Green
Machine

On and off the field, Toronto Blue Jay
Shawn Green is a rising star.

PHOTOS BY JEFF KOWALSI<`1,

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

Above: Green has
played in 80 percent
of the Jays' games.

Top right: A pre-game
autograph at Tiger
Stadium.

Bottom right: Sparky
Anderson, Shawn
Green and Cito
Gaston talk baseball.

S

hawn Green hasn't hit a bottom-of-
the-ninth, bases-loaded, game-win-
ning home run, but the 6-foot-4-inch
right fielder for the Toronto Blue
Jays is living the ultimate baseball
fantasy.
Green, one of the game's more
soft-spoken players offthe field, is one of Toron-
to's most promising rookies on the diamond.
At 22, he is making a career out of the sport
he fell in love with as a child in Santa Ma,
Calif. And he's doing it in the same stadiums
as some of his heroes: Wade Boggs of the New
York Yankees and Cal Ripken Jr. of the Bal-
timore Orioles.
"Besides the fact that he (Ripken) is a great
player, he's always signing autographs and
doing good things for the game," said Green,
a generous player himself
When Green received a signing bonus with
the Jays, he donated a portion of it to a Toron-
to organization that provides daily meals to
needy children.
Green, who appeared in Detroit in August
during a three-game series against the Tigers,
always knew he wanted to play major-league
baseball. "It wasn't until later in high school,
when scouts began visiting, that I knew I had
a chance," he said.

As a child, the Jays' No. 15 played
Little League and spent countless
hours in a batting cage his father put
up in the family's back yard.
After high school, Green turned
down a baseball scholarship from Stan-
ford University to join the Blue Jays'
organization.
The following year, 1993, he ap-
peared in three major-league games
but didn't get a hit. In 1994, Green
spent most of the season in a Syracuse
Chiefs uniform (the Jays' AAA minor-
league farm team). There, he was the
International League leader in batting
with a .344 average. In his 433 at bats,
Green whacked in 61 runs and sent the ball Toronto's games, and has a .270 batting av-
out of the park 34 times.
erage. He's had nine home runs and 41 runs
That same year, he spent an unsuccessful batted in.
month in the Majors, batting just .091 in 14
In a recent pre-game radio show, Blue Jays
games.
manager Cito Gaston said the team is work-
"He's a young hitter who has a chance to be ing with Green to build his on-field confidence
an outstanding player," said Dan Shulman, a and help him get a better jump on the ball in
Blue Jays play-by-play commentator on the the outfield.
Canadian cable station The Sports Network
"I think this kid can be a really good play-
(TSN). "He is a good hitter who is working hard er," Gaston told his interviewer.
on fielding. Shawn's got a chance to play in
Gaston would like to see Green play in a
Toronto for a lot of years."
This year, Green has played in most of GREEN MACHINE page 54

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