Full Count

J-Roll - the 2007 NL MVP

Rollins patrols the infield

"Okay if knowledge is the key, then just show me the lock, got the scrawny legs, but I move just like Lou Brock...with speed, I'm agile, plus I'm worth your while, 100% intelligent, black child."

Q-Tip - Check The Rhime

Baseball is a numbers game, which is interesting because I'm not a fan of math. The game however, is built on statistics, from batting averages and RBI (runs batted in), to ERA (earned run average) and OBP (on base percentage).

The schematics of baseball are intriguing, but its the decrease of black players that concerns me more than home runs, or wins and losses. In my childhood approximately 20 years ago the number of black players in the big leagues hovered around 30%. Currently that number has plummeted to 10%, making the following interview with Philadelphia Phillies Shortstop paramount to GAME TIME with AG.

Aesthetically, Citizens Bank Park is an amazing place for a baseball game, and the club house is just as beautiful fit for a championship team. I had a few minutes with the reigning MVP as he sat at his locker Nike footwear and apparel for he and I. (Would an aluminum bat and a pair of Hyperdunks be too much to ask for...)

Below is our conversation of baseball, admiration, numbers, change, and Nike:

Nike is a very prestigious brand talk about your affiliation:

"I'll put it this way...first of all I used to always buy Nike growing up...you know with Michael Jordan and all. And then one day the powers that be...even before I got called up to the big leagues...I got called up in 2000...there was a Nike representative that contacted my agent because they [Nike baseball] came out with a new equipment, glove, sun glasses and all that stuff. I was asked to try it, and I was like 'hey its Nike...sure, I used to pay for it, and now I'm getting it for free? Sure I'll try it! So when I tried the glove, it was okay, I was able to make some adjustments to it, and I didn't even sign with them yet, but we were in talks, and they let me have influence on their products. I was one of the first guys to wear the sun glasses and then I was given a head to toe deal with all the equipment, all the gear up to a certain amount, and its been on ever since 2000...2001."

Talk about competing against Ken Griffey Jr.:

"I met Ken Griffey Jr. back in 1996 as I was going through the draft and I was just hanging out in the clubhouse...and he didn't have to come up to me at all, but he decided to come over and give me some words of wisdom that I still remember. It helped me get through the minor leagues, and he told me 'I've never seen you play, and I don't even know how good you are, but you are here for a reason, and along the way you are going to have coaches, trying to tell you this and trying to tell you that, and some of it is going to make sense...some of it isn't, but whatever you do, continue to do, because that's why you're here now. So from right there whenever I saw him I was like a kid, I used to wear his shoes and everything. That really made it personal to me and from that point for the next 4 years I was waiting to get to the big leagues just to ask him if he remembered that, and he cracks up, because he actually does. But if you look at him, he has transcended the game if you look at the way he plays center field by being The Kid, being that personality. He was something that baseball needed, and look what he did with Nike. He has his own shoe and now we are going to surprise everybody soon with the SWING TEAM."

What is the significance of your number?

"Well actually the number 11 was my basketball number and the number 6 was my number for baseball. When I first got here Doug Glanville was wearing 6, so I went with my second favorite number from basketball. It was a number in basketball that I had success in, I was a good defensive player, I had good seasons wearing it, I liked it, it felt good, it fit me, it looked good...I'm short and the 1's are vertical so they make me to appear a lot taller, so it looked good on my back. When I did switch over to 6, people said it made me look short and round, and why did I switch? It was just an opportunity to get my number back, but everybody had grown to know number 11. Then there is my nickname J-Roll, with the two LL's, the 11, and Rollins, every thing is symmetrical and made me look taller. Its a great number, Isiah Thomas wore it and he won championships, Barry Larkin wore it, Ozzie Smith wore number 1, so that number is a good number in sports period."

What does the Negro League mean to you?

"I remember when Soul of the Game came out, back in '95 or '96...I was still in high school, I probably watched that special on HBO maybe 20 or 30 times, I mean over and over, and over again, because you can never get tired of hearing the stories and trying to imagine what it was like for them playing ball. When I grew up, there was still racism but there was no segregation. I could eat the restaurants, I could make a reservation to sit in a particular area of the restaurant, and they had to go to the back door or walk through the kitchen, and sometimes they had to get the food delivered to them because they weren't allowed in the restaurant. I think about how they had to go about and play the game separate from Major League Baseball, even before that, the barnstorming leagues, and they went through a lot for us to step onto the field. Not only that, look at the way they changed society, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball...it gave blacks a sense of pride, that they could change things and that they can make a difference. If you look at that, you can see how it changed America. It gave black people opportunities to do things in this country and in the world...like run for President. We have Barack now, so the world has definitely changed. It started with a vision, and now we are starting to seeing the fruits of the labor."

Extra innings -

Remember those red Nike contact lenses...did you wear them?

"They were like real sun glasses expect they were contact lenses. I had the auburn color first, and I wore them on a Nike trip to Hawaii. Now I had never worn contacts before, and I was fine having someone else to put them in, but when you are trying to put them in yourself...I was having trouble [laughs]. Once they are on they are really cool, no irritation to the eye and it was like wearing glasses, without wearing glasses. That technology is off the chain, and that's why they [Nike] are one of the biggest companies in the world."