Tough love helped Pirates' Bay travel unlikely 'Trail' from British Columbia to major leagues

Jason Bay burst into tears before he reached the front porch.

The most respected baseball man in town had just sent Bay home with an order to write out the following phrase 300 times:

I will bring my jacket to practice.

Sure, Bay knew that coach Andy Bilesky required windbreakers, but it was a sweltering day in British Columbia, in the town called Trail, and this was Bay's first practice with the 11- and 12-year-old Little League team.

Bay was only 10, so it was a special honor. He sprinted to the ballpark, where the grizzled Bileski took one look at him and said, "Who didn't bring a jacket today?"

Once home, Bay scrawled the aforementioned phrase, through tears, 10, 20, 50, 100 times. His father finally intervened.

"I remember he got to 287, and I said, 'That's good enough,' " David Bay recalled. "Jason said, 'No, he said 300.' "

Bileski didn't even look at the paper when Bay returned to practice and handed it to him. The old man scrunched it into a ball and said, "Get out there, Bay."

A bit harsh• Perhaps, but it was that kind of discipline, combined with good genes, hard work, a loving father and a little luck, that helped Bay beat ridiculous odds to reach the major leagues.

This is, after all, a kid who was born into hockey-mad Western Canada. A kid whose high school didn't have a baseball team. A kid who attracted no college interest, was drafted in the 22nd round and played in four organizations before his 25th birthday.

And who suddenly finds himself in position to do what Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Barry Bonds could not.

The kid has a chance to become first Pirates player -- and first Canadian player -- to be named National League Rookie of The Year.

He got here by Trail and error.

Roots

Bay isn't the only accomplished athlete in his family. His younger sister and only sibling, Lauren, is a left-handed pitcher who will play for the Canadian Olympic softball team this month in Greece.

The Bay children benefited from excellent bloodlines. Their great uncle on their mother's side, Gerry Moro, represented Canada in the 1964 and 1972 Olympics as a pole vaulter and decathlete.

A great uncle on their father's side played minor league baseball in the 1950s.

It seems the Bay family always was more interested in baseball than hockey, even though Trail (population: 8,000) is the type of place where every toddler is taught to skate.

Nestled into a pair of mountain ranges, Trail is 450 miles east of Vancouver and 10 miles north of the U.S. border, above Washington. It has produced a handful of pro hockey players, including notable NHLers Adam Deadmarsh and Barrett Jackman.

David Bay attributes his family's long-time affinity for baseball to economic challenges -- hockey is by far the more expensive sport -- and to the enigmatic Bileski, who became Trail's hardball pioneer some 54 years ago.

Now in his late 80s, Bileski coached David Bay and his son. It sounds as if he is telling a ghost story when he reveals Trail's baseball origins.

"There was a guy come through here from the prairie one time, name of Pope," Bileski said. "He held a meeting and started a little league."

That was around 1950. Bileski took over from there, dedicating his life to teaching a strict brand of baseball (in 1984, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as a builder).

One precept: Never swing at the first pitch.

Bileski became a fixture at the ballpark. He would coach whoever came along. Eventually, he built powerhouse Little League teams that won four national championships.

If a child didn't own a glove, Bileski would buy him one, but his love was mostly tougher than those leather mitts. He'd tell his players that his spies were watching to make sure they practiced seriously.

"He's very stern, very abrupt," Jason Bay said. "Everyone's kind of scared of him, but he did a lot for that community. Without that program, I don't know if baseball would have been such a big part of my life.

"And when you did something well, he'd let you know."

Breaking away

Bay quit hockey early because he wasn't very good and loathed the early ice times.

"He liked the easy way out, if at all possible," David Bay said, laughing. "And the ballpark was only five minutes away."

David Bay complemented Bileski's tough love with strong, low-key encouragement. He'd play catch with Jason and Lauren in the fieldhouse during the long winters and wound up coaching many of Jason's teams.

"He spent a lot of time with Jason, just being there for him," Kelly Bay said. "We probably had more time than money."

Not that the Bays were wanting. Kelly Bay works for the federal government, her husband for Teck Cominco Ltd., largely a zinc smelter that also mines for gold.

It was obvious to Bileski that Jason Bay was a gem. With Bileski coaching and Bay in center field, Trail went to the 1990 Little League World Series, where it lost to champion Taiwan.

