No Boos For Pedroia

Dustin Pedroia was in New York yesterday evening at the NY Baseball Writers Association Awards dinner, to finally claim the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year trophy he won awhile back. Others in attendance include Denny McLain, Ryan Braun, Bob Melvin, Jake Peavy, Jimmy Rollins, Johnny Damon, Joe Girardi, Joba Chamberlain, Omar Minaya, Brian Cashman, Bobby Murcer, Alex Rodriguez, Yogi Berra, Craig Biggio, Goose Gossage, Billy Wagner, Jeff Wilpon, Dick Williams, Willie Randolph, Dustin Pedroia, C.C. Sabathia and Luis Tiant. Jonathan Papelbon was not on hand to pick up his Deliveryman of the Year award- but the NY crowd continued the tradition of booing him anyway (he was booed at last year’s ceremony) when his highlight film was shown on the screen.

My first baseball boyfriend, Craig Biggio, was on hand and presented Dustin with his award. Gorden Edes refers to Biggio as “another hard-nosed little guy”– but there’s little… and then there’s Dusty P little. Craig is 5′11″- which probably makes him a good 4+ inches taller than Dustin. At least no one recycled the tired (and not at all accurate) comparisons to David Eckstein. Craig had some great things to say about Dustin:

What is there not to like about the guy? His last name ends in a vowel, and Tommy Lasorda always said you always had to love a guy whose name ended in a vowel. He was obviously the cream of the crop. The thing that epitomizes him the most, is that every time I flipped on SportsCenter, the man’s uniform is dirty. From what everybody tells me, he plays the game right, runs through first base every time, doesn’t dog it…

And in return, Dusty P was reportedly thrilled to get the award from Craig:

“That’s awesome, man,” he said to Biggio. “I’ve loved watching you play forever.”

Unlike Papelbon, Dustin wasn’t booed by the New Yorkers. Per Edes’ report:

“Thank you guys for not booing me,” said Pedroia to the assemblage of roughly 1,000 fans, the vast majority of whom were Yankee fans. Pedroia had mentioned earlier in the day that he expected to be booed, the way Jonathan Papelbon had been at last year’s event.

Pedroia thanked his wife, Kelli, and his parents, Guy and Debbie, who were sitting together at a table at the New York Hilton, along with one of Pedroia’s agents, Bobby Witt, the former big leaguer from Canton, Mass., who remarked on how apt it was for Biggio to be the one giving the award to Pedroia, who takes a similar approach to the game.

Gordon has a lot more great stories from the evening’s festivities- it’s well worth reading through his account.