Before Baseball, Ambres was a Gridiron Star

Ambres was a third year starter under center, the first sophomore to earn the starting nod in school history. College offers flowed in from anybody and everybody. Every day marked a new home visit from a different Division-I coach.

It was a football career only six years in the making. Ambres hadn't begun playing until seventh grade. But from there he blossomed.

"The thing about football," said Chip's father Raymond, "it's much more excitable. The fans are louder and it's something he just fed off of. And to be truthful with you, he was pretty good."

'Pretty good' might have been a bit of an understatement.

"[He was] one of the best I've ever been around in 35 years," said Al Rabb, Ambres' football coach at West Brook. "His God-given talents were kind of amazing, but most of all he was just a tremendous competitor."

Rabb raved about his quarterback's feet. He said Ambres consistently ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds. He did clock him faster. Rabb also made note of Chip's arm, something he said was one of Ambres' biggest attributes that nobody gave him credit for.

The coach retired from West Brook three years ago. He works today at Monsignor Kelly High School, a private school in Beaumont. But Rabb remembers Ambres well. He still watches tapes of when the QB played. The Bruins went 11-4 his senior season, reaching the state quarterfinals. Ambres threw for 330 yards in the loss, a number Rabb knew off hand.

"He was just a hell of a leader, competitor," Rabb said. "God gave him the talent to be the athlete he is and was and to pick out any one play or any one time of his senior year...he was our football team. He was the heart and soul of it. You take him off and we were very average, very mediocre. But you put him on it, and we turn into a really good football team."

After careful thought, Ambres signed a National Letter of Intent to play quarterback at Texas A+M University. But more than a decade later, Ambres has still never suited up at Kyle Field. He never wore an Aggie uniform. He's never played college or professional football.

The reason is that Ambres wasn't just a gridiron star. He also played baseball. In fact, he was a second team high school All-American and was drafted 27th overall by the Florida Marlins in 1998. The outfielder had a tough choice to make, eventually settling on America's pastime.

"It was hard because it was something that I love to do. I love to play the game," Ambres said of football. "It's an adrenaline rush. You can't beat it - Texas football, Friday night, under the lights."

It's clearly not that Ambres didn't like football. He loved it. In fact, he thought the only way he would give up football was if baseball drafted him in the first round. The best worst-case scenario happened, and Ambres turned away his full scholarship from the Aggies. Negotiations got done two days before he was supposed to report.

There was some outside help to the decision as well. During his senior football season Ambres hurt his knee.

"The reality really set in that this is really a tough sport," Raymond said. "Just one hit and you could be gone for the rest of your life."

"It was like a godsend," Ambres' mother Delores said. "It was just like God's hand pointing him away from football. It was kind of like a direct arrow."

Baseball did seem like the more natural fit from the beginning. It's a game Ambres had been playing since he was little. One Christmas he received a red plastic bat from his grandfather.

"All of a sudden Chip just broke out into this baseball stance at the plate and we all stopped and looked at him," Delores said. "He held the bat in the proper position and he was ready to hit. We took a picture of him in that stance."

That same stance became a common sight in the Ambres backyard over the next several years.

"We couldn't keep him off of the streets," Delores said. "Chip would be out there in the boiling sun playing baseball, hitting the ball up against a fence we had in the backyard."

Ambres' mother said Chip would recruit friends to come throw him the ball. When they all went home, her son would come to the house calling.

"Ma, can you come and throw me some balls?" Ambres would ask.

"I could never say no," his mother replied.

As time went on, backyards became major league ballparks. After playing in the minors for Florida and Boston, Ambres made his MLB debut in 2005. The introduction was set up when Chip was traded from the Red Sox to the Royals for Tony Graffanino.

Following the deal, but before Ambres put on a KC uniform, he met with then Royals GM Alan Baird. Ambres was asked about a timetable on when he thought he would be ready for the big leagues. There was only one answer.

"I told him today," Ambres said. "He said, 'well I'm glad you said that.' He said 'you can get on the flight with me.'"

The plane took Baird and his new outfielder to Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Ambres would take his first big league hacks against the Indians and C.C. Sabathia.

"The first thing I did was walk out to see my first major league stadium," Ambres said. "I just wanted to make sure everything was right; home to first was right. I looked up and 'oh the bleachers make it big.'"

Don't worry about being intimidated. The entrance was grand. Chip picked up two hits, including a double. Matt Stairs gave him the ball afterward, but played a joke first.

"It was a double off the leftfield wall, so he [wrote on it] it was a weak fly ball off the right field wall," Ambres said. "I was like 'you messed up my first ball ever?' He was like, 'nah I got it right here.'"

Ambres finished 2005 with Kansas City and played 2006 at Triple-A Omaha. He spent time in the bigs in 2007 and 2008 as well. His time in '07 was a short three game stint with the Mets, including a mid-July walk-off single to beat the Dodgers.

"Once he made it to the majors, we did see him play with Kansas City," Raymond said. "We saw the game live, but the most exciting view, for me, is watching him on TV. It's a difference seeing him on TV and seeing him live, because I've always seen him live, and to see him on TV as a major leaguer is totally different."

"Holding back tears," said Delores of seeing her son make it to the bigs. "If they could just see the naturalness that we've always seen. He has the tools, but if they would all just come together and be consistent. He's been there, but he wants to stay."

Now Ambres is back with the Mets, joining Buffalo on June 11th. He was acquired in a trade with the Red Sox.

"Fortunately I've been with this organization before, so the transition is pretty smooth for me," Ambres said. "You learn about the news, packing up the same night, maybe flying out the next day or day after and trying to fit in."

"Chip will be in our lineup every day," Herd manager Ken Oberkfell said. "He'll play every day in the outfield. He's going to bring energy. He runs. He's a great defensive outfielder. He's got a little pop in his bat."

But through it all, Chip still does have a little football left in him. He still picks up the pigskin from time to time in the offseason, and for the right person, he wouldn't mind picking it up during the season either.

"I can toss the ball if T.O. wants to get out there every now and then," Ambres said, addressing the Buffalo Bills newest receiver. "If he wants to have somebody toss him the ball, I can make that happen, or he can make that happen for me."