Carlos' Corner: 'You have to give of yourself'
A's rookie continues daily diary
By Carlos Peņa
Special to MLB.com
Carlos Peņa, a 23-year-old rookie, was acquired by Oakland during the
offseason in a six-player trade with Texas. Expected to replace Jason
Giambi as the A's starting first baseman, perhaps as soon as Opening
Day, Peņa is considered one of the top prospects in the game and has
agreed to provide for MLB.com an exclusive daily diary for the 2002
season. On Sunday he started at first base and went 1-for-3 in the
A's 4-2 win over a split-squad version of the host Anaheim Angels,
and after the game he addressed his relationship with fans.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- I think of my relationship with fans the way I think
of any other relationship in my life. You have to give of yourself
completely to experience all that the relationship has to offer, and
I want to feel the warmth of the entire baseball experience.
I'm so grateful to be able to play at the Major League level, and I
want to just drown myself in the true essence of the game. The fans
are obviously a big part of what we do, and I know that this isn't
going to last forever, so I'm going to give them everything I have to
give -- just like I give everything I have to the team when I'm on
the field.
A lot of people have warned me about giving up too much of myself,
but I've put a lot of thought into this, and I'm guilty of not taking
some of that advice. The thing is, I want to feel everything about my
career so intensely, so intimately, and to do that I have to be
intimate with the fans to a certain extent.
I don't want to be afraid or fearful of giving people a glimpse of
the person behind the player. Some people think that could eventually
lead to a lack of privacy or even a dangerous situation, but you have
to take risks in life to get the biggest rewards. And this is a risk
that I'm willing to take.
Sometimes it's as simple as making eye contact or giving an older fan
a nice smile. Other times it's tossing a ball into the stands, like I
did today after the last out. I give away a lot of baseballs --
they're probably going to start taking money out of my check for that
if I keep it up. But I have a hard time saying "no" to people,
particularly the fans.
It's all good stuff with the fans. I haven't had any negative
experiences yet, and as long as that keeps up, I'll keep giving them
a piece of me. Because if you think about it, they've given me the
ultimate respect by paying their hard-earned money to come watch me
play baseball. I just want to give them that same kind of respect
back.
Carlos Peņa's diary appears as told to Mychael Urban, who covers the
A's for MLB.com.
