Locals don Boston Red Sox hats and shirts as they watch a Hernando High product play on baseball's grandest stage.
By JOHN SCHWARB
Published October 31, 2004
[Getty Images]
Bronson Arroyo, a 1995 Hernando High graduate and Brooksville resident, celebrates with Boston Red Sox fans Wednesday after his team swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
BROOKSVILLE - The nervous feeling was unusual for Tim Sims. Hundreds of baseball games as a player and a coach never did it.
Watching a game on television did.
Mind you, this was no ordinary night of baseball. This was Game 4 of the World Series, and Brooksville's own Bronson Arroyo was taking the mound.
"I'm never nervous, but we were going through the same things that the people in Boston were," said Sims, Arroyo's high school baseball coach. "When Bronson came in, we turned into true Bostonians and got nervous."
Many Hernando County residents were transformed into honorary Bostonians on Wednesday night, and for weeks prior, as the Boston Red Sox made a push for the playoffs and then advanced to the World Series with an unprecedented triumph.
The Red Sox, long bridesmaids to the New York Yankees, came back from a 3-0 American League Championship Series deficit by becoming the first team in history to win four elimination games in a row, then in the World Series put to rest an 86-year title drought with a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.
In the middle of it all was Arroyo, a 1995 Hernando High grad and Brooksville resident who can now lay claim to being the first area product to be part of a pro sports championship.
Attempts by the Times to reach the 27-year-old late last week were unsuccessful. Not surprisingly, his cell phone mailbox has been full since the Series ended.
When Arroyo returns home, the city plans to have a welcoming party at the Jerome Brown Community Center.
"It's a dream for anybody," said Brooksville's parks and recreation director Mike Walker, himself a former major league pitcher. "For him to do it and be a local star from this small community is a great accomplishment."
At his alma mater, Arroyo was cited as a role model along with other notable Leopards graduates during orientation assemblies at the beginning of the school year. Principal Betty Harper said she hopes to invite Arroyo back to campus soon.
Arroyo, a right-hander who signed with Boston last year and started in the team's home opener in April, pitched in six games during the playoffs, including two in the World Series. In the deciding game Wednesday night, he made a relief appearance in the eighth inning, retiring one hitter and walking one.
A few dozen local Arroyo fans flocked to watch World Series games at the Applebee's restaurant in Brooksville. Although most sported the color red and wore Red Sox shirts or hats, they openly admitted that Arroyo was their only connection with the team.
When the team won the final game, the restaurant broke into claps and cheers. Several noticed that Arroyo had pulled his hat off as he stormed onto the field, and they speculated that Arroyo had consciously made the gesture so his hometown friends could recognize him on national television within the crowd of Red Sox players.
"Superstars in that league play 20 to 25 years and never even make the World Series," said Brooksville contractor Ron Ledington, a college basketball referee who met Arroyo while working Hernando High games.
"Here he is, all wet behind the ears, and he makes it, wins it, and even pitched in two games."
With area fans along for the ride.
"It's kind of neat when you know someone's playing," said Tim Jenkins, owner of the Red Mule Pub in Brooksville, a popular haunt for Arroyo when he's in town.
"That's probably the most baseball I've watched in a long time."
Staff writer Jennifer Liberto contributed to this report.
