and beyond what he needed to do to compete. Anyone who had Dick Tidrow’s eye had what it took to advance. That trade was a big deal and obviously negated a lot of opportunities for some guys. That’s part of what happens at the deadline. You look at guys internally and sometimes externally, and we wound up having a good finish in ’97.”
In 1999, a year after Purdy retired, Brock was born. The family had settled in Arizona by then, and of course Brock grew up playing baseball. At Perry High School in Gilbert, Ariz., he played baseball his freshman and sophomore years but gave up the sport his final two years to focus on football.
It’s not uncommon to see him making passes from different arm angles, which he attributes to his background as a middle infielder. “Definitely I feel like it helped me to be where I’m at now,” Brock said last season, “especially with the quick game and throwing around defensive ends, so that’s definitely a credit to baseball.”
Singleton, a Martinez native and Pinole Valley High School graduate who lives outside Atlanta, played with Shawn Purdy at Shreveport in 1996. Purdy had a 3.10 ERA in a team-high 54 outings, and Singleton hit a team-high .298. They hit it off and were teammates on the road. They never played on the same team again but remained in touch and have a close connection through their faith.
Singleton was a wide receiver at the University of Reno, where he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2006 and where Brock’s brother, Chubba, enrolled to play quarterback next season. Singleton still loves football, remains a 49ers fan and bought Cyclones gear when Brock was at Iowa State, closely following his rise to the pros.
“Coming out of high school, he was a great player but really got overlooked in a lot of ways despite his accomplishments,” Singleton said. “His size always was a knock against him, but the kid could play, and it’s been fun to watch this storybook career play out.
“Hat’s off to Brock. With his focus and determination, he probably could’ve been a really good baseball player as well.”
It’s well chronicled that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes comes from a baseball family. His dad, Pat, pitched 11 years in the majors. Now that Brock Purdy is a Super Bowl QB, it’s time to give his father some baseball love, too.