Figgins, Pierre have much in common

06/23/2005 3:25 AM ET

By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

 

ANAHEIM -- It is a friendship built on air -- compressed air, actually -- but more on that later.

Where much of the game has fallen in love with the slugger, Juan Pierre and Chone Figgins are two guys who prefer to alter the game with their feet.

 

They're throwbacks in more ways than one, utilizing speed instead of power to put pressure on the defense. The speed game has been all but relegated to the back-burner in recent years, as smaller parks and bigger bodies have largely dictated the style of play throughout baseball.

 

But Pierre and Figgins are undeterred in their aim to bend the game to their will when they get the chance. The presence of either on the basepaths is as unsettling as it is disruptive.

 

"We both take the same approach," Figgins said, who plies his trade for the Angels. "Our job is to create havoc out there."

 

Pierre agreed.

 

"Our games are similar," Pierre said, who works his magic for the Marlins. "We're the ones that have to get on base and create pressure."

 

The comparisons come easy.

 

Both players hail from the south; Pierre from Alabama and Figgins from Georgia. Both players came up through the Rockies organization, where they roomed together, and both players tip the scales at 180 pounds, but Pierre, standing six feet, has Figgins beat by about five inches.

 

Each is a top-of-the-lineup guy whose main job is to set the table for the hitters behind him. For Pierre, it is the likes of Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Delgado and Mike Lowell, while Figgins' main job is to feed Darin Erstad, Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson.

 

But their images are not purely reflective.

 

Even though he is only months older, Pierre's trip to the Majors was much quicker, as he found it easier to land an everyday role. Promoted to the Rockies in 2000, Pierre hit .310 in 51 games and was a fixture in the Colorado outfield the following season.

 

After hitting .327 and then .287 over the next two seasons while stealing 46 and 47 bases, respectively, Pierre found himself in Florida for the 2003 season in a complicated deal that sent outfielder Preston Wilson and catcher Charles Johnson to Colorado and left-hander Mike Hampton to Atlanta.

 

It was a fortuitous move for Pierre, who played all 162 games and hit .305 and stole 65 bases in 2003, the second time in three seasons that he led the National League in steals. Pierre collected 10 hits in the NLCS against the Cubs and posted a .481 on-base percentage as the Marlins upset the Yankees in six games in the World Series.

 

Figgins didn't reach the Majors until 2002, when he played eight games with the Angels, all at second base. But he was a part of their playoff roster, gaining not only invaluable postseason experience, but a championship ring one year before his pal when the Angels upended the Giants in the '02 World Series.

 

The following year, Figgins was up and down and managed to post a .296 average while adding shortstop and the outfield to his Major League resume.

 

It became a full-time affair in 2004 for Figgins, who established his credentials as possibly the best utility man in baseball. Making starts at six different positions last season, Figgins hit .296 and swiped 34 bags.

 

They're both fixtures in their respective lineups now, but Figgins gives full credit to his former roommate, who didn't preach the virtues of playing the game right, just merely showed him how.

 

"His mindset is incredible. He believes in his game," Figgins said of Pierre. "I always knew about working hard, but he allowed me to believe in myself and showed me that I could play the game."

 

Pierre is no less a fan.

 

"He's unbelievable," Pierre said of Figgins. "He switch-hits. He's developing at the plate. He's the only one who can do what he does on the Angels."

 

Figgins opened 2005 as the team's second baseman in place of the injured Adam Kennedy. With Kennedy back, he's started at all three outfield positions as well as third base and shortstop and has been the club's primary designated hitter.

 

Since the move of Darin Erstad from leadoff to second in the batting order, Figgins has held the top spot, and the Angels have become one of the most productive offenses in the American League.

 

Pierre doesn't believe it is mere coincidence.

 

"His game is incredible," Pierre said. "Just from those simple facts that he can do all those things he helps that team go."

 

Doing it all was always the dream, but doing it in the Major Leagues and being able to share their experiences each offseason when they get together to break down tape of each other's game back home in Florida was a long way off when they earned $400 a week and stretched a package of hot dogs until the next payday.

 

But meal plans run a distant second to their less-than-ideal sleeping arrangements as the ties that bind their bicoastal friendship.

 

"When we were first roommates back in 1998 in short-season Portland, we had to sleep on these air mattresses," Figgins said. "But we had to walk up this hill to the gas station to pump them up because it took too long to blow them up by ourselves.

 

"But that was the first time we had ever had the chance to talk. If it weren't for those air mattresses, we might not have become friends."

 

Now, like then, they run on air.

 

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

this was already posted earlier back by accord.

this was already posted earlier back by accord.

823092[/snapback]

 

This story just came out today, he must have posted an earlier story.

Where's your link, Bud?