PopTop
01-09-2003, 10:50 AM
http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/hou/homepage/hou_homepage.jsp
Zinter honored for perseverance
After 14 years in minors, he finally got his due call
By Alyson Footer / MLB.com
HOUSTON -- Let's go out on a limb and say that inevitably, Alan Zinter is going to someday be a Trivial Pursuit question.
After all, anyone who played in 1,414 minor league games -- spanning 14 years -- before receiving that first call to the big leagues surely caught the attention of at least one Milton Bradley-type executive looking for fresh material.
And Zinter's whirlwind ride of 2002 -- one that made him one of the league's oldest rookies -- isn't over yet. The 34-year-old former No. 1 draft pick of the New York Mets will be honored at the 11th annual RBI Foundation Sportsman of the Year dinner on Jan. 24.
The modern-day "Crash Davis" will receive a special recognition award at the banquet, which will take place at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Houston.
"They said (the award) was for perseverance," Zinter said from his home in Oro Valley, Ariz. "That's really nice. I've never been part of something like this, at this level, for a major sports team."
To prepare himself for the event, Zinter called teammate Billy Wagner, who will attend the dinner to accept the 2003 Sportsman of the Year award.
Wagner assured Zinter the affair was an enjoyable one, with a relatively small turnout.
"I thought it would be maybe 50, 60 people," Zinter said. "Then Billy says 'It's only four or five hundred people.' I said, 'That's small?!"
Zinter was drafted nearly a decade and a half ago as the Mets' first-rounder in 1989 but it wasn't until June 16, 2002, that his plan to make it to the big leagues came to fruition. Upon receiving the news of his promotion during a Triple-A game in New Orleans, Zinter met the Astros in Milwaukee, where the team was beginning a four-game series with the Brewers.
He was an immediate media magnet. As word of his callup spread, Zinter spent the first two days of that series granting more than a dozen interviews with news entities spanning from "This Week in Baseball" to The New York Times. A week later, ESPN ran a 10-minute feature on Zinter's improbable rise to the Majors. It seemed that everyone wanted a piece of this feel-good story as it unfolded.
Zinter said he views the RBI Foundation award as a "fitting close" to a dream year, one that he hopes to continue in six weeks when he reports to Spring Training as a non-roster invite. His desire to reach the Major Leagues remains, but his outlook has changed a bit.
"I want to contribute to the team, not just be up here and say 'Hey, I made it,'" Zinter said. "I would love to come back, do a good job and help the team."
The Recycled Baseball Items (RBI) Foundation is a non-profit organization that promoted youth baseball and softball in the greater Houston area by providing equipment, league organization and instructional clinics to any group working with children, all free of charge.
The foundation receives and distributes used baseball and softball equipment donated from the community. Since its inception in 2002, more than 25,000 boys and girls in over 220 organizations have received equipment.
For more information about the banquet, contact Carol Snowden at 713-963-0464.
Zinter honored for perseverance
After 14 years in minors, he finally got his due call
By Alyson Footer / MLB.com
HOUSTON -- Let's go out on a limb and say that inevitably, Alan Zinter is going to someday be a Trivial Pursuit question.
After all, anyone who played in 1,414 minor league games -- spanning 14 years -- before receiving that first call to the big leagues surely caught the attention of at least one Milton Bradley-type executive looking for fresh material.
And Zinter's whirlwind ride of 2002 -- one that made him one of the league's oldest rookies -- isn't over yet. The 34-year-old former No. 1 draft pick of the New York Mets will be honored at the 11th annual RBI Foundation Sportsman of the Year dinner on Jan. 24.
The modern-day "Crash Davis" will receive a special recognition award at the banquet, which will take place at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Houston.
"They said (the award) was for perseverance," Zinter said from his home in Oro Valley, Ariz. "That's really nice. I've never been part of something like this, at this level, for a major sports team."
To prepare himself for the event, Zinter called teammate Billy Wagner, who will attend the dinner to accept the 2003 Sportsman of the Year award.
Wagner assured Zinter the affair was an enjoyable one, with a relatively small turnout.
"I thought it would be maybe 50, 60 people," Zinter said. "Then Billy says 'It's only four or five hundred people.' I said, 'That's small?!"
Zinter was drafted nearly a decade and a half ago as the Mets' first-rounder in 1989 but it wasn't until June 16, 2002, that his plan to make it to the big leagues came to fruition. Upon receiving the news of his promotion during a Triple-A game in New Orleans, Zinter met the Astros in Milwaukee, where the team was beginning a four-game series with the Brewers.
He was an immediate media magnet. As word of his callup spread, Zinter spent the first two days of that series granting more than a dozen interviews with news entities spanning from "This Week in Baseball" to The New York Times. A week later, ESPN ran a 10-minute feature on Zinter's improbable rise to the Majors. It seemed that everyone wanted a piece of this feel-good story as it unfolded.
Zinter said he views the RBI Foundation award as a "fitting close" to a dream year, one that he hopes to continue in six weeks when he reports to Spring Training as a non-roster invite. His desire to reach the Major Leagues remains, but his outlook has changed a bit.
"I want to contribute to the team, not just be up here and say 'Hey, I made it,'" Zinter said. "I would love to come back, do a good job and help the team."
The Recycled Baseball Items (RBI) Foundation is a non-profit organization that promoted youth baseball and softball in the greater Houston area by providing equipment, league organization and instructional clinics to any group working with children, all free of charge.
The foundation receives and distributes used baseball and softball equipment donated from the community. Since its inception in 2002, more than 25,000 boys and girls in over 220 organizations have received equipment.
For more information about the banquet, contact Carol Snowden at 713-963-0464.