Weaving His Way

      Even though Jeff Weaver is new to the Yankees, he’s not new to experiencing the intense atmosphere of a high-pressure baseball game.
      When he was 12 years old, Weaver attended Game 2 of the 1988 World Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. He saw the Dodgers beat Oakland, 6-0.
      “The electricity with the fans is what you remember,” said Weaver, a righthander who became a member of the Yankees in July. “Here [at Yankee Stadium], one of the reasons all the players do so well is because of the excitement.”
      Weaver, a native of Northridge, Calif. About 25 miles from L.A., attended many Dodger games as a youngster.
      “I used to wait around like people do to get balls thrown to you during batting practice and things like that,” Weaver recalled. “It all surrounded the Dodgers [while I was] growing up.”
      While Weaver was a diehard Dodger fan, his favorite player was the Mets’ hard-throwing righty Dwight Gooden.
      “I thought he was unbelievable how he was dominating the league,” Weaver said. “I kind of watched a little of his ’86 Mets because of him.”
      Weaver might’ve enjoyed watching Gooden, but he didn’t pitch like him. Though Weaver did make the All-Star team in Little League, he didn’t enjoy the same success on higher levels. One reason was his thin build. “I got passed up physically and didn’t play high school ball my junior year,” said Weaver, who now stands 6’5” and weighs 200.
      Weaver joined the high school team as a senior and was primarily an outfielder. He joined the Fresno State University team as a walk-on and saw his pitching career take off.
      “I felt that my best chance to continue [playing baseball] was being able to pitch, so that’s what I stuck with,” he said.
      As Weaver stuck with pitching, he began to see positive results.
      “I think just growing into my body physically, getting a chance to pitch and getting the experience is what did it for me,” Weaver said. “I finally said that this is what I’m going to do and I’m going to figure out how to be good at it.”
      Weaver did figure out how to be good at pitching and enjoyed tremendous success in college. In 1996, he went 12-5 with a 2.51 ERA and was the only freshman invited to the USA Olympic Trials. The next season, he led the nation with 181 strikeouts and went 11-5. In 1998, he went 10-4 with a 2.98 ERA and earned first-team All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Writers Association.
      Those impressive college credentials led the Detroit Tigers to select Weaver in the first round (14th overall) in the June 1998 first-year player draft.
      “It [was] exciting,” Weaver said of being drafted. “Every kid has the dream of playing professional baseball, and not getting drafted out of high school just ‘cause I wasn’t any good, you can’t really believe coming to the day that you have a chance to further your baseball career. It was a great day in my life.”
      Weaver gives generous credit to those who helped him reach that great day.
      “My dad pretty much taught me everything I knew until I [got] to college,” Weaver said. “And being away from home, obviously you have different mentors and my manager Bob Bennett at Fresno State really taught me a lot about pitching, mechanics and stuff, and that’s kind of the second tier of my development.”
      Both tiers of Weaver’s development helped him become a successful pitcher on the professional level. His combined 3-0 record with a 0.88 ERA in regular season and playoff starts led him to be named the Tigers second best prospect at the conclusion of the ’98 season by Baseball America. He made his major league debut the next season, going 9-12 with a 5.55 ERA in 30 games for the Tigers.
      “You sit in front of the TV as a kid and dream of putting on a uniform and when you finally get the chance to do it, obviously you don’t’ want the opportunity to get wasted,” Weaver said. “I had to make sure that not only was I in the big leagues but that people would recognize that I have some abilities.”
      People certainly did recognize Weaver’s abilities. He went 13-16 with a 4.08 ERA in 2001 and was 6-8 with a3.18 ERA this season before being traded to the Yankees in July.
      “It’s a whole different ballgame from Detroit, that’s for sure,” Weaver said. “They’ve got a great tradition here, and it’s been around for 100 years. The people you’re surrounded with are all about winning, and they make you comfortable- make you understand what it takes to succeed here. It’s great putting on a Yankee uniform."