Carlos Ruiz will always be at home in Philly | Sam Donnellon
Former Phillies star catcher feels nothing but welcomed as he returns with the Mariners
HOURS BEFORE Tuesday's game between the Phillies and Seattle Mariners, the teacher stood among some of his closest and most appreciative students in shallow leftfield. Maikel Franco, Freddy Galvis and Cesar Hernandez encircled Carlos Ruiz, occasionally bending over in laughter, slapping gloves on one another's shoulder as if they had not seen each other for a long time.
In truth, it had been less than 24 hours since Ruiz invited these and other members from his old team and few from his new one to dine with him in the South Jersey home he has held on to amid his late career odyssey, first to Los Angeles, and now Seattle.
"We're like brothers," he had said moments before, during an emotional pregame media session. "And I always say it doesn't matter what team I'm on, I have respect for those young guys over there and I really miss them. That's one thing I tell my teammates now with the Mariners . . . about how I teach them, and show how special it is to me . . . It's about family. Staying together."
There is no for-sale sign on the house, nor will there be. This is home, where he grew up as a player, and as a person. Where he went from non-entity to entity, from a guy seen as a stopgap solution until the high draft prospects arrived, to a World Series hero, five-hole hitter, All-Star, catcher to the Four Aces and to four no-hitters.
"You know, when I was scouting for the Yankees in '08, I wrote Chooch up as a backup catcher," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said in his office before the game. " . . . And then he started hitting and developing and he got better and better.
"He proved me wrong."
He was far from alone. It's hard to believe for those who grew up with posters of Ruiz over the bed and his bobbleheads on their bureaus, but he was once in about the same spot some of his remaining best friends on this team are now, or at least were until recently: Travis d'Arnaud, now a Mets catcher, was the Phillies' first-round pick in 2007; picked in the fourth round of the 2004 draft, Lou Marson, 22 and fresh off an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, hit a home run in his first major league game in late September of that 2008 season.
Marson was in a Cleveland uniform when the next September rolled along, part of a prospect package that netted Cliff Lee. A few months later, on the same day Lee was foolishly traded to Seattle, d'Arnaud was sent to Toronto as part of a package that returned Roy Halladay.
Chooch? Well, you lived that storybook with him, every emotional link of it. There he is in that iconic photo hugging Brad Lidge after the final out of the 2008 World Series, their exhilaration embodying our sense of salvation. There he is hugging Halladay two seasons later after his perfect game and wrapping around Halladay again after the ace recorded only the second no-hitter in postseason history.
He was the Forrest Gump to the greatest era of Phillies baseball, seemingly in the center of every significant event. Already 29 years old in 2008, Chooch just would not let go. For three seasons, the average hovered near or above .300, his strikeout and walks matched evenly, his catching acumen allowing any of the aces to throw any of their pitches at any time. He made the All-Star game in 2012, at age 33.
"You never know about guys," said Mackanin. "But I think his dedication to the game and his work ethic and his persistence really paid off for him. He just really took it to heart. He was determined to make himself better."
This is his legacy, the reason he appeared to be magnetized as he stood in the outfield before the game, and again when a video tribute in the third inning brought hugs and back slaps from his current teammates. Freddy Galvis, now 27, is still the Phillies' everyday shortstop, J.P. Crawford still the prospect. Cesar Hernandez no longer appears to be working under a short-term lease, either.
Cameron Rupp is working on his prognosis too. Tommy Joseph, Aaron Altherr . . .
Chooch is their alternate truth.
"You've got to prove it," he said. "I can see improvement in those guys . . . I was watching spring training and they were showing almost every game. And it was fun to watch those guys play. They want to win. That's big. They're close."
As Tuesday night's slop-athon indicated, though, not that close. Ruiz isn't likely to see the complete turnaround as a player. Implied by Tuesday night's warm welcome and his decision to keep his home here, though, is the possibility of a reunion someday as a coach.
As soon, maybe, as next year.
"I definitely would like to come back to this organization," he said. "Before I left, they came to me and told me the door is open for me anytime I want to come to Philly and work with this organization. That's big. That is something I think about right now."
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Columns: ph.ly/Donnellon