FEATVRE
RAVIS FRYMAN' SDREAMHAD COMETRUE. He found himself in the visitor's clubhouse at Fenway Park-covered with ketchup, mustard, and every other condiment that could be rustled up from Fenway concession stands. Some wise guy had come up with two eggs that were added to the mi x, aloJlg with some Coke and cold coffee. Yello f ,...ooze as dripping from Fryman's hair a1~ nto his eyebrows. This was the fulfillment f a A{yam? It was a dream that had ~st S'parkled in the eyes of David Travis Fryman lltagtt"'.5 w)!~o be grabbed his new infielder' s mitt..'ln'd r~t!on~Q the field to scoop up bouncing gro& der . 1 1 It was a dream that caused h' ~to mi s hunting and fi shing trips with h two yop ngt
found himself standing next tOone of the greatest keystone combinations of all time, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, taking infield practice. It was a night of firsts for Fryman. It was his first start in the major leagues. It was his first time to be on the fi eld at Tiger Stadium. And it was his first time to take the field at third base. Before, it had always been Travis' responsibility to protect the vast area between second and third. He had never played anywhere but shortstop. Yet there he was- in hl~first major league start , in Tiger Stadium::-<:ha\\ed with guarding the hot corner! A quiet, inte1~sely competitive person, Travis tried to introduce him e f to his new teammates his own way. In the seventh i ning of his second game in the majors, h~ jumped all over a Jeff Montgomery pitch and
could stay home and play base a~ ll r ~ 3-run,.ho"ler. e towering blast off Royals relief ace It was a dream he took with hi n e~~p ti ~~ ,Jeff Monrg~rn h was Travis' first big league hit. he stepped up to the plate for Tat Hi~Scbool )Evi~entl Iii teammates felt this introduction wasn't in Lexington, Kentucky. .,:./ e1~i, Tha t hy, when they got to Boston, the Tigers It was a dream that caused h~to tul1~o~nn j~ttooQ'cetl them~elves to Travis in their own time-honan ~ppointment to West Point in Mareh of''M~~ore~~pr~fessional 'manner. While R~b .Deer and Pete semor year. ' lncaij&hi\ beldcFryman down, the rook1e mfielder met all Just a few days before the "ketchup" incident of thef:r\gefs~rfe at a time, on the Fenway clubhouse in 1990, Travis had been packing his bags in a small floor. A sticky survivor of the rite of passage known as apartment in Toledo, preparing to travel to Las Vegas the "Three Man Lift," Fryman was now one of them: to play in the Tri ple-A All-Star Game. His packing was An initiated member of the big leagues and the official interrupted by a call from his manager, who told him third baseman for the Detroit Tigers. he would be going to Detroit instead of Nevada. After hi s introduction and initiation in Jul y 1990, The next night, at age 21, the kid with the dream Travis has established himself as one of the game's - continued on page 18
PHOTO BY ROBERT S.-:;EOC H/TttE PICTVIlE OESK
SPOR TS SPEC TR U M â&#x20AC;˘ M A Y 1 996
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