Dinesh Kumar Patel (born 8 May 1989) is an Indian right-handed baseball pitcher who played in the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

organization. Along with Rinku Singh, he was the first Indian player ever to sign a contract with a major

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baseball team. Neither Patel nor Singh had ever thrown a baseball before beating over 37,000 competitors in ''The Million Dollar Arm'', an Indian

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show designed to find new baseball talent.

Early life

Due to

extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...

and inability to meet the expenses of raising a child, Patel's parents had left him to be raised by his maternal grandmother in Khanpur, a village of

Varanasi district Varanasi district is a district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, with the holy city of Varanasi as the district headquarters. It is also the headquarters of the Varanasi division which contains 4 districts (including Varanasi). It is s ...

. At the age of 14, he started visiting Sampurnanand Stadium in Sigra where he met athletes and trained himself to play

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

. In 2004, he was selected for a regional sports hostel in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. Patel won a gold medal in field hockey at the National School Games at

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

in 2006. He is an alumnus of the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow.

Professional baseball career

Patel, along with Singh, tried out in front of scouts from 20

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

teams in November 2008, reaching 90 miles per hour throwing a baseball. Reports from

scouts Joe Ferrone and Sean Campbell led to general manager Neal Huntington signing both to contracts with the organization. With the deal, the pair became the first Indians to sign American major league baseball contracts. The total

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

for the two was $8,000. After training, the two returned to visit their families in India before entering Pirates training camp in

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. Patel, along with Singh, played for the Pirates' Gulf Coast League team. He had a successful, yet brief, 2009 season for the Pirates, picking up a victory on 13 August (exactly one month after his countryman Singh got his first, and only, win of the year) and finishing with a 1–0 record and 1.42 earned run average, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks in 6 innings, holding opposing batters to a .192 batting average in six relief appearances. Patel's 2010 season was less successful, with an 8.59 earned run average in 7 innings, over nine games; he was released in December 2010. He played errorless defense over the two seasons.

Later years

Patel returned home to finish school. He also taught baseball in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, and in 2011 he helped his village boys prepare for the second season of the ''Million Dollar Arm'' talent hunt for about two months, without charge. After his return, Patel also practiced the javelin throw. Patel participated at the national athletics championship in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

in 2011 and the Federation Cup athletics championship in April 2012. In 2012, Patel said,

"My family's economical and emotional conditions have improved. I could renovate the home in the village and my sister's wedding was arranged with the money that I sent home. My family gathered self esteem and respect in society. It is always good to see your near and dear ones happy."

Film

Patel and Singh's story is the basis for the

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...

sports film ''Million Dollar Arm'', in which Patel is portrayed by Madhur Mittal.

References

External links