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Tino, Luis put Tampa on top of the world
© St. Petersburg Times, Charlie Miranda, Tampa City Council member and son of West Tampa, had quite the dilemma Sunday night. He settled it by giving in. When Luis Gonzalez stepped up for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the last game of the World Series, Miranda cheered. When Tino Martinez picked up the bat for the Yankees, Miranda cheered. What else could he do? He knew these guys. He knew their parents. Miranda used to coach Little League on the same fields where the kids played. This does not make Charlie Miranda special. In West Tampa, where families stay for generations, lots of people know Gonzalez and Martinez. Pride spread Monday in happy contagion. So did amazement that two players who had grown up together and played ball together since the age of 6 could meet in the World Series. "The odds of this happening, if you were a gambler, are just astronomical," Miranda said. That's what Miranda said, but I'm not sure he's right. For Tampa does nothing but play baseball. It matters far more than football but it draws no attention to itself. It's just a game, played on weekends and at nights, on school lots or city parks, by kids and by adults, all year long, except when the skies open. Under these circumstances, Tampa can't help but produce extraordinary player after extraordinary player. Tampa has a long tradition of it. My list is incomplete, but Tampa's baseball roster includes Lou Piniella, Tony LaRussa, Steve Garvey, Wade Boggs, Dwight Gooden, Gary Sheffield, Sterling Hitchcock, and now, at least Calvin Pickering and Carl Everett of the Boston Red Sox, Fred McGriff of the Chicago Cubs, as well as Gonzalez and Martinez. "We are the capital of baseball," said Luis Aguela, a firefighter and with his family the owner of a West Tampa landmark lunch place, La Ideal. Like Charlie Miranda, Aguela has a personal tie to the city's heroes of the moment. He is friends with Luis Gonzalez. His mother, grandmother and aunt are also friends with Gonzalez. When Gonzalez visits Tampa, he always stops by La Ideal. They know a lot about baseball in West Tampa. It is the neighborhood's No. 1 sport, and also this city's No. 1 sport. Tino Martinez and Luis Gonzalez present Tampa with a wonderful chance to promote itself. They get this in West Tampa. "This puts us on the map," said Pedro Gonzalez (no relation to Luis), a firefighter eating at La Teresita on Monday. It puts Tampa on the map in a wonderfully old-fashioned way. Martinez and Gonzalez chased their dream around ballfield after ballfield. They first played together in the West Tampa Little League. They were leaders of the 1985 Jefferson High School baseball team. They parted ways when they went to college but both ended up in the Major Leagues. Their dream never flickered, and their friendship never languished. Before Sunday night's game, Gonzalez approached Martinez and embraced him. These are men you'd love teaching your kids, or least having your kids try to emulate. These are men you wish you could know. If you want to talk positive, and if you want to show what Tampa has that other cities do not possess, you would talk more about baseball. You would talk a lot. You would interview Little League coaches and high school coaches and players, and some of the big names that once walked in humbler shoes, and their passion would be enough to paint the picture. This is the real gift of Tino Martinez and Luis Gonzalez. The character of these men reflects the character of the city they call home. -- Mary Jo Melone can be reached at mjmelone@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3402.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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Times columns today Mary Jo Melone Elijah Gosier Eric Deggans Darrell Fry Jan Glidewell From the Times Metro desk Mary Jo Melone |
