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Vina Stands Tall Among Baseball's Elite Class
July 06, 1998
Denver -- He would be, technically, the smallest National League all-star. But the measurements listed in the program will not reflect the size of the heart.
Fernando Vina, second baseman of the Milwaukee Brewers, has had an all-star approach for years. Now he has the all-star status to match.
This is not a fluke or a gift. Yes, one member of the Brewers had to be named as a reserve to this team. But Vina has been good enough to get here on his own. The .305 average, the two months without an error, making himself into a plausible leadoff hitter; these are some of the reasons.
And the rest is an intangible something; part heart, part hustle, part will, part refusal to take no for an answer.
He is here on merit. The talents he has are impressive but they have all been polished and honed and then worked on some more.
Monday afternoon at Coors Field, Vina is in the Colorado Rockies clubhouse, which has been transformed into the NL clubhouse. It is a clubhouse posh enough for an all-star team, all plush purple carpeting and wood paneling. It is maybe three times the size of the home clubhouse at County Stadium. It is big-league.
But these are just the trappings. Vina's locker is flanked by those of Atlanta's Javy Lopez on the left and Florida's Edgar Renteria on the right. There's Barry Bonds, on the sofa, watching the women's golf tournament on the big-screen TV. There's Tony Gwynn sitting in front of his locker, surrounded by scribes, answering by now hundreds of questions.
There's Mark McGwire. And there's Greg Maddux. And, hey, when Fernando Vina stops to think about it, he is not a tourist gazing at this club. He is a member of this club.
The word that comes most frequently to his mind to describe this fact is: "Awesome."
"Oh, it's incredible," he says. "I mean, it's really sinking in now, when I look around and see everybody who's here. I'm just grateful. I thank God that I'm here. It's awesome."
He can look at this with wonderment and awe. He can field strange and / or predictable questions from the press multitudes. Fernando, what kind of a commissioner do you think Bud Selig will make? How do you suppose Fernando Vina, team player, will answer that one?
But at some point, if you believe in yourself as a baseball player, if you believe in your performance, then you also believe that this is where you belong. It is more a matter of faith than immodesty.
"It comes to a point where you realize and you know yourself that you can play this game and you can play at this level," Vina says. "I've played and I've worked really hard and I think I'm up at this level now.
"In my heart, I always knew I could play. But you have to make others believe. I've been able to stay healthy, and when you can play every day, everybody can see what you're doing, and the numbers are there to prove it, also. I think I'm over the hump."
Vina could have been over the hump last season. He was hitting .321, he was coming off a five-RBI game, when he suffered a broken fibula. That injury became just one more thing to overcome, like being 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 170 pounds, like an Albert Belle forearm to the face, like all the doubts and insecurities that go with this entire territory.
"I think it's all about how big your heart is, and how hungry you are," Vina says.
The slight down side to this all-star experience occurred when Sammy Sosa of the Cubs injured a shoulder. He was replaced on the NL roster by Cincinnati's Bret Boone. That put three second basemen on this squad and that could reduce Vina's playing time.
"As long as I'm here, that's all that matters; that's the bottom line," he says. "It's good to be here, to represent the Brewers, to be a part of all this, to enjoy all this. I just thank God." It is all good. And all deserved, too.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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