20 QUESTIONS

Dontrelle mania has even reached senior citizens in supermarkets

DAN LE BATARD

 

Twenty questions with remarkably mature Marlins rookie Dontrelle Willis:

 

1. The one word that best describes you?

 

''Heart.''

 

2. Describe the happiest 10 minutes of your life?

 

''Oh, man. Being called up. But not just getting the call. It was after that, when my Double A coach announced it to the whole locker room. The joy in there for me was so sincere from my teammates that it was like all of us had been called up.''

 

3. Coolest perk you've received in the last few months of Dontrelle mania?

 

'I'm at Winn-Dixie waiting for salami and people start recognizing me. And then everyone is like, 'Oh my God, how long have you been waiting? You can't wait for salami. You're Dontrelle Willis. You go first.' And I'm looking at the old lady who got there first and saying, 'No, no, I'm OK. I'll wait like everyone else. They aren't going to run out of salami before I get mine.' And the old lady is demanding that I go. It's a nice feeling.''

 

4. Salami? Of all the great free stuff you've been getting for months, you are going with salami?

 

'I just said that the coolest perk was salami, didn't I? My life doesn't consist of too much excitement, I guess. Barry Bonds' life is probably a little more hectic, huh? You don't think Barry is answering that question with salami?''

 

5. Most awed you've been at any single moment in the big leagues?

 

'The All-Star Game. It hadn't really sunk in yet, but then I'm sitting in a National League meeting while Dusty Baker is talking. And I don't hear a word he's saying because I'm just looking at the names on the uniforms in the lockers. Gagn?. [Kerry]Wood. [Mark] Prior. [Gary] Sheffield. [barry] Bonds. And then Dontrelle Willis. I just kept staring at my jersey, with the patch and my name on it. It was a joke. Are you kidding me? What's my name doing up there with those other ones? Dusty asked me how I felt afterward, and I just said, 'Man, I don't think I'm supposed to be here. I don't have success or longevity. What am I doing on the same plateau for even a day with Barry Bonds?' Nobody can take that feeling from me.''

 

6. Five traits you'd like to borrow from other pitchers?

 

''Mark Prior's location. Jason Schmidt's extension on pitches -- the way he gets his arm out toward the plate. Randy Johnson's mound presence. Wood's -- what's the word? -- nasty. I want Wood's electric nasty. And Kevin Brown's toughness.''

 

7. Three people at your dream dinner party?

 

''Martin Luther King. John Smoltz. Gotta have some laughter, too. Dave Chappelle. That's my personality, those three. The people at that table will help make me a better person and player, and it'll be fun-loving, too. I'm going to learn and laugh.''

 

8. Tony Gwynn talks about how he has assumed his batting stance in restaurants, the bathroom and movie theaters. What's the strangest place you've pantomimed your pitching motion?

 

''Supermarkets. I don't take my leg kick quite as high there as I do on the mound, but I do it. But I'm not crazy or anything. I'm not throwing around loaves of bread in Aisle 6. Can you imagine the announcement over the supermarket intercom? [Mimics supermarket announcement voice] We've got Mr. Willis throwing cantaloupes in Aisle 7. This is not Pro Player, Mr. Willis. Please stop throwing the cantaloupes.''

 

9. Which of the following do you want if you can have only one -- money, fame, power, the ability to drive all women crazy or the ability to dance like Hammer in his prime?

 

''[Laughter] Give me Hammer time. You dance like Hammer in his prime, you are getting all that other stuff, too. That's not even a joking matter. In his prime, you could have gone to Wisconsin and found people who were too legit to quit.''

 

10. Best compliment you've ever received?

 

''Whenever people comment on how well I handle adversity. That I can get hit around and keep my head up. It's easy to smile when you are going well. But I pride myself on handling myself well when things aren't going well, too.''

 

11. One mental snapshot from childhood that stays with you about how hard your mother worked to provide for you?

 

''There's an actual photo of my mom sitting on a beam high up with another lady. My mom is a welder, and she's holding up a peace sign. She's all dirty, in her overalls, with her hair up. Two women high up on a beam, not something you see all the time.''

 

12. Is there a way for you to articulate how eager you are to retire her?

 

''I don't think that far ahead. I can't. You can have this taken away from you very quickly. If I can do things right, day by day, then we'll see what I can accomplish.''

 

13. Someone you would spend a month of paychecks to have 24 hours with?

 

''My grandfather.''

 

14. Why?

 

''He died at 86 with a lot of knowledge I could have used. You live that long, you do a lot of learning. He'd sit on the porch when I was little for hours, just making sure I could throw the ball at the steps but didn't go chasing after it in the street. But I was too young to really learn from him the way I could now.''

 

15. Any one batter you have faced that you've said to yourself, right on the mound, 'I can't believe I'm facing this guy.'?

 

''Sammy Sosa in Wrigley. All that tradition. Good beer and good baseball. You get goose bumps in that place. Then Sammy comes up, and I realized where I was. I had to step off and think for a minute and compose myself. You don't throw a get-me-over strike to that guy or you are going to watch him start jogging around you.''

 

16. What do you miss least about the minor leagues?

 

''The bus drives. Tedious. Anywhere up to 15 hours. It takes a toll sometimes just getting off a plane after a few hours, so being in a bus for 15 hours is really tough.''

 

17. You get 20 bucks a day in meal money in the minors. You still find it weird when they hand you your major-league meal money before a road trip and it is about $700 cash that you don't even need because every clubhouse has plenty of food?

 

''It's still unreal. It's going to take me a long time to get over that. We already have a cafeteria. We already have a cook. And then they give us a stack of cash.''

 

18. A dumb thing you did that reminded you that you were still a rookie?

 

''I got out there way too early for one game. I thought the game was earlier than it was, so I run out there in my game uniform, look around and everyone else is out there for batting practice, still in the batting-practice uniforms.''

 

19. Why is that so embarrassing?

 

''Because of the way the guys let you have it. I tried to play it off like I knew what I was doing, but it didn't work.''

 

20. Strangest thing to happen to you so far in South Florida?

 

'Went to a Japanese restaurant with Tim Spooneybarger. And real loud, playing around, I just try to embarrass him by saying, 'Hey, everybody, look, it's the Tim Spooneybarger.' I kind of forgot for a second that I have some fame now, and the owner starts saying, 'D-train, D-train, it's the D-train' in an accent, and the whole thing got turned around on me. I was embarrassed. Kind of backfired.''

nice, i was just gonna post that

 

lol on number 8

lol 3, 4, 18, 19, 20

I love how he is so respectful at the supermarket :lol Thats a good article though and I love his answers for who he would use all his paychecks to see again and who he would have at a dinner table. If his career doesn't turn out, Which isn't happening, he'll be a civil rights activist or a manner policemen :lol

 

Good Article Le Betard

I loved the whole thing especially the lady at the supermarket(i didn't know baseball players went to normal supermarkets.

Class Act ...hands down

I loved the whole thing especially the lady at the supermarket(i didn't know baseball players went to normal supermarkets.

Why, did you think there were "special" supermarkets for famous people? I have friends that work at Publix and have seen a bunch athletes come in including Roberto Luongo many times.

O i tought the athletes had special people to do their grocery shopping.

like what? Goodings? lol, is that place still around (I'm asking Central Floridians)

yes gooding's is still around in the Crossroads in LBV.

 

Good interview overall....shows he's still down to earth.