Pittsburgh's Jason Bay: a difficult road to stardom: traded three times before establishing himself as a major league player, outfielder found a home with the Pirates

Baseball Digest, July, 2008 by Jim Bianchine

JUDGING BY HIS AFFABLE NATURE, quiet ways and polite persona, one would hardly think he was a rebel as a child and certainly no one would have thought him unpatriotic.

But a boy named Jason Bay growing up in a town of about 8,000 in Trail, British Columbia, Canada was determined to remain true to his roots in the great white north and the tools of his trade were going to involve lumber, but in a little different way than most boys growing up in a nation that embraces its true love, hockey.

As a youngster, despite being proficient on skates as most Canadian youth, Bay followed another path and dared to love another sport that was championed in a country just south of his.

Since trading his hockey stick for a baseball bat at an early age, Bay has become the face of a franchise, a two-time All-Star, one of major league baseball's elite players.

Bay, often mentioned as "the Canadian Bay," smiles at the constant reference and recalled the days of his youth when baseball became his love despite hockey being the king, not only in his native land but his tiny town that produced a number of NHL players.

"I liked hockey but I was just better at baseball. When you are a kid you like to play things you are good at. I played hockey and was alright, but the passion wasn't there. I used to have my baseball uniform on three hours before our games," said the strapping, 6-2, 205-pounder who has established himself as one of the premier players in baseball.

His roots are evident in his smooth swing, most noticeably in his powerful wrists that jerk balls out of parks to all fields or line them in gaps, much the same way a hockey player slaps a puck into the back of a net.

"I was always told I had good wrists. I guess it is something I am blessed with. Maybe it is the one difference I have from everybody else, something I can offer," said Bay.

When the right-handed slugger stands in the box, he wriggles his ominous black bat like a snake about to strike as he uncoils those wrists.

What he truly has offered to a downtrodden franchise is a form of hope, the star part of a very good collection of .young talent on the rise in Pittsburgh. But the wrists could well have come from naturally being Canadian by birth or by watching one of his heroes, hometown boy from Trail, longtime NHL standout Ray Ferrarro.

"Ray had gone to school with some of my family and as a kid I knew he was in the NHL and followed him a lot,"' said Bay, who admitted to sharing that hero worship.

"In baseball I liked Eric Davis, especially when he was with the Reds. He was a five-tool guy and fun to watch," said Bay.

In 2004, despite a late start playing 120 games, he became a once-storied franchise's very first Rookie of the Year when he batted .282 with 26 homers and drove in 82 runs. He had a .550 slugging percentage and broke the club rookie record for homers (23) set by Johnny Rizzo in 1936 and equaled by Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner in 1946.

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But there were questions as to whether Bay, who had played so few professional games before and was part of a trade with San Diego that cost the Pirates popular Brian Giles, was a one-year wonder?

"I didn't give the (sophomore) jinx thing much thought," said Bay who admitted he was shocked at how easy things came to him in his first season in the big leagues despite playing in a spacious park for a right-handed hitter.

"I surprised myself because I missed the first five weeks of the season after coming back from (off-season wrist) surgery. A lot of people forgot that I only had a month in the big leagues (all of 30 games) at that point. It was very new to me and all of a sudden that year people were looking to me to be a savior. I kind of felt overwhelmed at times and was still learning," said Bay.

He knew then that playing for a club steeped in history with Hall of Fame players Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell, that in many ways he was the new face of a franchise struggling to regain its winning tradition.

"I know in some ways I am. It is something I relish to a certain degree. But I am not the type of guy who wants to have his face on everything. But I know I have certain responsibilities," said Bay who has woven himself into the fabric of the city and according to the Pirates brass is a quiet, but very active participant in the city.

With something to prove, Bay simply went out his second year and established himself as one of the finest players in baseball in 2005 with the stats and his first appearance on the National League All-Star team to prove it, becoming the first player in Pirates history to hit at least .300 with 30 home runs, 40 doubles 20 stolen bases, 100 runs and 100 RBI in the same season.

After the All-Star nod, a campaign in which he hit .306 with 32 homers and 101 RBI, encores were getting a bit more difficult.

In his third season, Bay put up solid numbers once again, hitting .286 with 35 homers and drove in 109 runs. His production earned him a starting nod on the N.L. All-Star team. When he was announced at his home park, there was a thunderous roar he will likely never forget. He was the first Pirate to start an All-Star game in 13 years.