Do you remember where you were on May 4, 2010?
That was the night Dustin Pedroia came to the defense of Boston Red Sox teammate David Ortiz, who was off to a brutal start that season.
“A couple of years ago, I had 60 at-bats, I was hitting .170, and everyone was ready to kill me, too,” Pedroia said after that game. “And what happened? Laser show. So, relax.”
Pedroia’s quote immediately became a hit and cemented its place in Red Sox folklore. Yet apparently Pedroia came up with the money line well before he reached the bigs.
Jeff Evans currently is the the assistant director of baseball information for the Seattle Mariners, but he was Arizona State’s sports information director when Pedroia began his tenure as a Sun Devil.
In a recent interview with ESPN’s Gordon Edes, Evans revealed a treasure trove of stories about the colorful second baseman. But this little tidbit might be the best one.
“He’d come in and say, ‘Laser show today, laser show today, I’m going to hit bombs today,’ then he’d go out and do it,” Evans told Edes. “That’s the way he carried himself, and it didn’t stop.”
Yep, that sounds exactly like Pedroia.
Pedey certainly put on a laser show in college, batting .384 during his three years in Tempe, Ariz., and smacking 14 homers and 146 RBIs in 185 total games.
So the next time you see a Red Sox fan walking down the street with a “Laser Show” t-shirt, just remember: Pedroia didn’t earn his confidence when he came to Boston. He was born with it.
Thumbnail photo via Gregory J. Fisher/USA TODAY Sports Images
