Oakland's Byrnes making believers
BY JANIE McCAULEY
Associated Press
Publication date: 05/27/2003
OAKLAND -- Eric Byrnes gracefully gallops across the outfield grass to make a spectacular diving catch. Later, he charges straight for the wall with seemingly no care for the consequences that come from crashing hard into thinly padded cement.
Byrnes, with his shaggy blond hair and upbeat attitude, has finally earned an everyday spot with the A's, and he's not going to give it back without a fight.
"He never stops, and never did as a child," says Byrnes' mother, Judy. "I absolutely have to say prayers before every game. I can't watch him running into the walls that much. He's done that since he was little. I don't think he knows any other way to play. He was a difficult little guy to raise because of his energy."
Byrnes is doing so well as a starter that the A's are pondering just what they're going to do when right fielder Jermaine Dye returns from injury in the coming weeks. When Dye hurt his knee in April, it provided just the break Byrnes needed to show the A's what he's believed all along — that he canbe a consistent contributor at the big-league level.
“I was never a prospect coming up,” Byrnes said. “I was an eighth-round pick. There wasn’t a lot of attention, nor do I think there were a whole lot of expectations. I always knew in my mind that the success when I’m playing on the field was what was going to get me to the big leagues, and in the same way I know that the success that I have on the field is going to keep me in the big leagues.”
Byrnes is all over the national television highlights, whether it’s trying to rob a home run with a high grab against the wall, or saving a game with a key hit. He’s a regular on an A’s radio show — partly because he likes to wake up early.
How things have changed for the 27-year-old outfielder in just more than a month.
“He’s becoming a major league baseball player,” A’s hitting coach Thad Bosley said. “I believe every major league baseball player who puts on a uniform can be an everyday player. The X factor is opportunity. ... It’s a difficult thing to do (after pinch hitting). He’s showing the organization and other organizations in the game ’I can do this.’”
As a backup, Byrnes had a routine for how he prepared to play late in the game.
The stationary bike. Abdominal work. In the third inning, he was off to the batting cage for running and sprints. Then some hitting. He monitored the TV the whole time, just in case he was needed back in the dugout in a hurry.
Byrnes used to joke with the team’s video man to come get him from the batting cage only if all three A’s outfielders happened to collide — not two, but all three.
“I figured that was the only way I was going to get in the game,” Byrnes said, smiling.
Many believe had Byrnes been in the game during the 2001 AL division series against the New York Yankees, the result may have been different.
Yankees All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter raced across the diamond and made his famous sidearm flip from the first-base line to the plate that nailed Jeremy Giambi in the seventh inning of a 1-0 New York win.
Had Byrnes been in to pinch run, he knows he would have scored. That was Game 3, and the A’s went on to lose the first-round series.
“I haven’t spent too much time dwelling on it,” Byrnes said. “When people bring it up, yeah, I don’t think there would have been much of a doubt that I would have scored on that play as long as I stayed on my two feet. It’s one of the most infamous plays in Oakland Athletics history and probably one of the best plays in Yankee history. I shrug it off. I wish I could have been in there and I wish we could have gone to the World Series that year, but that’s why this sport is so interesting.
“It’s unbelievable how great you can feel at one moment — you can have a great game one day and the next day you’re 0-for-5 with a couple of strikeouts and scratching your head.”
Byrnes hasn’t had very many of those so far this season. He singled Sunday against Kansas City to lift his team-high batting average to .350 while extending his career-best hitting streak to 16 consecutive games. He had three home runs and 20 RBIs. He has even taken over the leadoff spot from the struggling Mark Ellis. Byrnes is probably the fastest player on the A’s, too.
“It’s that time in his career when he’s at the stage to go out and make a name from himself and establish himself,” center fielder Chris Singleton said. “You have to have that drive. He’s got great speed. I like watching him get around the bases. Other times you go ’Uh oh!’ But he makes the plays.”
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