Sam August saw 8 pro seasons, then returned to surfing

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Sam August 1991 Jackson Generals baseball card

Asheville hurler Sam August earned praise from his manager in this August 1987 game, throwing a four-hitter while striking out 10, The Asheville Citizen-Times wrote.

"Sam really did a super job tonight," Asheville manager Keith Bodie told The Citizen-Times. "He did a great job mixing up his pitches and staying ahead of the hitters. ... I thought Sam did a great job keeping  their hitters off-balance."

For August, he continued to work to keep hitters off-balance over eight pro seasons. He topped out at AA.

But balance itself had been a part of August's life before baseball and since - as in balance on a surf board.

August's father Robert August became a legendary surfer in the 1960s, featured in the seminal surfing documentary "The Endless Summer."

His son has continued the tradition, working with his father's surfboard business and coaching the sport himself.

"It just dawned on me one day that I was a surfer," Sam August told The Corpus Christi Caller-Times in 2001, then the vice president for sales and marketing at his father's business. "I knew I would only be happy if I was doing something surf-related. I knew I wanted to make it in life by being a surfer."

Sam August's baseball career began in 1986, taken by the Astros in the second round of the January draft out of Orange Coast College.

August started with the Astros in the rookie Gulf Coast League. He went 6-5, with a 1.52 ERA. He then moved to single-A Asheville for 1987. He went 12-1 there, with a 1.72 ERA. 

August played abbreviated seasons in 1988 and 1989, getting five starts and two starts. He then returned for 11 starts in 1990 between Asheville and the GCL. He saw seven starts at AA Jackson in 1991 and four in 1992, all amid elbow problems.

August picked up his only win in 1992 in an April start, where he went six innings, gave up four hits and was pulled by his manager over his past elbow problems, The Jackson Clarion-Ledger wrote.

"I was able to move my fastball in and out, and I had the ability to throw my split-finger and curve ball," August told The Clarion-Ledger afterward. "I really didn't have good control out of my split-finger curve, but I was able to show it to to them."

August isn't recorded as playing in 1993. He then returned for 1994 with the Mariners at high-A Riverside and AA Jacksonville. He saw 21 outings, 12 starts between them. He went 5-4, with a 4.24 ERA to end his career.

He then returned to surfing. By 2005, he was president of Robert August Surf Co., which had made 3,500 custom boards the previous year, The Los Angeles Times wrote. He remains listed as with the company in 2025.

"A surfer really does identify with his board," August told The Times then. "Design ideas an logos vary from board to board, from an American flag to a picture of someone's wife to a religious saying. We give the customers what they want."

Sam August 1991 Jackson Generals baseball card


1990 Minor League Tally 
Players/Coaches Featured:4,512
Made the Majors:1,431-31.7%
Never Made Majors:3,081-68.3%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:581
10+ Seasons in the Minors:359

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