Baseball

The rookie

An opening-day assignment caps the meteoric rise of Rays centerfielder Rocco Baldelli, yet it seems most of the butterflies are in the stomachs of family and friends.

By GREG AUMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 31, 2003

ST. PETERSBURG -- Rocco Baldelli grew up immersed in baseball less than an hour's drive from Fenway Park, but he never has seen the Red Sox, or any team, play on opening day.

Today he'll see the Sox, with a better view than he could have come up with back home in Rhode Island: from the starting lineup of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The centerfielder, 21, is the first player in Rays history to make his major-league debut as an opening-day starter, but Baldelli's youth might not be as obvious at Tropicana Field. Three years ago he was in high school, but a successful spring and a month of knowing he'd be the Rays' starting centerfielder has reinforced a businesslike approach to all games, even his first.

"It's kind of weird, but the closer and closer it gets, the less I'm thinking about it," Baldelli said Wednesday afternoon in the dugout at Progress Energy Park. "It's not really a dream as much as it is a reality now for me."

Friends say that's classic Baldelli, who keeps himself on an even keel whether he's leading the Rays in home runs and RBIs during spring training or enduring any kind of slump. That shouldn't be confused with a lack of passion for the game, but simply a keen focus that has been a big part of his quick rise through the minor leagues.

"I truly feel this is something that's not overly exciting to him," said Paul Danesi, an administrator at Bishop Hendricken High School who oversees Baldelli's charity foundation and is flying in for the game with his 13-year-old son, Andrew. "He really takes everything about the same. He's as egoless as they come, and I don't know if there's a nervous bone in his body."

There will be some in the stands, where Baldelli's parents, Dan and Michelle, will take in a proud moment they've envisioned for years.

"It's something a lot of people wait for from the first time you pick up a baseball and bat with your child," said Dan Baldelli, who has had his family in Florida for three weeks. "Every parent has the dream that their kid is good enough to make it, but he's done all the things you have to do. He's accomplished all of that."

The Baldellis will have another fan they hadn't expected in Rocco's 5-year-old brother, Dante. He has such a violent allergy to peanuts that his mere presence in stadium seating, where thousands of fans are shucking shells and eating them, can trigger a dangerous reaction. As a result, he has seen only a handful of Baldelli's games as a pro.

Rays managing general partner Vince Naimoli sought out Baldelli's father before a game last week and told him the team would make special arrangements to allow Dante to be at Tropicana Field for opening day. Naimoli set aside a personal conference room where Dante can safely watch the game.

"He told me, 'I want you to know it's a really big day for us and we want to make sure Dante can attend the game,' " said Dan Baldelli, who flew the family's babysitter from Rhode Island so the rest of the family can watch the game from their seats.

Rocco's other brother, Nicholas, can't make it to Tropicana as he has a game of his own today, as a freshman outfielder at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

Arriving at Tropicana always has been a question of when and not if for Baldelli, a former first-round pick who was Baseball America's minor-league player of the year in 2002. He's somewhat spoiled to reach the major leagues as quickly as he has; he and fellow outfielder Carl Crawford, also 21, will be baseball's youngest pair of starting opening-day outfielders in 31 years, since the Philadelphia Phillies started Greg Luzinski and Mike Anderson.

But opening day in the majors isn't anything he'll take for granted. One friend who's flying in for the game is Karl Allaire, a second-round draft pick of the Houston Astros in 1984 who made it to Triple A and spring training but never reached the major leagues. Baldelli's focus and concentration on playing his first major-league game might keep him from realizing what an accomplishment that is, but he realizes how much today will mean to all the people who helped him get there.

"I know how hard some people have worked and haven't gotten the opportunity I have," Baldelli said. "I know how much my father loves the game, and I play for them. You try to forget what's going on while you're out there, but you definitely appreciate the people you know are there for you."

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