Ah, the pros. The ultimate dream of every starry-eyed kid who ever picked up a Louisville Slugger.

“That’s been my dream since I was four years old,” Farkes admits. “If I ever got that opportunity I’d jump at it. But I know how small the odds are, and that’s why Harvard was such an inviting place for me. You come in here, and if it didn’t work out you get a great education to fall back on.”

This attitude helps to explain a couple more of those mystery names on that eclectic list.

Billy Beane? A result of the book Moneyball.

“I just read that,” Farkes says. “If playing baseball doesn’t work out I’d definitely look to a career in baseball somewhere, and he’s kind of a guy that you’d emulate.”

Warren Miller? Well, once baseball is over…

“I love skiing, it’s probably the one thing I really miss the most as far as sacrifices I’ve made for baseball,” he says. “Someday when baseball’s over that will be the first thing I do...go skiing.”

And Jay Gatsby? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character, out of one of Farkes’ favorite books, is his final possible role model.

“I wish I was as smooth as him,” he says, mock-wistfully. “Maybe someday.”

But then again, you could argue that Zak Farkes is pretty smooth already.

It’s not just anyone who can fit all those people into one uniform.

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.