Major Leaguer Honored at Home

Oakland Athletics pitcher and Trumbull High School graduate Craig Breslow was a home run to about 4oo high school students as he was honored at his alma mater Thursday morning.

"We honor a 1998 graduate of Trumbull High School, an alumnus who has made us extremely proud and grateful and who has contributed so much to so many people," said Ralph Iassogna, superintendent of schools. "Craig Breslow is a young man who has excelled in almost every endeavor he has pursued."

As an athlete, he was a left-handed pitcher and soccer player for THS, and captain of the baseball team at Yale University.

He has played for the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, and ranks among the American League leaders in games pitched and has posted a 2.93 ERA in five major league seasons, the superintendent said. 

As a student, he earned honors at THS and majored in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale. He received a score of 34 on the MCAT, which is well above the average score of 28 achieved of medical school applicants.

He also scored a 34 on the Medical College Admission Test, "well above the average score of 28," Iassogna said. He was accepted to New York University's School of Medicine and in September was named "Smartest Athlete in All of Sports" by the Sporting News Show Magazine, he added.

Breslow is also the 2010 recipient of the Dave Stewart Community Service Award, given annually to an Oakland A's player in recognition of charitable work in northern California and throughout the nation, and visits children at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, and Oakland Children's Hospital, the superintendent said.

Breslow also founded the Strike 3 Foundation.  "Established in 2008, this initiative hopes to heighten awareness, mobilize support, and raise funding for childhood cancer research," Iassogna said.

The player's sister, Leslie, survived pediatric thyroid cancer over 15 years ago.  The foundation has raised almost $500,000 so far, according to Iassogna.

His father, Abe, is the former Trumbull High School department chair in Physical Education and Health, Iassogna noted.

A plaque will hang in the administrative wing of the school, he added.

In October, Board of Education Chairman Edward Lovely congratulated Breslow for his recognition in the Sporting News.