Saturday, March 31, 2007

Dukes gets thumbs-up

The Devil Rays set their roster today and center fielder Elijah Dukes will make his major-league debut at Yankee Stadium on Monday.

I was at Tropicana Field for the pregame workouts (after an hour's wait for a pass to reach the entrance) and jumped in on a group interview of Dukes. He made us laugh a time or two, gave thoughtful answers and was very cooperative. I even asked a question, but wasn't sure if he'd answer it. He did -- and gave a great response.

When the interview broke up, some of the others thanked him. I did something probably considered a tad unprofessional, since I won't see him again until at least next year. I wished him good luck. He looked at me and said, "Thanks, man." Impressive.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

what did you ask him?

Stacy Long said...

He was talking about how he reacted when he was told he made the team. I asked him who he called and if he could share what happened in those conversations.

Unknown said...

Was this off the record or can you tell me what he said? Or are you writing a piece for it?

Stacy Long said...

It was on the record. He said he called his wife and an aunt. The aunt started crying with joy. My story about the Rays' roster is in Sunday's paper.