Green: The best Jewish
ballplayer since Koufax
Baseball Weekly
Says veteran reliever Mike Fetters: "You keep thinking
with a guy this good, there's got to be a mean streak somewhere.
Nobody can be this nice. But you know what, I haven't seen it
yet.
"This guy is so nice
that this spring I was telling him that he's in my book. I told
him that he's hit at least one homer off me. He tells me, 'Nah, I
don't think so.' But that's Shawn Green. In the back of his mind,
he knows he got me, but he's too nice to admit it."
Says Dodgers general manager
Kevin Malone: "The city of Los Angeles is blessed to have
this guy. He carries himself with such dignity. He's so composed.
He can hit a home run or strike out, and he handles himself the
same. He just has so much respect for everyone else.
"It's the same with his
tools. When he strikes out, I watch him closely, thinking, 'Is he
going to throw his helmet? Is he going to break his bat?' But he
respects his tools so much that he gently puts them away without
saying a word."
Green shrugs his shoulders
and wonders why anyone should think he'd change. If he didn't
crack in Toronto, when he was constantly ridiculed and scorned
and told that he would never be an everyday player, why would he
change now?
"He was almost
uncomfortably courteous," former Blue Jays teammate Paul
Molitor says. "He was so very polite. So genuinely gracious.
He never let the circumstances affect him.
"I really did think he'd
be a great player, but to be honest, he's surprised me. I didn't
envision a 35-35 guy (35 homers, 35 stolen bases), and certainly
not to reach that height so quickly."
The most amazing aspect of
all is that this guy with the Hall of Fame manners, and talent
that has perennial All-Stars Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds gushing with praise, could
have been obtained by virtually every organization in baseball
just three years ago.
The Blue Jays put him on the
trading block, inviting offers from anyone, and it was only the
failings of other organizations that kept him in Toronto.
The Baltimore Orioles worked
out a trade for Green in 1997 for Jeffrey Hammonds. The deal was done.
But, sorry, Orioles owner Peter Angelos nixed it.
The Detroit Tigers were
prepared to send Melvin Nieves. Oops, a Tigers official said this
week that for some reason, they never thought he would be
anything more than a platoon player.
The St. Louis Cardinals
nearly had a deal worked out for John Mabry. So did the New York
Yankees for Cecil Fielder.
The Anaheim Angels were ready
to give up outfielders Garret Anderson
or Jim Edmonds.
"I don't want to embarrass anyone in our organization,"
a high-ranking Angels executive says, "but one of our top
guys said he was 'nothing more than a No. 4 outfielder.'."
The list goes on and on, only
for the rest of baseball to scream in anguish when he winds up
with the Dodgers, giving them their first legitimate left-handed
power hitter since Darryl Strawberry.
"I was hearing so many
rumors and different places where I was supposed to be
going," Green says, "that after a while, we started
making up some rumors ourselves. I wouldn't have minded a trade
just so I could play every day. It was hard knowing that if you
had a bad game, you weren't going to play for the next game or
two.
"But everything worked
out the way it was supposed to. I get to play for the Dodgers, in
my hometown, in front of my folks and all of my friends. I have a
total different outlook on the season.
"Come on, how can I beat
this?
"This is home."
GREEN, WHO HAS THE
sleepy-eyed look of a teenager who just rolled out of bed on the
weekend, walks outside the Dodger clubhouse door holding his Gold
Glove trophy as if he's bringing home a pot roast.
He's supposed to meet his
girlfriend, along with his parents and relatives - including Fern
and Sandy Finkel, who flew in from Japan just for the game - in
the lobby. He walks out, and there are nearly 100 people outside,
including his mom, who's crying she's so happy.
"It was incredible,
absolutely incredible watching him in his first game here"
gushes Ira Green, who along with Judy, used to travel across the
country to watch their son play. "We didn't know how
emotional it would be. I think my wife went through an entire box
of Kleenex."
Green hugs his parents,
reminds his mom that she always cries when she watches him play,
and learns that he suddenly is the center of attention of
everyone in the lobby.
They not only want his
autograph, but since he has the Gold Glove award in his hand,
does he mind posing with the trophy? "Hold it higher, Shawn.
Can I have a profile shot, now? Perfect. Smile."
Green is uncomfortable, but
as he admires the award he can't stop smiling. If only they knew,
he's thinking to himself. If only these fans, even the four guys
who wore green wigs in the right-field bleachers to greet him on
Opening Day in Los Angeles, had any idea. If only any of his
teammates had a clue just how important this award was to him,
they'd understand why the smile came so easily this day.
"This award means
everything to me," Green says. "I'm as proud of winning
this as anything I've ever done in my life. No one knew I could
do this. I was always told that I would never be a good defensive
outfielder."
Green stops and is a bit
embarrassed that he is so forthcoming. He doesn't want to be
critical of the Toronto Blue Jays. He doesn't want to rip former
Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston or anyone else in the front office
who doubted his ability. He just wants them to remember how far
he's come after being benched and platooned for three years,
that's all.
"I marvel at what this
kid has done, because they were all over this kid. They almost
buried him," says former Blue Jays executive Al LaMacchia,
one of baseball's greatest scouts.
"(Former Blue Jays
general manager) Pat Gillick was always in his corner, but once
he left, they said he couldn't do this, or he couldn't do that.
They said he couldn't hit. He couldn't field. And every mistake
he made was magnified. I remember going to Kansas City (in 1996)
and Green was sitting in front of his locker with his head down.
He couldn't even look up.
"I said, 'Shawn, look at
me. Lift your head up. I don't want you to get down on yourself.
I don't want you to be tentative. You be aggressive out there. If
you listen to what I say, you're going to make so much damn money
in this game, you won't be able to count it.' "
Two years, 77 homers, 223
RBI, 55 stolen bases and $84 million later, LaMacchia looks like
a genius. Green has emerged as one of the finest all-around
outfielders in the game, and the best has yet to come.