Background
Sample grew up in Salem, Virginia, and graduated from Salem"s Andrew Lewis High School in 1973.
Sample grew up in Salem, Virginia, and graduated from Salem"s Andrew Lewis High School in 1973.
Sample attended Madison College (now James Madison University) for three years, before being drafted by the Rangers in 1976.
Sample played for the Texas Rangers (1978-1984), New York Yankees, (1985) and Atlanta Braves (1986). While at Andrew Lewis, Sample was a three-sport standout in football, basketball, and baseball. As a junior wide receiver on Andrew Lewis" football team, Sample scored the winning touchdown in a 1971 state American Automobile Association quarterfinal game.
A victory later, Andrew Lewis advanced to the state championship, where Sample"s team lost to Therapeutic Community Williams High School - a game dramatized (with historical liberties) in the motion picture Remember The Titans.
Sample singled on his first major league pitch in 1978, made the Topps All Rookie Team in 1979, had his longest hitting streak (19 games) in 1981, was fifth in the American League in steals (44 of 52) in 1983, sixth in power-speed numbers and was the 10th toughest to strike out in the league, with only teammate Buddy Bell having hit more home runs of the preceding nine. Sample finished with a career.272 average.
Primarily a broadcaster/writer after his playing days, Sample has broadcast for the Braves, Seattle Mariners, and California Angels, as well as contributing to National Public Radio, Columbia Broadcasting System Radio, Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, and MLB.com. As a writer, Sample has been published in Sports Illustrated and The New York Times, and was one of the columnists at the inception of United States of America Today"s Baseball Weekly (now Sports Weekly).
Sample was also the baseball consultant for Showtime"s production Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way, which chronicled the Yankees" 1996 season.
Billy Sample most recently added filmmaker to his résumé, producing his award-winning screenplay into the movie "Reunion 108," an edgy, satirical comedy with a baseball backdrop directed by filmmaker James Suttles due for release in 2014.