Shawn Armstrong (Credit: Tampa Bay Rays) ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Whether it was baseball, basketball, football or soccer, Shawn Armstrong was usua
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Whether it was baseball, basketball, football or soccer, Shawn Armstrong was usually going nonstop from sun up to sun down. If none of the above athletic activities proved fulfilling, he would turn to motocross.
“I was always a physical kid, and I loved the competition and doing that type of stuff,” said the 33-year-old Tampa Bay Rays pitcher.
It was toward the end high school that Armstrong thought about parlaying his love for physical activity into joining the military.
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“I wanted be an Army Ranger or Green Beret,” he said. “Navy Seals really intrigued me, too. I do a lot of deer hunting, shooting and range practice, but I didn’t have a steady hand to be an Army Ranger. I would like to do those things just to see if I could do it, but I am too old now. When I was coming out of high school, I thought that would have been bad ass. Even if I did not succeed, I would have loved to have given it a shot.”
Armstrong’s interest in the military in large part was spurred by his grandfather on his mother’s side. Sam Pearson was a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam and earned commendations for his two decades of military service. Pearson, who passed away in 2014 at age 78, was decorated in the martial arts, which also rubbed off on Armstrong.
Through his martial arts training, Pearson helped his grandson with the mental aspect of baseball. A fan of those who overcame the odds, he often sent the aspiring pitcher uplifting books on baseball players such as Jim Abbott, who was born without a right hand. Abbott won 87 games in a 10-year MLB career and tossed a no-hitter in 1993.
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“I struggled with the mental side of the game a lot as a kid and even all the way up to Double-A (in the Cleveland system),” said Armstrong, who attended East Carolina University, broke in with Cleveland in 2015 and was acquired by the Rays from Baltimore in July 2021. “He helped me with the emotional side of things. Instead of showing emotion, channel it in other ways. He never got emotional about anything and always led by example.”
Many of those examples were rooted in martial arts, which Pearson became expert in while serving the country in Okinawa. Among other achievements was that he was a 10th-degree black belt in Shorin Ryu Karate. He founded the New Bern School of Martial Arts in Armstrong’s native North Carolina. Pearson also served with the sheriff’s office in Craven County, of which New Bern is the county seat.
“He was highly regarded and a man of many talents,” said Armstrong. “He trained me in karate when I was growing up. Martial arts are a good way of channeling emotion and is still very much a part of my life. I am very thankful for everything my grandfather did.”
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