Without a high school team, though, Bay's prospects were dim.

This is where luck entered the game.

A Trail resident and part-time Atlanta Braves scout named Lou DeRosa told a friend, North Idaho Community College baseball coach Paul Manzardo, about Bay.

"We were the only ones watching him," Manzardo said.

Bay played third his first year at North Idaho before moving to center. This was when he realized he might have a future.

In 1998, he set school records for average (.447) and home runs (21), and those will stand. North Idaho eliminated its baseball program two years ago.

Still, Bay had no full scholarship offers. He took a partial ride to Gonzaga, the only school to show real interest. He again capitalized, finishing second on Gonzaga's all-time home run list with 35.

"I have to give that kid credit," Kelly Bay said. "If he's gotten an opportunity, he's made the most of it."

His next big chance came in 2000, when the Montreal Expos drafted him in the 22nd round.

Rookie wonder

Pirates hitting coach Gerald Perry remembers Bay's first day, after the team acquired him last August as part of the Brian Giles deal.

The move wasn't popular, but Perry had reason to believe the perception would change quickly.

"He was flaring some balls in the cage, then all of a sudden he hit one with a lot of hump, and I was like, 'Whoa,' " Perry recalled. "The ball jumps off his bat."

Perry said Bay reminds him of another talented right-handed hitter -- Perry's former Atlanta Braves teammate and All-Star outfielder Dale Murphy. Perry sees similarities in the way Bay drives the ball to the opposite field and carries himself dignifiedly.

Bay isn't surprised that he already has been traded three times.

"When you're a 22nd-round draft pick," he said, "you don't have a lot of chances to fail."

As the front-runner for Rookie of the Year in a decidedly weak year for rookies, Bay was hitting .307 and leading all NL rookies in home runs (13) and RBI (44) as of Friday. That, despite missing the first month of the season recovering from shoulder surgery.

He strikes out too much but also leads rookies in slugging percentage (.598) and on-base percentage (.372) and is one of only two active players (Nomar Garciaparra) with two career games of eight or more RBI.

Back in Trail, residents follow Bay's every move. His parents bought a satellite dish that accompanies them on weekend getaways.

One resident who doesn't tune in is old-man Bilesky. He still spends summer nights at the ballparks, one of which bears his name.

Bileski wasn't exactly thrilled to do a phone interview the other day, but before he hung up he wanted to make sure a message was relayed to Jason Bay.

"Tell him to keep going."

GOOD COMPANY

Jason Bay is trying to become the first player in Pirates history and the 17th outfielder in National League history to be named Rookie of the Year. Since the award was instituted in 1947, there have been 19 pitchers, 19 infielders, 16 outfielders and four catchers to win. Bay would put himself in mostly elite company with the other outfielders. Here they are:

Player	Team	Year
Sam Jethroe	Boston Braves	1950
Willie Mays	N.Y. Giants	1951
Wally Moon	St. Louis Cardinals	1954
Bill Virdon	St. Louis Cardinals	1955
Frank Robinson	Cincinnati Reds	1956
Frank Howard	L.A. Dodgers	1960
Billy Williams	Chicago Cubs	1961
Gary Matthews	San Francisco Giants	1973
Bake McBride	St. Louis Cardinals	1974
Andre Dawson	Montreal Expos	1977
Darryl Strawberry	New York Mets	1983
Vince Coleman	St. Louis Cardinals	1985
Jerome Walton	Chicago Cubs	1989
David Justice	Atlanta Braves	1990
Raul Mondesi	L.A.Dodgers	1994
Todd Hollandsworth	L.A. Dodgers	1996

TOUGH ACTS

Jason Bay could set Pirates' rookie records for doubles, home runs and strikeouts. Here is a sampling of the team's rookie batting records (slugging percentage is not listed in team records) compared with Bay's numbers through 62 games, or about halfway through his season:

Category	Record	Player	Year	Bay
Average	.355	Lloyd Waner	1927	.307
Home Runs	23	Johnny Rizzo	1938	13
	23	Ralph Kiner	1946
RBI	116	Maurice Van Robays	1940	44
Runs	133	Lloyd Waner	1927	34
Doubles	35	Paul Waner	1926	17
Strikeouts	122	Al Martin	1993	64