Post by FIUFanatic on Mar 28, 2007 16:02:45 GMT -5
Pretty nice story on FIU's Mike Lowell and his childhood friends, that appeared on today's News Press...I am also very proud of him as a player and human being....
www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770328026
www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770328026
Lowell stays the same
By Glenn Miller
Originally posted on March 28, 2007
DELIVERING YOUR WORLD
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They called themselves the Three Musketeers, sports-loving kids growing up in Miami in the 1980s. They took turns playing Wiffle ball in each other’s backyard.
They had rules familiar to millions of other youngsters who have played backyard ball with plastic bats and balls. Hit a ball over a shrub or off a roof and you had yourself a home run. They played Little League and one of their fathers coached the team.
One of the those boys is now a regional manager for Heinz Food Services. Another is an international banking attorney. And the other plays third base for the Boston Red Sox. His name is Mike Lowell. His childhood friends know him as something else.
“He’s always been Mikey,” said Andy Fernandez, who met Lowell in pre-school, became one of the Three Musketeers and is now an attorney.
The other Musketeer is Garo Friguls, named after former Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian.
“You always wanted Mike on your team,” Friguls said.
Lowell, who was 0-for-3 on Tuesday in the Red Sox’s 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at City of Palms Park, remembers those days fondly, even now as he prepares to begin his ninth major-league season and his second with Boston. He recalls skateboarding to Garo’s house or Andy’s house or another friend’s house.
“All I had to do was holler when I got there and say I was alive,” Lowell said, sitting at a table in the Red Sox’s clubhouse at City of Palms Parks. “I remember that. That two miles. We switched houses like every third day.”
He’s played in 1,142 major-league games and countless others in spring training, in the minors and at Florida International University. He still treasures, though, the memories of those backyard games with Garo and Andy.
“Our rule was you had to bat the other way,” Lowell said.
That meant the right-handed Lowell batted lefty. The rule also applied to his friends.
Now, all these years later, the Three Musketeers are still friends. Friguls and Fernandez visited Fort Myers last weekend and attended a game.
Lowell sat down Monday morning and talked about the old days. He described himself as “a very active kid.” He played in volleyball, soccer and basketball leagues.
Any place could be a place to play ball.
“All we needed was an open field,” Fernandez said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
They also played Little League and one of the coaches was Lowell’s father, Carl, a Coral Gables dentist.
“My dad was a great coach,” Lowell said. “He knew baseball, wanted you to win. If you lost, it’s not the end of the world.”
Little League was another gathering place.
“That was with all my friends and I enjoyed the hell out of it,” Lowell said.
Fernandez echoed his major-league buddy.
“We were so fortunate,” Fernandez said.
Looking back, they all knew who was the best player — the future major-leaguer.
“He was clearly the best player in baseball, basketball, volleyball and soccer,” Fernandez said.
That wasn’t all Lowell had going for him. While at FIU, he was named the Trans-America Athletic Conference Student of the Year and was an academic All-American in 1995.
“I tell people Mike was not only the best athlete, he was the smartest,” Fernandez said.
And that’s coming from a bi-lingual attorney.
“I go to him for financial advice,” Fernandez said.
That’s not all.
“I tell him I live vicariously through him,” Fernandez said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of him.”
By Glenn Miller
Originally posted on March 28, 2007
DELIVERING YOUR WORLD
• Subscribe to The News-Press
• Place a classified ad
• Printer friendly version
• Email this article
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They called themselves the Three Musketeers, sports-loving kids growing up in Miami in the 1980s. They took turns playing Wiffle ball in each other’s backyard.
They had rules familiar to millions of other youngsters who have played backyard ball with plastic bats and balls. Hit a ball over a shrub or off a roof and you had yourself a home run. They played Little League and one of their fathers coached the team.
One of the those boys is now a regional manager for Heinz Food Services. Another is an international banking attorney. And the other plays third base for the Boston Red Sox. His name is Mike Lowell. His childhood friends know him as something else.
“He’s always been Mikey,” said Andy Fernandez, who met Lowell in pre-school, became one of the Three Musketeers and is now an attorney.
The other Musketeer is Garo Friguls, named after former Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian.
“You always wanted Mike on your team,” Friguls said.
Lowell, who was 0-for-3 on Tuesday in the Red Sox’s 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at City of Palms Park, remembers those days fondly, even now as he prepares to begin his ninth major-league season and his second with Boston. He recalls skateboarding to Garo’s house or Andy’s house or another friend’s house.
“All I had to do was holler when I got there and say I was alive,” Lowell said, sitting at a table in the Red Sox’s clubhouse at City of Palms Parks. “I remember that. That two miles. We switched houses like every third day.”
He’s played in 1,142 major-league games and countless others in spring training, in the minors and at Florida International University. He still treasures, though, the memories of those backyard games with Garo and Andy.
“Our rule was you had to bat the other way,” Lowell said.
That meant the right-handed Lowell batted lefty. The rule also applied to his friends.
Now, all these years later, the Three Musketeers are still friends. Friguls and Fernandez visited Fort Myers last weekend and attended a game.
Lowell sat down Monday morning and talked about the old days. He described himself as “a very active kid.” He played in volleyball, soccer and basketball leagues.
Any place could be a place to play ball.
“All we needed was an open field,” Fernandez said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
They also played Little League and one of the coaches was Lowell’s father, Carl, a Coral Gables dentist.
“My dad was a great coach,” Lowell said. “He knew baseball, wanted you to win. If you lost, it’s not the end of the world.”
Little League was another gathering place.
“That was with all my friends and I enjoyed the hell out of it,” Lowell said.
Fernandez echoed his major-league buddy.
“We were so fortunate,” Fernandez said.
Looking back, they all knew who was the best player — the future major-leaguer.
“He was clearly the best player in baseball, basketball, volleyball and soccer,” Fernandez said.
That wasn’t all Lowell had going for him. While at FIU, he was named the Trans-America Athletic Conference Student of the Year and was an academic All-American in 1995.
“I tell people Mike was not only the best athlete, he was the smartest,” Fernandez said.
And that’s coming from a bi-lingual attorney.
“I go to him for financial advice,” Fernandez said.
That’s not all.
“I tell him I live vicariously through him,” Fernandez said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of him.”
