Jason Giambi embraces role of wise veteran in the Cleveland Indians clubhouse

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- On the wall just outside the Indians clubhouse, a photo collage is growing. Players have taped up snapshots of teammates in various stages of the game, at important times in this young season.

In one, Mark Reynolds is crushing the ball to the upper rows of the bleachers in the at-bat after getting hit by a pitch. In another, Asdrubal Cabrera is making a stunning defensive play.
The anchor, however, is a series of five photos depicting the moment in time in which Jason Giambi became the Tribe clubhouse leader. When he slid -- head-first -- into first base.

Afterward, in the aftermath of the infield base hit in an April 30 game, the 42-year-old Giambi said he felt like Mr. Potato Head because "my parts were going everywhere." But his pride in the moment is evident in the inscription scrawled on one of the photos on the wall.

"To the boys," it reads, "Play like you live -- hard!"

A career spent both playing and living hard has led to this for Giambi: He is the savvy veteran Indian, carrying a wealth of information from 19 seasons in the big leagues. He's an unofficial manager-in-training who still has enough pop in his bat to make him an occasional DH in the lineup. A reformed hard partier (he hasn't had a drink in three years) and former steroid user (he admitted his mistakes), Giambi through it all has had a knack for knowing not only how to consistently get hits (career .280 average) but also to quietly pass that knowledge along.

"I've been on top of the world and I've been in the gutter," Giambi said. "I know what it's like to struggle. I've won an MVP. I've done it all."

 His goatee is now gray and scraggly. He regularly pokes fun at his own creaky joints. His batting average is only .205, the lowest since he hit .201 with Oakland and Colorado in 2009.

But this is not what matters. Tribe manager Terry Francona loves him so much that he has called him "the veteran," instead of merely "a" veteran. The two crossed paths ages ago in Double-A ball, spent years on opposite sides of the Yankees-Red Sox battles, and vowed to one day join forces.
Now, Francona can openly gush about why something like Giambi's head-first slide epitomizes not only how the veteran plays the game, but how it should be played by everyone.

"In one, quick, 90-foot segment, he displayed what he's about," Francona said. "That showed how he feels toward the game of baseball."

That passion also shows why Giambi was a finalist for the Colorado Rockies' managerial opening in the off-season. That and his knowledge of baseball strategy and mechanics.

"Like the rest of us, I think as he got married -- he's got a child, now -- and with the maturation of life in general, he has a deeper appreciation for the game," said Rockies General Manager Dan O'Dowd. "He's got a great gift to make a difference in other people's lives just because of the kind of personality and individual he is. ... He really is a high-quality connection person."

Take his relationship with 26-year-old second baseman Jason Kipnis, for instance. The two noticed they had similar swings -- "He's a little bit bigger boy than I am, but the swing paths we take are kind of the same," Kipnis said -- and they struck up a hitting conversation. Now, whenever Kipnis does something wrong, Giambi pulls him aside.

"I'll come back to the dugout and he'll call me out right away, he'll say, 'Hey, you dipped your shoulder on this one,'" Kipnis said. "He knows swings, he knows bat paths. He's a real smart player and he has a lot of talent. I think he's done a great job of passing that along to other guys on this team. ... He's been one of the most approachable guys I've ever come across. He's such an easy-going guy, but the man knows the game of baseball."

Maybe it's coincidence, but Kipnis has found more success at the plate of late, with four home runs and 10 RBI in his last 10 games.

Then there's Nick Swisher, one of the Indians' biggest free-agent acquisitions, who said he's honored to finally play with the player he once idolized. The two missed each other with stints in Oakland and the Yankees, but managed to find adjoining lockers in Cleveland.

"There's nothing he doesn't have, there's nothing he hasn't been part of," Swisher said. "It's been great, especially for a lot of these young guys. I mean, Jason Giambi. That's a name, you know? Just to be able to have him in here has been awesome. Not only for the young guys, but for the veterans as well. Everybody looks up to him. He does it right and he's done it right his whole career."
Well, not always. He's admitted steroid use in his early days in the majors, the years where he pounded 43 homers and was American League MVP in 2000. But he came clean, and he said he's grown up. He's more apt to tell stories about 18-month-old daughter London than his days trailing after his own idol, Mark McGwire, in Oakland.

"He's getting old," Swisher joked. "He's still the same guy, the biggest heart in the room. But he's a daddy now. He has a little girl and I think that's his world, now. I think to be able to see the guy he was in the past and see how he is now, it's just kinda like a growing up process, I guess. You have different chapters in your life, and I think he's definitely on that Daddy Chapter."

It's very likely the Daddy Chapter is followed closely by a Manager Chapter. Everyone sees the potential, but believes Giambi has some ability left to contribute.

"I still think he's got a couple years left in the tank to do this," Swisher said. "[But] to be able to have a guy who not only was almost a manager but still has the ability to come out here and play the game, the knowledge he can drop on everybody is crucial. In this game, it's all about experience. If a guy's got 100 years in the big leagues, he's got a lot of experience."

Said O'Dowd: "I do think he has to get the playing part out of his system. I don't think he should ever move forward to that capacity until you've put that to rest. But I do think when he decides to put that to rest, and he is truly committed to managing, he'll be great at it."

For now, Giambi relishes his role as veteran, Tribe clubhouse leader, manager-in-waiting and head-first slider.

"I'm having the time of my life every day," Giambi said. "I still love playing the game. Sometimes I wish my body would do a little bit more or what my mind thinks it can do. To me, I can still play every day. I can still hit, I can hit everybody on the planet. It's just unfortunately it doesn't react like it used to.

"But the fun part of that, that's just another progression of this game, just another fight that you fight. You're on top of the world, then you try to stay there, then now the new fight is Father Time. There's always a new fight that you have, whether it's this game or life or anything. There's always some obstacle. I've been blessed and I'm grateful and I'm glad I'm still playing."