When Homer Bailey walked into the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse for the first time, he had a hunting knife in a case attached to his belt.
This past winter – the one in between his two no-hitters, he went on a safari and bagged a lion with a bow and arrow.
Yeah, he's a big-game guy now, the big kid with the big arm from a farm near LaGrange, Texas.
Bailey's second career no-hitter Tuesday, the first in the majors since he threw one last September, punctuates a career that has required the patience of a hunter waiting for his moment – patience from the franchise that drafted him in the first round in 2004; patience from the fans who weren't satisfied when Bailey was rushed to the majors in 2007 and, as a 21-year-old, was as mediocre as the team he joined; patience from kid who wasn't exactly known for that quality.
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"Fans were wanting to see him and we may have rushed him there," says Jerry Narron, Reds manager at the time and now a Milwaukee Brewers coach. "Now, he's lived up to it. We knew he had the big arm and it was just a matter of being focused on pitching and learning his craft."
Bailey was 4-2 in nine starts but with a 5.76 earned run average after that '07 arrival, not bad for a Reds team that fired Narron less than a month later en route to a 72-90 record.
But he was a source of frustration because he was 25-23 with a 4.98 ERA through the 2011 season and had yet to spend a full season in the majors. Plus, he got the reputation as difficult to coach.
"There was this rumor I knew it all," he said this spring. "I didn't know anything. I just didn't have the right questions.
"When somebody tells you to do something and you ask why, that probably was taken a little out of context," he said. "I didn't ask why because I thought I knew better. I asked why so I could learn. It's like that for any young professional. If you're not asking why, you're probably not learning anything."
Current manager Dusty Baker raves about Bailey's learning curve.
"Homer has really matured," Baker said after Tuesday's no-hitter. "A lot of times we want people to mature at a more rapid pace than they're ready for. A couple of years ago, everyone was talking about Homer is a hard-head. I always said that hard head is what causes him to him succeed. He's grown up a lot."
Bailey hardly is the first big arm from Texas. Hype is part of package.
When Bailey came up to the big leagues in 2007, he got to wear something more noteworthy than the trusty hunting knife.
He asked for No. 21 because of University of Texas product Roger Clemens.
But Reds clubhouse manager Rick Stowe had another idea – the 34 Bailey still wears.
"Texas boy, Nolan Ryan, that's why I gave it to him," Stowe says. "He wanted Roger Clemens and I said, 'No, Nolan Ryan. 34. You're Nolan Ryan. He's a Texas boy."
Stowe says he doesn't do that much but with Bailey, who started his career as the Reds' most hyped prospect in more than a decade, there was no doubt he'd be 34.
And now, like Ryan, Bailey has multiple no-hitters. OK, not seven like Ryan.
"There's a lot of Hall of Famers whose careers started out slowly," Narron says.
Like Ryan, who didn't have a 200-inning season until his sixth year in the majors, Bailey didn't have a winning record for good until his eighth year.
Bailey already is over .500 for his career and is well on his way to a second 200-plus innings.
"This is what you like to see out of young players," Baker says of his 27-year-old. "If they stick with it long enough and you stick with them long enough, you can enjoy the fruits of their success."
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