It's a typical Sunday at Blue Jays camp. They're hosting the Twins, and at the start of the seventh inning, Jose Bautista is subbed out of the lineup. His day on the field is over, but the work of a franchise player doesn't end after three at-bats -- even in Spring Training.
As Bautista makes his way down the right-field line toward the clubhouse, he's greeted by hundreds of fans begging for an autograph, and he stops to make sure everyone is satisfied -- even though most of them didn't even know he existed at this time last year.
Finally, about a half-hour later, it's time to work out. Bautista disappears into the Blue Jays' weight room, emerging after 90 minutes, dripping sweat. As he power walks his way to his locker, three reporters await an interview with the man who became the face of the Blue Jays by hitting 54 home runs last season and signing a $65 million contract.
He answered every question as if he had all the time in the world.
A sudden star
The first subject, of course, was Bautista's sudden emergence last season. It's an unavoidable topic when you were on five teams in one season as a rookie in 2004 -- that's a record, by the way -- and were a relative unknown until your age-29 season.
Somehow, in season No. 7, Bautista went from spare part to fourth in American League Most Valuable Player Award voting.
Did you ever see it coming?
"I never doubted it," he said. "It might sound like I'm full of it, but when you know you can do something and you can do it well, then you always fight to get that out of yourself, and I never gave up on myself and I kept working hard, even though I had a lot of ups and downs in my career."
Calling them "ups and downs" may not be totally accurate. Bautista had a lot of downs and not a lot of ups. He showed some promise in limited playing time in 2006, but the Pirates felt he took a step back in '07 -- when he batted .254 and hit 15 homers in 142 games -- and essentially gave up on him in '08.
The Blue Jays acquired him for a player to be named later, who turned out to be catcher Robinzon Diaz, that August. Now, he's on the cover of their media guide, hitting third in their lineup and leading their clubhouse.
Are you ready for that kind of responsibility?
"If anything," he said, "I feel more relaxed because I don't have anything to worry about but coming to the park and hitting the ball hard and playing good defence on a day-to-day basis. I don't have to worry if I'm going to be in the lineup, I don't have to worry about what the organization might view me as; if I'm going to make enough money in my career to be able to support my family and my kids, my grandkids. That's all out of the window."
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