MLB Mike Trout: Millville to MVP

[Music] welcome to millville new jersey it's a small town about 45 miles south of philadelphia like a lot of small towns it has a lot of little things it's proud of its history its traditions and local haunts that somehow always feel like home but folks in millville can tell you something else too they can say that mike trout may be the best young player baseball has ever seen comes from their town how are you guys all right good what's up listen how are you if you hear mibo everybody talks about jim's lunch [Music] it's the best restaurant around i think what's the special sauce they won't tell you a secret not even you know i don't know i don't even want to know either because i'll be home trying to make it it won't turn out good when he comes in here it's just like it was when he he was in high school from a humble guy coming in here to watching him on the big screen [Music] and so many thousands millions of people cheering for him money changes people success changes people and it has not changed him not one bite it's out you could just tell his talent level was head and shoulders above the rest of the people that were on that field he was destined for something great on the baseball diamond i thought i was an okay player until you meet a guy like trout back out at his trouts it is caught oh what a catch by mike trout he can hit hit for power hit for average and the way he runs i said man you have a little soul in you you run like that that's pretty fast he's very strong he has the football type of body that's able to look still graceful on a baseball diamond whether it's stealing bases whether it's tracking down flat balls he's the best player i've ever seen this kid is going to be something special already is having him in your division i mean it's just so painful but as a fan he is just such a marvel to watch this kid is a stud s-t-u-d [Music] everybody wants a piece of mike trout mike trout on the red carpet oh not as good as you man you talking about america's game he's america's face he is an icon i think people understand that the last guy who had a signature cleat like mike was ken griffey jr who's arguably one of the best players to ever play the game so that's the company mike's in how are you good nice to meet you bud you only get so many opportunities to meet somebody great and when he gets an opportunity to make a kid's day he jumps all over it [Applause] you know we joke around here we call him the golden boy he naturally does everything the way it's supposed to be done since arriving in the majors in 2011 he's won two mvps five silver sluggers and made five all-star teams but even if he's made it seem like he's a natural those who've watched him closely will tell you his stories about hard work as much as anything else [Music] even though he does these dazzling things he's kind of a workmanlike guy it might look like it comes easy to mike he's an incredible talent but he works hard at his craft you hear a lot of things about what you can improve on you make a mental note in your head saying i need to work on my arm so you push yourself to make your arm better need to get stronger you want to get stronger as nice as he is he's a killer you know he's a killer i mean he is he'll go for the jugular when he gets a chance don't give him opening because he's going to go after it you work harder and each day to improve that stuff you put the work in and put yourself in great situations good things will happen so now at the incredibly still young age of 25 that combination of work ethic and otherworldly talent has shaped him into the best player in baseball and made it almost impossible not to talk about him in historical terms i think what people don't understand is that he is mickey mantle he is willie mays stan musial ted williams basically you're talking a superstar level a 10-win player that's what mike trout has done for five straight years he is an all-time great on the track of being one of the greatest players in the history of the sport when you get compared to the greats it makes you feel unbelievable when mickey mantle and you know all them guys are next to your name or your names are next to them it's uh it's pretty surreal every time you see mike trout at the top of that leaderboard you're reminded this is the golden age of baseball this is when the best player perhaps ever is playing i think fans need to sit back and take a deep breath and tell their kids like son remember this guy he's going to be in your mind forever long before they talked about forever for mike trout everything started back here in millville a place where a lot's changed over the years but where they'll always have a place in their heart for a guy who goes to work millville is a small town blue collar town it was a glass making town they built the airfield here and this is where they trained the p-47 thunderbolt fighters for world war ii this high school mascot the nickname is the thunderbolt so it's a it's a rich tradition here through some economic changes that have taken place in the last couple decades noble's taking some hits we have the same problems than any other city that has 28 000 people but at the same time we have that little piece of sunlight that's always looming above us telling us hey look you know what there's room for us to continue to rise mike trout did it and everybody else can do it his success is great because it's actually putting millville on the map he comes in the shop friday at six prime time sits down gets his hair cut he's a movable guy through and through [Music] it's where all his friends are it's where all his hunting buddies are you know all his woods are you know i mean this is where he's from i know everybody in this town some of my friends i don't see for the whole year when i first started getting drafted it was tough this was me you know nobody was i needed to be here moving away from my parents i got brought into the world quick you know it's um laundry dishes everything so you're on your own and you know knowing what i had here and going out by myself in a different state it's uh it was different and like i said i always love coming back because it's comforting i see my family see my friends everybody's back here it's just where i was brought up it's in his blood south jersey and cumberland county and millville it's it's it's in his blood absolutely you see all these uh kids today and they all want to be another mike trout everybody in mobile wants to be a mike trout let's see that that looks great perfect getting married in december uh jessica cox she's my high school sweetheart sophomore year high school i met her and uh you know we've been together ever since she's the