GaryMrMets
06-10-2005, 01:18 PM
Short Makes It to Majors After 11 Years
By HOWARD FENDRICH
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - After 1,235 hits in the minors, countless long bus rides, and all the offseason odd jobs to make ends meet in pursuit of a dream, Rick Short finally is a major league baseball player.
Short woke up at 3:30 a.m. Thursday to catch a flight to Washington and join the Nationals before their 4-3 victory against the Oakland Athletics at night, the first time the 32-year-old infielder has been to the bigs.
He didn't get into the game, but that hardly seemed to matter.
His first year in the minors was 1994, and he hit .301 at rookie-league Bluefield. But year after year in the minors followed, with never so much as a late-season callup, the only break being a one-season stint in Japan in 2003.
``Unfortunately, I think performance is not everything. You've got to be in the right spot at the right time,'' Short said, sitting in the clubhouse of a major league ballpark for the first time.
``You hope you're hot at the time that they need you. Hopefully, everything came together here, and I'll make the most of it.''
He was brought up from Triple-A New Orleans, where he was hitting .341 with 16 doubles, five homers and 30 RBIs - raising his career average from the .312 he began 2005 with. About 15 relatives and friends were driving from his native Illinois to be in the RFK Stadium stands on Thursday for a glimpse of Short wearing a major league uniform for the first time, No. 35.
``I was happy, because usually, I'm in the 60s,'' he said, a reference to the high numbers non-roster players are often given in spring training.
It was during this spring that he caught Nationals manager Frank Robinson's eye, even though Short got just six at-bats, with three hits, before being assigned to the minor league camp in early March.
So Robinson asked, essentially, ``Why not Short?'' when the Nationals were discussing this week which player should be brought in to add depth to the infield. Starting second baseman Jose Vidro is on the disabled list, and his replacement, Jamey Carroll, is nursing a sprained left ankle.
``He might give us a spark because he's supposed to be a real, real, real good hitter, and he's also supposed to be able to drive in those clutch runs, too,'' Robinson said.
Why does he think Short's wait was so long?
``When you get a label in this game, it's hard to shake it - and sometimes impossible,'' Robinson said.
For Short, that meant being tagged as someone for whom defense was a problem.
``I never really had a chance to concentrate on one position,'' he said. ``I learned to play them all and never really mastered any of them.''
Robinson said Short could be used at second base or third.
Early on in his baseball odyssey, Short needed to make extra money during offseasons. So he would do what came along, including cleaning carpets, hanging dry wall, teaching school and working in the sports department at a newspaper in Peoria, Ill.
All along, he was hanging on to his dream, figuring that if he kept hitting, someone would want him.
``It's so hard to give it up if you can still do it. It would be different if you were hitting .200 in Triple-A and just hanging on,'' Short said. ``But I can still do it, so I didn't really want to give it up.''
06/09/05 22:38 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
By HOWARD FENDRICH
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - After 1,235 hits in the minors, countless long bus rides, and all the offseason odd jobs to make ends meet in pursuit of a dream, Rick Short finally is a major league baseball player.
Short woke up at 3:30 a.m. Thursday to catch a flight to Washington and join the Nationals before their 4-3 victory against the Oakland Athletics at night, the first time the 32-year-old infielder has been to the bigs.
He didn't get into the game, but that hardly seemed to matter.
His first year in the minors was 1994, and he hit .301 at rookie-league Bluefield. But year after year in the minors followed, with never so much as a late-season callup, the only break being a one-season stint in Japan in 2003.
``Unfortunately, I think performance is not everything. You've got to be in the right spot at the right time,'' Short said, sitting in the clubhouse of a major league ballpark for the first time.
``You hope you're hot at the time that they need you. Hopefully, everything came together here, and I'll make the most of it.''
He was brought up from Triple-A New Orleans, where he was hitting .341 with 16 doubles, five homers and 30 RBIs - raising his career average from the .312 he began 2005 with. About 15 relatives and friends were driving from his native Illinois to be in the RFK Stadium stands on Thursday for a glimpse of Short wearing a major league uniform for the first time, No. 35.
``I was happy, because usually, I'm in the 60s,'' he said, a reference to the high numbers non-roster players are often given in spring training.
It was during this spring that he caught Nationals manager Frank Robinson's eye, even though Short got just six at-bats, with three hits, before being assigned to the minor league camp in early March.
So Robinson asked, essentially, ``Why not Short?'' when the Nationals were discussing this week which player should be brought in to add depth to the infield. Starting second baseman Jose Vidro is on the disabled list, and his replacement, Jamey Carroll, is nursing a sprained left ankle.
``He might give us a spark because he's supposed to be a real, real, real good hitter, and he's also supposed to be able to drive in those clutch runs, too,'' Robinson said.
Why does he think Short's wait was so long?
``When you get a label in this game, it's hard to shake it - and sometimes impossible,'' Robinson said.
For Short, that meant being tagged as someone for whom defense was a problem.
``I never really had a chance to concentrate on one position,'' he said. ``I learned to play them all and never really mastered any of them.''
Robinson said Short could be used at second base or third.
Early on in his baseball odyssey, Short needed to make extra money during offseasons. So he would do what came along, including cleaning carpets, hanging dry wall, teaching school and working in the sports department at a newspaper in Peoria, Ill.
All along, he was hanging on to his dream, figuring that if he kept hitting, someone would want him.
``It's so hard to give it up if you can still do it. It would be different if you were hitting .200 in Triple-A and just hanging on,'' Short said. ``But I can still do it, so I didn't really want to give it up.''
06/09/05 22:38 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.