Baseball Star Paul Goldschmidt Tempted by Wall-Street Pitch

(Bloomberg) -- Before Paul Goldschmidt was slugging home runs in the big leagues, he faced a different kind of pitch: Ditch baseball. You’ll be a hit on Wall Street.

The St. Louis Cardinals’ new first baseman broke multiple school records while playing at Texas State University, where he also thrived as a finance major. That degree should serve him well: he’s reportedly finalizing a contract extension for $130 million over the next five years, a considerable step-up from his already enviable salary of $15.5 million in 2019. But if one professor had his way, Paul would have had to earn this fortune crunching numbers rather than baseballs.

‘Goldy’ was a “wide-eyed, engaged, intellectually curious” student who was tops in his money and banking class, said his former professor David Beckworth during an interview. One exchange stood out, he said.

“I explained how the yield curve could be used to predict a recession and said ‘now what we’re doing is we’re holding the term premium constant,’’’ he said. “And that bothered him, I remember him saying, ‘wait, how can you just assume that?’ and I had to dig out some papers on yield curve decomposition and what parts change the most -- that was the level he was on.’’

Goldschmidt’s academic prowess prompted Beckworth to do something that still garners belly laughs in the faculty room at TSU to this day. He tried to persuade his pupil to apply to competitive school program that gave students the chance to manage hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to prep them for careers in finance.

But the timing wasn’t right, it clashed with Goldschmidt’s baseball obligations. Still, Beckworth went for the hard sell.

“I said a baseball player’s chances -- not Paul’s chances, mind you, but a baseball player’s chances -- of playing professionally versus the odds of making a very good living on Wall Street is no contest for someone as bright as him,’’ he said. “I could see he really wanted it.’’

Luckily, Goldschmidt laid off this curveball from his professor.

“But for many student-athletes, that’s the reality -- and they need to be told that,’’ said Beckworth. In his defense, he said he remembers some scouting reports indicating that Goldschmidt was considered too slow to cut it in the big leagues.

Glenn Tanner, who taught the six-time all star in two classes, said there’s no doubt Goldschmidt would’ve been accepted into the portfolio management program.

“If he had, I would’ve told him he made a mistake,’’ the professor and avid baseball fan said in a telephone interview. “David just didn’t know how good he was.’’

Fast forward to 2011, when David Beckworth flipped to an Arizona Diamondbacks playoff game on TV. He tuned in just in time to see Goldschmidt as a rookie hit an opposite-field grand slam.

“I became known as the worst career advisor in the econ department,’’ said Beckworth, now a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

The 31-year-old Goldschmidt, considered one of the top first basemen in the league, was traded to the Cardinals from the Diamondbacks this offseason. He’s earned $32 million so far in his career, and would have been one of the top free agents available at season’s end. The Cardinals did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

Both professors said Goldschmidt was an even better person than he was a student or baseball player. While he was still in the minor leagues, Goldschmidt asked Tanner if he’d be willing to serve as a reference on a resume –- he was getting married, tight on cash, and looking to pick up some extra work. Tanner obliged.

“And I said, ‘You’re going to say I’m exaggerating, but he’s one of the most impressive people I’ve ever met in my life: he’s either going to have a long career in major league baseball or he’ll be running a Fortune 500 company one day,’” he told a prospective employer. “And the woman said, ‘You know, you’re the fifth person I’ve called and everyone’s said the exact same thing.’’’

Years later, Goldschmidt caught up with Beckworth via email to discuss his life since taking his class. His choice to pursue baseball, the slugger added, looked like it had turned out okay after all.

To contact the reporter on this story: Luke Kawa in New York at lkawa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Randall Jensen, Dave Liedtka

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