Principle is driving force for Drew
By Mike Eisenbath
St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/14/98

* Cards' maverick top pick says greed is not a factor in his war with baseball establishment.

The owner of a local restaurant, a man called "Giggles" who faithfully supports the St. Paul Saints, realized phenom outfielder J.D. Drew had no car. So what did Giggles come up with? A cool ATV or nifty sports car?

Nope, a 1976 Cadillac.

"An old junker, a huge boat, an ark," said Marty Scott, the Saints manager. "It's awful looking, not the kind of car anyone would want to drive. But J.D. isn't superficial in the least. Money is not a driving force in his life, as far as I can tell."

Huh?

Drew was considered the best college player after his junior year at Florida State in 1997, when the Philadelphia Phillies made him the No. 2 overall draft selection. He didn't sign because the Phillies refused to meet his demand of $11 million. He's the guy the Cardinals made the No. 5 draft pick overall 12 days ago because they consider him a potential franchise player. They know it might be tough to sign Drew, 22. They know that, for now, Drew's demands haven't changed.

And money doesn't drive J.D. Drew?

Well, if it did, why would he be playing a second season for $750 a month with the independent Northern League's Saints? He knows it defies everything about the reputation America's baseball fans must have of him after an oft-contentious year of holding out, a year during which he's been painted as a greedy kid. But all you need to give him is a '78 Caddy, a baseball bat with a spot in that night's lineup and a well-stocked fishing hole. For now, St. Paul suits Drew just fine. He won a game for the Saints on Friday with a homer in the seventh inning at Sioux City, Iowa. He's tied for second in the league with five homers, second with a .429 batting average, leads with an .898 slugging percentage and tops with 20 runs batted in - in 14 games.

"It's a place where you come out and the game is fun," he said. "All these guys . . . love the game of baseball first. They play hard every day. "Everything, for me, revolves around principle. I have a very strong prayer life. I pray about these things. I think God has a plan for my life, and right now it's in St. Paul.

"The whole time I've prayed about it, this is one thing I've been very adamant about and I've been very (much) at peace. I think this is where God tells me to be."

Baseball and fishing

"He loves baseball and fishing," Scott said. "I don't know which is No. 1 with him, though."

Such is life in Hahira (pronounced hay-HI-ra), Drew's hometown in southern Georgia with a population of about 1,500. His family actually lives on five acres in the middle of farmland about three miles from Hahira and 10 miles from "the big city" of Valdosta, population 40,000.

Drew's Southern accent stands out in St. Paul, as does his boyish looks and soft-spoken manner.

Long before Drew discovered baseball, his days were filled with hunting and fishing, farming and praying. Libby Drew, J.D.'s mom and a librarian at an elementary school, comes from a family of farmers. So does David Drew, who works for Bayline Marina.

David's mom, known simply as "Granny" to J.D., actually introduced J.D. to fishing. They still go when he's home.

"She started me off with a cane pole, and I graduated to a rod and reel when I was 12 or 13," Drew said. "It gets me away from the game so I can find some peace and quiet."

Though Hahira had little league baseball, Drew only played backyard ball with buddies such as Andy Cooper. Actually, Drew liked football best and dreamed of playing some day at Florida State. Cooper always bugged Drew to play baseball, though.

When they were 13, Cooper pleaded with Drew again: "Why don't you come play on my team?"

Drew finally relented. He made the All-Star squad his first summer of organized baseball. His team went to the state championship. By his sophomore year of high school, he had given up football. Playing baseball consumed him.

The San Francisco Giants drafted him in the 20th round out of high school, which compelled Florida State to increase its scholarship offer in order to get Drew onto its baseball team. He had a record-setting career at FSU and as a junior in 1997 had 106 hits, 110 runs scored and 100 RBIs, garnering acclaim as one of the top offensive players in college baseball history.

The Phillies drafted him in the first round. Twenty-six picks later, still in the first round, the Cleveland Indians chose pitcher Tim Drew, J.D.'s brother, as a high school senior. J.D. says youngest brother Steven, 15, also is a potential first-round pick.

Still, baseball doesn't define the Drew boys. When their friends went out on Friday and Saturday nights, the Drews were in the batting cages or playing catch in their yard mainly because, "I don't really get into the party scene," J.D. said. "My faith turned into a passion for me when I was 16. That's when I knew it was the way I wanted to live my life."

He hopes one day baseball can be his platform to show people how much God cares for them. His teammates and fans in St. Paul haven't heard much of that from Drew, but they haven't seen or heard anything to tarnish that lifestyle.

"I never heard him utter a four-letter word," Scott said. "No smoking, no drinking. He's laid-back, although he goes out on the field with a lot of emotion. He runs every play out.

"He's like the perfect guy."

Man of principle

A former pro player and Texas farm director, Scott has been a lifelong Mickey Mantle fan. That's why he wears No. 7 on his Saints uniform. He's seen a lot of Mantle, including some film clips of his earliest years with the Yankees.

"Go down the right-field line a ways here, put pinstripes on his uniform and a No. 7 on his back," Scott said, "and you'll see a lot of Mantle when you watch J.D. Drew play ball."

The smooth-yet-powerful lefthanded swing. The swift glide to chase down deep fly balls in the gap. The rocket arm that enabled Drew to throw out three runners in three days last week - all are tools reminiscent of Mantle.

"That's great that I can be compared to him," Drew said. "If I can ever put up the numbers that Mantle did, wow! What a career. Hopefully, I turn out to be like that. That's definitely what I'm striving to do."


Scott thinks Drew needs only 400 or 500 at-bats at the Class AA or Class AAA level.

"Then," he said, "call him up to the big leagues when rosters expand in September. In the spring, tell him, `J.D., you've got a legitimate chance to make the team.' He'd do it and never look back."

That could be with the Cardinals.

"I kind of check out how they're going, because there's a good chance of me going to St. Louis," Drew said. "I think they understand the situation of me and my principles. They know exactly where I stand."

He doesn't know if he's really worth $11 million. But that's what the market would bring if he was a free agent, he believes, and his principle says that baseball shouldn't prevent him from collecting fair market value just because he's young and able to negotiate with only one team.

"I know my principles. When things work out, I'll know wherever I'm at is the place for me," Drew said. "I'll know the team respects me, and I'll respect the team."


copyright St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/14/98

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