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Hunter targets home for encouragement Thursday, Jun 26, 2008 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Fifteen years and a few dollars removed from the sandlots of southeast Arkansas, Torii Hunter continues to take advice from the folks back home. Wait. Advice? A seven-time Gold Glove winner and career .271 hitter takes advice? An All-Star center fielder who will make $90 million over the next five years gets pointers from friends in Pine Bluff? Well, sort of. "It's not advice as far as hitting and things like that," Hunter said in an interview before his Los Angeles Angels' win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. It's more like encouragement, he said, from mentors such as Mark Jelks, a former Pine Bluff baseball coach said he gave up trying to coach Hunter long ago. "Well, I quit giving him advice about 15 years ago and I started asking him for financial advice about 15 years ago," Jelks quipped. Hunter said any comforting words from his friends helps his game. "They just come and say, 'Keep your head up,' and give positive words and positive feedback," he said. "You take that positive in, and positive things happen. That's what they do, just call me and wish me luck or say they're praying for me, things like that." In return, Hunter's baseball advice is apparently worth seeking. "He's a great one. There are times I've called him (for advice) about specifics, about how to play a ball in the outfield or correct a batting stance," Jelks said. Headed into Wednesday, Hunter was hitting .316 with two home runs and eight RBIs in his last 14 games. His season batting average is .279. He went 3-for-4 and scored a run in the Angels' 8-3 victory Tuesday in the second game of a three-game series at Washington. The Angels lead the American League West and have the second-best record in baseball. Hunter, 32, is in his first season with the Angels after nine at Minnesota. Beloved in the Twin Cities, Hunter said when he signed with L.A. last year that his "welcome" was gone. "I miss Minnesota. The fans were great and I loved it there," Hunter said Tuesday. "I guess I was just the victim of their thought I was getting older and things like that." The move brought with it a media glare as bright as the southern California sunshine. Hunter spent much of his pre-game time with television and print media interviews Tuesday. He's been featured on HBO and his life and rough-and-tumble background laid out in detail in Los Angeles newspaper profiles. "He's ready to handle that atmosphere that L.A. brings," said Carlos James, a friend who now coaches baseball at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. "Anything you say in L.A. will be put in lights and in black and white. It's the perfect environment for him, the type of guy he is, with his attitude. He's Hollywood," James added. Hunter described himself as humble and as someone who hasn't let his fame change him. He was drawn to California for the weather - "the sun is great, man. The weather's always 75 degrees and sunny, no rain," he said - and the prospect of playing on natural grass instead of the artificial turf inside Minnesota's Metrodome. Natural grass, softer than turf, is easier on the athletic outfielder's knees and should prolong his career, he said. That's a must for Hunter, who said he will keep playing until he wins a championship. Hunter helped Minnesota to the postseason four times, but the Twins never made it to the World Series. "I'm going to play five more years and then hopefully I'll get that ring within the five years," he said. "If I get a ring, I'm definitely going to retire, but if I don't, I'm still going to keep searching." Jelks said he thinks a championship is within reach for Hunter this year. "He's going to get one this year and that's why he's where he's at," Jelks said. "It won't be his fault if he doesn't. He loves playing, but he loves winning more." |
