Rays/MLB

A chance to make a big splash

Evan Longoria rode his swell summer to a lucrative deal with the Devil Rays.

By SCOTT PURKS
Published July 16, 2006

The second game of the 2005 Cape Cod League season had just ended.

Standing outside the dugout, Chatham A's manager John Schiffner was telling his players what they needed to do for the next day, such as: show up to catch the bus at 2:30 p.m., wear the white uniform, don't forget the -

Out of the blue, Evan Longoria said, "Coach, let's hurry this up; I have my eye on that blonde over there."

Schiffner turned to see who the blonde was and, after a pause, said to her, "Oh, hi, Sarah, how are you doing tonight?"

Then Schiffner turned to Longoria and said, "That's my niece."

Longoria, flushing red, lowered his face and said, "Coach, you're killin' me."

Everyone laughed.

A year later, Schiffner and Longoria both laughed in the retelling.

And why not?

A month ago, Longoria signed a $3-million deal after being picked third overall by Tampa Bay, something that might not have happened, he said, if not for Schiffner and the Cape Cod League.

"I loved the Cape Cod League," Longoria said. "I felt right at home there right from the start.

"It was a perfect place at a perfect time for me."

Of course it was.

By season's end, he was the league's most valuable player, which was, in truth, a remarkable ending even to him.

"When I got invited to play in the Cape Cod League, I was surprised because I didn't think I was even on their radar," Longoria said from Visalia, Calif., where he's playing Class A ball. "I wasn't even among any high draft pick talks or anything like that. I was just thinking, 'Man, I'm going in there with the best of the best college players.'

"So I went there with the idea that I was going to have fun. And that's what I did. If I would have had an average summer, I still would have had a good time, because really, that was my goal."

Then again, Longoria said, that's easy for him to say because he hit .299 and led the league with eight home runs and 35 RBIs.

"I miss the Cape League," he said.

"I want to go back and visit sometime. I made a lot of friends there."

One of whom, by the way, was Sarah.

[Last modified July 16, 2006, 01:54:39]