[新聞] Yankees’ Teixeira: Behind Flashy Co …
這篇Teixeira的簡介, 可以稍微了解他的背景及個性: 簡單翻一下重點
他身穿23號的球衣, 原因是他小時的偶像是Don Mattingly, 15歲時他的母親得過乳癌, 治
療後現在已經痊癒。高中時他最好的一個朋友Nick Liberatore因車禍過世, 之後一年他和
朋友們都會在週三晚上陪Nick的家人共度晚餐。而他也以Nick的名字贊助一個獎學金。
2002年他的父親因腦瘤喪失了左邊的聽力。
高中畢業時他是全美頂級的高中新秀之一, 紅襪隊勸他放棄去念大學願意用1百五十萬美元
的簽約金簽下他, 被他所拒絕。然後紅襪便向各隊散布他要去念大學的消息, 讓其他球隊
不會想選他, 果然沒有球隊願意冒險選中他。之後紅襪留到第九輪才選中他。這造成
Teixeira的不滿, 便打電話到Georgia Tech Coach Danny Hall, 接受獎學金去念大學。同
時找了其他三個選手成為他的室友。
Georgia Tech時他是個三壘手, 之後2001年重新投入選秀成為全部選秀排名第五被游騎兵
選中的超級新秀。2001年由於隊中來了Hank Blalock讓他轉職變為一壘手, 之後2004年球
隊決定找Carlos Delgado當一壘手時, 他便自願去擔任外野手。或許也是因為過去跟紅襪
那段不快的經驗的影響, 他在游騎兵隊時是擔任隊中工會的助理代表, 為球員爭取權益。
大約的背後, 說真的他真的是個有禮貌謙虛的好人, 但期待他像Giambi那麼愛聊又會搞笑
恐怕就有困難了...
Yankees’ Teixeira: Behind Flashy Contract, a Humble Professional
www.nytimes.com
By BEN SHPIGEL
Published: December 24, 2008
At Yankee Stadium sometime soon, Mark Teixeira will put on the most
recognizable jersey in American sports, smile for the cameras and answer
dozens of questions about his agreeing to a $180 million contract to be the
Yankees’ switch-hitting, Gold Glove-winning first baseman for the next eight
years.
No doubt Teixeira will mention his elation that he will man the same
position, for the same team, as his boyhood idol, Don Mattingly, whose No. 23
Teixeira has worn for that reason.
For a laugh or two, he may drop in the fact that his father, John, played
high school baseball with Bucky Dent — we all know his role in the
Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.
Typical of these introductory news conferences, Teixeira will also be asked
whether he can thrive in New York when other big-ticket signings have
stumbled. And if so, Mark, why?
A confident, if generic, answer is likely to spill from his lips, much in the
mold of David Wright or his new teammate Derek Jeter, and he will move on to
the next query, and the next one, and so on.
That is who the 28-year-old Teixeira is: polite, humble, private. It would be
unlike him to open up and discuss influential moments in his life that have
produced his strong work ethic, his quest for order and routine, and an
ability to focus and compartmentalize that is admired by peers.
When he was 15, a freshman at Mount St. Joseph’s High School outside
Baltimore, he learned that his mother, Margy, had breast cancer. Weak from
chemotherapy, Margy, now cancer-free, still found a way to attend her son’s
baseball games.
Before his senior year, he lost one of his closest friends, Nick Liberatore,
when a truck driver fell asleep and slammed into a parked car that Liberatore
was sitting in along a shoulder of Interstate 95. For the next year, every
Wednesday night Teixeira and his friends would eat dinner with the Liberatore
family, and he has since endowed a scholarship in his friend’s name. And in
2002, Teixeira’s father, a former Navy pilot, had a benign brain tumor that
caused him to lose his hearing in his left ear.
“Whatever I’ve gone through, I think it’s all allowed me to enjoy the
game, but to understand the role of the game in life, too,” Teixeira told
The Dallas Morning News in 2005. “If you enjoy playing the game, it’s going
to be easier to focus on the game and put things in their proper place. When
you are between the lines, it is a game that should be enjoyed. When you are
in the clubhouse or getting ready, it’s work. And when you go home, it
should stay in the clubhouse.”
As one of the nation’s top high school prospects, Teixeira relied on that
perspective to help guide him through another difficult time, when the Red
Sox asked him to forgo college and agree to sign a $1.5 million bonus before
they selected him with their first-round pick. Teixeira declined, and the Red
Sox spread word that he was going to Georgia Tech. Every team passed on him
in the draft until the Red Sox nabbed him in the ninth round.
Incensed at Boston’s approach, Teixeira called Georgia Tech Coach Danny Hall
to accept a scholarship offer and wound up recruiting three players who would
become his roommates.
“I have a very cynical approach towards the draft,” Teixeira told Baseball
America in 2006. “I was naïve. It was my first realization to the business
in baseball. The Red Sox told everybody that I wouldn’t sign, and when it
got to a late enough round, they said, ‘Let’s take a flier on him.’ So
they spoiled me for everyone else.”
Teixeira played third base at Georgia Tech but, after being selected No. 5
over all by the Rangers in the 2001 draft, switched to first base because
Texas already had Hank Blalock. After the 2004 season, when the Rangers were
considering Carlos Delgado, Teixeira volunteered to switch to the outfield.
Such a move did not surprise Teixeira’s teammates, who noticed his
professionalism and attention to detail. He was the team’s assistant
representative to the union, hardened by his experiences with Boston and, to
an extent, Texas. So when Delgado signed with Florida, Teixeira, a solid
defensive player, concentrated on becoming the best.
The next February, at the Rangers’ spring training complex in Surprise,
Ariz., a team official watched Teixeira scoop low throws and stab sharply hit
grounders and predicted that he would win a Gold Glove that season. Teixeira
did. And in 2006, too.
By that point, well before he became a hot commodity at last season’s
trading deadline and the most desired position player on the free-agent
market, Teixeira had established himself as one of the more complete players
in baseball. Just do not expect him to talk much about it.
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