{"id":692113,"date":"2026-05-24T20:18:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T20:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/692113\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T20:18:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T20:18:35","slug":"curtis-mead-a-once-promising-afl-player-is-hitting-home-runs-in-major-league-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/692113\/","title":{"rendered":"Curtis Mead, a once-promising AFL player, is hitting home runs in Major League Baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Curtis Mead tried to introduce Vegemite to his American teammates in Florida during spring training last year, the reaction was as strong as the condiment.<\/p>\n

“There wasn’t a whole lot of fans of it in the clubhouse,” he told the ABC.<\/p>\n

So when he signed with the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team earlier this year, club manager Blake Butera had a rule.<\/p>\n

“I told him Vegemite is not good, so he’s not allowed to [give any to the other players],” he said.<\/p>\n

“But Tim Tams are always welcome.”<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

Curtis Mead signed with the Washington Nationals earlier this year. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old hit his fourth home run of the season in April. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

Mead, 25, was once a promising young AFL hopeful but as a teenager was forced to choose between the iconically Australian sport and America’s pastime.<\/p>\n

At just 17, he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies for $US200,000 ($276,000) a year.<\/p>\n

Eight years later, he’s earning $US780,000 ($1.1 million) \u2014 more than double the average AFL footballer \u2014 and he’s still on minimum wage by Major League standards.<\/p>\n

But it’s not about the money.<\/p>\n

Last month, Mead hit his fourth home run of the Major League season, a feeling few Australians have or will ever experience.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty special,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The atmosphere of the Major League stadiums over here is just crazy so to be able to take the slow jog around the base is a nice feeling.”<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

A promising AFL player when he was younger, Curtis Mead had to choose between Australian football and baseball. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

Curtis Mead is now earning more than double the average AFL footballer’s salary. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

From grandpa’s war service to the big leagues<\/p>\n

In Australia, a country dominated by cricket, football and rugby, baseball barely gets a look in.<\/p>\n

Fewer than 40 Australians have made it to the US Major League.<\/p>\n

But for Mead, the sport runs in the family, having been passed down through the generations by his grandfather, who picked it up while stationed in Darwin during the war.<\/p>\n

“The US soldiers in World War II taught my grandpa the game and then he taught his sons,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’m the third generation of baseball players in our family, so it’s pretty cool.”<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

Curtis Mead has played for several teams, after he was initially signed on a minor league contract to the Philadelphia Phillies. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

His grandfather passed a love of baseball through the generations in Curtis Mead’s family. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

The atmosphere in Major League stadiums “is just crazy”, Curtis Mead says. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

Recently, Mead was joined in the Major League by Australian Travis Bazzana, who debuted for the Cleveland Guardians in April<\/a> after being selected as the first overall draft pick in 2024.<\/p>\n

Mead said it was a special feeling to be flying the flag together.<\/p>\n

“He’s a great player,” Mead told the ABC.<\/p>\n

“We got to spend a bit more time together at the World Baseball Classic and I’m just super excited for him and looking forward to following his career.”<\/p>\n

Australian baseball’s ‘untapped potential’<\/p>\n

Butera is a big fan of his new recruit, who he describes as very curious, hardworking and a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

The Nationals’ manager spent three months in Australia and says he was impressed by the standard of baseball there.<\/p>\n

“I thought that there were some really good athletes that really care about baseball,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And I think as we’ve seen internationally, they’ve done a pretty good job as well in the WBC [World Baseball Classic] in years past.”<\/p>\n

He is hoping to see more players follow in Mead’s footsteps.<\/p>\n

“The coaching over there, the training \u2014 I think there’s definitely some untapped potential over in Australia that I think they’re currently tapping into.”<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

Curtis Mead hopes to inspire Australian kids to give baseball a shot. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

\"Curtis<\/p>\n

As a kid, he did not think making the Major League was much of a possibility, Curtis Mead says. (ABC News: Cameron Schwarz)<\/p>\n

Mead is also hoping that, alongside Bazzana, he can encourage more young Australians to give baseball a go.<\/p>\n

“Even the college lifestyle and the opportunities over in America to play baseball at that level is something that we probably don’t offer a whole lot in Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping that [my experience], Travis’s and all the other guys’ that have played in the big leagues, hopefully that kind of gives the kids a pathway.<\/p>\n

“Because when I was 12 years old, I didn’t really think this was possible.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Curtis Mead tried to introduce Vegemite to his American teammates in Florida during spring training last year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,4034,33149,6136,7892,591,85,5264],"class_list":["post-692113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-baseball","tag-curtis-mead","tag-dc","tag-major-league","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-washington-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}