You might think professional athletes have become spoiled. Might think the money and the fans and the hype have all conspired to strip them of their humility or sever any connection between them and regular fans.
Please meet Royals pitcher Kyle Davies, in a way that has to surprise you.
Im a laborer, man, he says into his cell phone. [img_r]http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2008/12/18/23/721-kyle_davies_pitching_12-19-2008_SP16VAH8.embedded.prod_affiliate.81.jpg[/img_r]
This was not a reference to needing to get his pitch count down. Actually, that was not a reference to pitching at all.
When Davies said that, he was driving home after a long days work, away from a construction site where hes been spending his days this offseason near his Georgia home.
Some guys are called throwbacks because they slide headfirst or wear a buzzcut or dont celebrate in the end zone. Davies might be more of a throwback than any of them.
Hes working a construction job to stay off the couch, keep active and make a little extra money although whatever hes making is a significant pay cut from the $427,000 he made with the Royals last year.
I work as a contractor, he says. A little of everything. I pour concrete, dig ditches, lay pipe, get on the machines, pick up garbage. Whatever they need me to do.
Sounds weird, right? But the guy who won all five of his September starts, the guy who Royals fans hope will fill out the rotation behind Zack Greinke and Gil Meche, toils and sweats, just like a lot of big-leaguers used to do before luxury suites and TV contracts made all that unnecessary.
Davies father, Hiram, runs a business that builds and renovates a lot of McDonalds restaurants. Hiram Davies is undoubtedly biased on this subject but calls his son the most dependable worker you can find.
Off but mostly on, Kyle Davies has worked for his fathers company since he was 12 or 13. His first day, they needed to put some insulation above a ceiling, and because Davies was the rookie and the smallest one, they had him do it.
Nobody mentioned that crawling around in all that insulation would make him itch like all heck, and Davies didnt make the connection until he got home and felt as if he wanted to rip his skin off. Instead, he jumped in the pool.
You could say there was some rookie hazing on the job that day, Hiram Davies said.
On draft day 2001, instead of waiting around by the phone, the Davieses went to build a McDonalds off Interstate 75 in downtown Atlanta. They were repairing a broken backhoe when Hiram Davies cell phone rang and a friend of Kyles said that the Braves had taken him in the fourth round.
Father and son smiled, hugged and then finished fixing that backhoe.
Now hes on the brink of establishing a big-league career. He signs a lot of baseballs for the guys he works with, but mostly, they treat him as they did when they tricked him into getting in that itchy insulation.
He didnt work the last two offseasons. In 2006, he was rehabbing a groin injury. Last year, he didnt have much of an excuse and didnt like that he was just sitting around.
I think its smart, Royals general manager Dayton Moore said of Davies offseason work. Keeps him in a routine. I know hes very intelligent about how he goes about it, and he doesnt compromise any of his preparation for the baseball season.
There are times when Davies doesnt like the work. Its hard. Running a jackhammer isnt fun for anybody. But he likes the challenge, likes the feeling after a hard days work and the sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing a project from beginning to end.