Hidden Talent: Eric Byrnes
by Eddie J. Matz
ESPN The Magazine
August 13, 2002
ERIC BYRNES, A's outfielder
The A's outfielder is no stranger to the diamond. Or the oval. As in office.
HIDDEN TALENT: Naming The Presidents
Man over-bored: Jason Hart (former minor-league teammate) and I were on a 15-hour car ride from spring training in Phoenix to Midland, Texas. We got bored, and somebody had given me, as a birthday gift, these placemats with the presidents on them. I'm a big history buff -- I was a history major at UCLA. So I said, "Ya know what? I'm gonna learn all 43 presidents and see how long it takes me." It ended up taking a half-hour before I nailed them all.
Rainman: When people hear about it the first time, they'll be like, "No way!" They'll just start randomly tossing out numbers and nobody believes that I'm right when I come up with the presidents. But sure enough they'll find a way to figure it out.
Brain freeze: I just recently got stumped for the first time -- Channel 5 did something back at home (Woodside, Calif.) -- and I froze up on the 36th president. It's obviously easy. It's Lyndon B. Johnson. But Ford just immediately came out.
X's and O's: I use different devices. The 20th president was James A. Garfield, so every time I think of the 20th president, I think of Garfield the Cat. I have a buddy whose name is Ryan Hayes. Well, the 19th president was Rutherford B. Hayes. Martin Van Buren was the 8th, so I'll think of Van Buren Street in San Francisco. I just kind of learned like that -- I attach them to little personal things.
U can do eeeet: A lot of people are amazed, but it's something anybody can do if they wanna sit down for an hour and try to figure it out. It's a lot easier than you think.
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