Reporting from St. Petersburg, Fla. — Ernie Banks made 14 All-Star teams during a 19-year Hall of Fame career in which he hit 512 home runs and won two most-valuable-player awards. But he never played in a World Series.
Hector Lopez played in five World Series in as many years. Yet, he never made an All-Star team.
Which brings us to Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, who has yet to play a full season in the majors but has already been in one World Series and Tuesday night will appear in his second All-Star game, this time as the American League's starting third baseman.
If early success can spoil a player, then Longoria, who received the third-highest number of AL All-Star votes (only Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees and Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins got more), should be as rank as a month-old carton of milk.
But instead of carrying himself like a superstar, he acts as if he's just lucky to be wearing a big league uniform -- which, in many ways, he is.
"He wasn't a silver spooner when it comes to this game," Tampa Bay Manager Joe Maddon says of Longoria, who goes into the All-Star break hitting .285 and ranking among the major league leaders in runs batted in with 66. "He had to grow into it. And grow into becoming good also."
Ignored in the draft out of high school, Longoria didn't receive so much as a scholarship offer after his senior year at Bellflower's St. John Bosco High. So he went to Rio Hondo College in Whittier.
Two years later he transferred to Long Beach State, where the coaches asked him to change positions because they already had a shortstop in future major leaguer Troy Tulowitzki. Longoria not only deferred to Tulowitzki on the field, he deferred to him off it as well, sleeping on a futon in the suite the two players shared.
That's hardly the resume of a player who would go on to become a unanimous choice as the AL rookie of the year, as Longoria did last year.
"He's not a kid who is extremely talented and just pretty much knows it," Tampa Bay teammate and fellow All-Star Carlos Pena says. "He's a guy who respects the game, respects his teammates, doesn't take anything for granted. That's his best asset -- his makeup. The talent will obviously blossom . . . just because of the way he is."
Agrees Maddon: "He's very grounded. Great family. Great baseball background."
And the foundation of that background was hard work, followed by more hard work and uncommon dedication.
