Sports: The veteran

Baseball

The veteran

This might be the last opening day for former Rays catcher John Flaherty. Then again, last year's might have been, too. The thrill's still there, but he'll be ready when the end comes.

By EMILY NIPPS, Times Staff Writer

Squeezing out one more opening day is a happy thought for John Flaherty. If he had been denied that chance, he would have been happy with that, too.

This is the life of the 35-year-old catcher, a down-to-earth family man with a solid, if not spectacular, career. Drafted by the Red Sox in 1988, an original member of the Devil Rays, Flaherty spent this spring as a nonroster invitee trying to catch on with the Yankees.

Saturday, the Yankees chose Flaherty as their backup catcher, signing him to a one-year contract. Flaherty will get to experience the familiar feeling of preparing for the ceremonial start of the season, though this, like his last with the Rays, will feel more wistful.

After stints with four teams over the past 15 years -- six with Boston (the first four in the minors), two with Detroit, 11/2 with San Diego and five with Tampa Bay -- Flaherty insists he still gets opening-day jitters, and they always feel the same.

The feeling hasn't changed much since he was 10 waiting for Little League's opening day.

"I don't sleep with my uniform on now, but you still get excited," he said. "You still get fired up for it.

"I mean, I think if you talk to a lot of guys, young guys and guys who have been around, they're going to tell you if you're not nervous, there's something wrong with you. You have that anticipation and everybody starts off with the same record. You have all these hopes of having a great year and you're going to have the butterflies."

These days, though, opening day seems to be about reflection rather than making a statement. Though he still considers himself a workhorse who may or may not have reached his potential, he's under no false impression. This opening day very well might be his last.

"I thought maybe last year was my last opening day," he said. "The thing that felt different about last year was the fact that I wasn't playing on opening day. That was the first time that that had happened in a long time. I actually was able to appreciate what was going on around the game a little more. When you're in the lineup, you're focused on what you have to do. And when you're not, you can kind of take in everything."

Physically and psychologically, Flaherty's personal nuances of opening day haven't changed much, no matter how long he has been around or how close he gets to the end of his career. From his four seasons in the minors to his debut with Boston in 1992 to his recent status as a free agent, he can't remember an opener that didn't give him a rush.

"I'm sure it starts for a lot of guys the night before, but for me it was always on the way to the ballpark," he said. "There's so much anticipation of having a great year, and you're excited and you probably have too much adrenaline, too much energy.

"You can't duplicate the opening-day excitement. Maybe postseason, but that's even a little bit different because you've played 162 games. Mentally, physically, you're a little fatigued, so you can use that little burst of energy to get you going. Opening day, it's almost like you have to find a way to calm yourself down."

Flaherty, whose best season came in 1999 when he hit .278 with 14 home runs and 78 RBIs for the Rays, has known all spring he wouldn't be starting opening day.

Though that changes how he prepares for his first game, he insists it doesn't take away from the feeling.

"(Jorge) Posada would be the starter and I would be on the bench watching," he said. "So instead of preparing myself to go into the game, I'd actually be preparing myself to go in the game later on. So I would be able to enjoy the opening-day ceremonies a little bit more."

Flaherty is well aware of his standing. One more opening day is a thrill, but he would have been fine if his last already had come and gone. He wasn't afraid to admit it before getting the news Saturday that he'd be around one more year.

"I was preparing myself by taking it all in and looking around at everything last year, just in case it was my last opening day," Flaherty said.

If the Yankees had told him to "go home" before opening day, he said last week, he would have gotten in his car and gone to his Lutz home, where 10-year-old Kristen, 3-year-old John and 10-month-old Logan would be waiting for their father.

"If that was it, I'm happy with it. If I had nothing else to look forward to, I'd probably be more upset (at the thought of his career ending there). But once my kids came into the picture, that changed the way I looked at everything."