![]() " would flash those rings and drop the name A-Rod and tell Mike, 'I can get you there,'" Eysmann said.īut Napoli stayed at Flanagan. Munro knew Napoli was good but hadn't realized how good until the summer of his senior year, when he went to a couple of wood-bat showcases, did well and his name started popping up on the Baseball America top-prospects lists. The Westminster baseball coach was Rich Hoffman, who had coached Alex Rodriguez at Westminster Christian in Miami. Munro, the Flanagan coach, remembers how the private-school powerhouse in the area, Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale, tried to persuade Napoli to transfer there. He's one of the guys who fits right on our team." "He's a mama's boy," said Claus, the scout. Which leads us to one of the more memorable descriptions you'll ever hear about Mike Napoli. She estimates she comes up for a series at least once a month, she has been here for most of the postseason - some friends back home take care of the dogs - and every Mother's Day the whole family flies to wherever Mike is playing to spend the day together. I'm sorry."ĭonna has been going to Mike's games since he was in T-ball and she was working two jobs, and she and Rick will be sitting in the family section at Fenway Park when the World Series opens Wednesday night. "Just want to let you know Michael is my No. The other day, he swiped her cellphone so he could send a text message to his younger sister, Michelle, who is in her second year at Florida State University, where she is majoring in sports management. "He's like, 'Mom, you'll always be there.'" "I always tease him, 'You can take as long as you want finding a wife because I'll stay in that No. "He takes care of his brothers and sisters," Rick said. His idea of a good time in the offseason? Throwing some steaks on the grill, popping open a few beers, inviting everybody to the house to watch some football. The house he bought? It's in Pembroke Lakes, four miles from where Rick and Donna live. You have to understand how close Mike is to his mother, his family and his buddies. "Conditions it, combs it, grooms it, trims it, does it all himself." He was saying, 'Ouch, it hurts.' I said, 'Let's take the hair straightener to it.' He said no."Ī man's got to draw a line somewhere, especially when it comes to his beard. After a game one night, I said, 'Let me see if I can braid it.' He said, 'No, Mom,' but I took it and braided it to one side. "I'm thinking how his little sideburns had to be shaved when he was 10," she said. Rick was in the kitchen, about to prepare Napoli's favorite egg sandwich: four eggs, ham, salami, cheese, all on a big bun that you scrunch as much as you can, like a pancake, cut it in half and covered with hot sauce. She was speaking from Napoli's condo in Boston, and she laughed. He remembers including in his scouting report that Napoli had what he called a "chinstrap beard."ĭonna Torres is Napoli's mother, remarried to Rick Torres, a Pembroke Pines, Fla., fireman for 25 years, now retired. Todd Claus, who is now the Latin American coordinator for the Red Sox, was a Florida-area scout then for the Angels, the team that drafted and signed Napoli in 2000. "His father, Joe? Shake his father's hand, it'll crush you. You knew he would be able to get it done. "He had a full beard in the ninth grade," said Napoli's buddy and Flanagan High teammate Mark Eysmann. "Honestly, he was a full-grown man with facial hair." "Mike looked older than I did," Munro said by phone the other day from Utah, driving back to his home in Colorado after a family vacation. That's when he first met his junior catcher, Mike Napoli. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserīOSTON - Tyler Munro, 25 years old and baby-faced, was the new coach at Flanagan, a recently opened high school in south Florida, eager to meet his new team and gauge just how good the talent was in this baseball-rich territory.
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