Baseball is how Samardzija makes his living now, pitching for the Double-A Tennessee Smokies in the Chicago Cubs organization. Football is what keeps him in the spotlight and keeps his tough-to-spell name in the news.

Were it not for his successful career as a receiver for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where he caught 179 passes, Samardzija would just be another big-ticket, minor-league prospect trying to get to the show.

As it is, he's much more. It's too much to say he has a cult following, but let's just say a lot of fans show up in his old Notre Dame jerseys to cheer him on when he pitches.