As a small boy mimicking television stars to entertain his father, Danny Gans couldn’t have dreamed it would take a couple of bad breaks to get from baseball to the big leagues.

Today, as one of the brightest stars in the Las Vegas galaxy, the popular performer is a great believer in the old axiom, when one door closes, another one opens.

And for good reason.

From the time he was born (well actually before he was born) Gans seemed destined for a career in baseball. No one would have dreamed he would wind up in the entertainment capital of the world, wearing the mantle “Entertainer of the Year,” headlining at The Mirage in a 1,260-seat theater bearing his name.

“Before I was born, dad said to mom, ‘We’re going to have a son named Danny, and he’s going to be a major league baseball player someday.’ So that was drilled into me from the time I was a little kid, it was baseball, baseball, baseball. But it wasn’t just my dad’s dream, it was mine, too.”

But in his senior year of high school, he broke his ankle sliding into third base and yet still was considered such a standout player that he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals.