Even though the article retreads (again) for the thousandth time the old "Dustin Pedroia sure is short! But he's a grinder!" storyline, it contains possibly the greatest lead-in story ever:

The boy was barely out of diapers when he discovered a tiny wooden bat and started swinging at everything that moved: tennis balls, ping-pong balls, balls of tinfoil.

Then came a baby goose.

By the time Debbie Pedroia rushed to the scene, it was too late. The family's new pet had bobbed its fuzzy head into her 18-month-old son's strike zone, and baby Dustin had swung the little bat as if his life depended on it.

Goodbye, goose.

And this tidbit:

"He really believes he's Babe Ruth," [Jay] Sferra, [Arizona State recruiter] said.

Yet even Pedroia's parents were stunned during their son's first team meeting with [Pat] Murphy, [Arizona State head coach]. As the coach reminded the players that no individual was more important than the team, Pedroia interrupted.

"I got to be honest, coach," he said. "You're going to win a lot more games with me than without me."

As a child, Dustin believed he could beat his tough-talking grandfather, Bo Pedroia, at cribbage. Long before Dustin trash-talked his way into a running cribbage duel with Francona, he was wisecracking with Grandpa Bo. Or skirmishing with Brett under their basketball hoop. Or picking apart opponents at ping-pong.

Pedroia's ping-pong victims include Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn, whom Pedroia baited into a match last year at the Athletes' Performance Institute in Arizona. Never mind that Quinn, a rugged 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, towered over him.

"You want a piece of me, meat?" Pedroia said.

Ethier, who witnessed the scene, said, "Dustin was talking smack to him the whole time, talking about how he would sack Brady and put him on his back. Dustin absolutely destroyed him, and Brady couldn't stand losing to someone who is 5-foot-something. It was pretty incredible."