The Brewers' Hobbs Johnson isn't named after Roy, but he did try to make his own Wonderboy

Brewers prospect Hobbs Johnson got his unique name from his grandmother (her maiden name was Hobbs) and not as an homage to mythical baseball player Roy Hobbs of The Natural fame. Besides, Hobbs Johnson is a pitcher, not a slugger with a silver bullet in his belly.

But the Brewers prospect and the Robert Redford character do have one thing in common:

"I didn't have a Wonderboy bat," Johnson said, "but I did try to make my own after I saw that movie. It didn't work out too well."

His first attempt was literally hand-made, but mom shut the project down after Hobbs cut his hand with a hunting knife. Attempt No. 2 was born of a class project at Rocky Mount (N.C.) High School, where Johnson and a friend crafted a baseball bat in woodshop using a lathe.  

Instead of the customary ash or maple, Johnson and a friend chose oak. The result was a Ruthian creation.

"It was real heavy. We never could figure out how they made 'em the same size but so much lighter," he said. "We did go out and hit with it, but it was hard. It was too heavy to want to try to hit real pitching with."

Sadly, the bat is still somewhere in North Carolina. Johnson admits he's not much of a hitter, anyway.

"I love that movie," said Johnson, whose full name is actually Jeffrey Hobbs Johnson -- though he's always gone by Hobbs. "I played in Cooperstown when I was 10, and my mom had to go out and by a pin of a little New York Knights jersey. She's got all kinds of that stuff in a box at home."