anchor in the house for sure she keeps my head on straight you know she she keeps me humble you know in january of 2017 mike trout took his fiance to the annual baseball writers dinner to accept his second mvp award an achievement boosted by the remarkable and unprecedented fact that trouts finished either first or second in the voting for the honor in all five of his major league seasons i'd like to thank my family who is here tonight they're the core of my support my mom and dad my fiance jessica personally i still look at baseball as just a game the same game i joyfully played in grade school middle school and high school for my days as a kid growing up down in millville and i feel very fortunate every time i step on a major league baseball field there's mike mike you know obviously an exceptional athlete at a very young age we kind of knew that you know he was kind of a special kid over here we have of course little league hat i mean i literally have two bins upstairs i love these and raising him even though he was so much better athletically than the kids in in the area he made it a point not to ever make it a big deal whether he hit four home runs or he was over four other things are more important be a good teammate right just be a good person be a good person he was always really really good most kids in their high school career make a really big jump from one season to another somewhere in there mike did that between every season every time we thought that was his jump he came back the next year did the same thing again and that's something we've never seen here then it started getting real it was senior year he did that all with the eyes of professional baseball watching there were more scouts than fans here just about every day the scouting directors and gm's were showing up the longer i've been doing this job the harder it is to get out and go see kids i mean especially you know kid who lives in millville new jersey which by the way is a flight cross country to philadelphia in about an hour plus drive up to millville right but our scouting staff kept telling us hey this kid you got to go see this kid so we take this cross-country flight i remember that sandwich shop because it'll haunt me the rest of my life and we go see the kid and our scouting staff loved it the thing that's amazing about that day was i believe it went over five and i believe he popped up like four to five times but you could tell he was an athletic kid my senior year was a lot of pressure i got to know the scouts pretty well you know greg moreheart he was a scout for the angels that was really high on me and as luck would have it moreheart the angels east coast scout had been teammates with jeff trout during their minor league days in the twin system in the 80s i've known jeff and debbie since 1984 when i had signed i didn't even know he was scouting i had lost track of him and then when he started to follow mikey around he really really liked what he saw and i could trust him i remember as a player playing against maguire against bonds against these type of players mike at 17 years old was as good as if not better with more power and more speed and then the scouting reporter said you know he's got a chance to be a hall of fame player now that's a crazy thing to write when somebody's 17 years old but when you have a reference point of those type of players well you know he's as good as those players at that age so he's got a chance greg moreheart bragged on mike the whole time but the first time i ever saw him was a gaming high school game in new jersey he got a base hit and i told our scout that was with me i said let's go we left in the fifth inning and he said why are we leaving i said well we're gonna take him if he's there but he won't be there when we pick and he said what are you talking about and i said he's got something about him it factored there is mike trout mike trout from millville high school in new jersey waiting to hear his name called he's joining us here live inside studio 42. we went up there and my thought process was well how about if he slips you know there's no guarantee nobody said we're drafting you mike this is where you're going there was no guarantee not even from the angels not from anybody with the first selection the washington nationals select stephen stosper this is mike trout from the northeast who had a lot of people talking nice about him but a lot of teams passed on the second selection the fifth selection the seventh selection it didn't take long that night for the realization to set in about just how much it would take for a team to pick a kid with trout's unlikely profile and background when you're in player in new jersey you do know there's some bias against you and as a result there'll always be a little bit of a doubt about really how good you are no matter what you do well that kid looks really good but you know he's doing it in jersey let's see what happens if he played you know 40 50 60 games in high school in texas it was tough uh because you couldn't get recognized a lot of people don't know about you know obviously middle new jersey with the eighth selection tenth selection we were sitting there watching and he was slipping down a little bit and you're getting a little bit nervous and i really really really was like really nervous about this but it's funny because i wasn't no no i don't know like why i wasn't but like i just didn't want it to be a moment where he slips and he doesn't get picked and we're up there and like you know boy and the camera's you know coming to you with the 12th selection what's going through your mind as you're waiting for this to happen i mean i'm nervous and uh it's a dream come true hopefully i wasn't hearing my name i knew i was gonna just sweat it out yeah you go up to the draft you want to get drafted on the first day the oakland a's are now on the clock you know we're between two guys it was in mike was one i mean i'm sure every guy says this story they didn't take them uh but uh you know we're going oh you know we saw him we liked him you know oh for five we didn't see him run we don't know if we can't validate that the oakland athletics select grant green gulp the cleveland indians select alex white bobby borschering chad james a left hand really you're just hoping it can somehow might get to 24 and 25. we had 24 and 25. with the 25th selection in the first round of the 2009 first year player draft the los angeles angels of anaheim select michael trout [Applause] yeah i was just happy that angel's picked me you work all your life to become a professional athlete and you know when you have the opportunity to it means a lot to you mike trout of middleville high school there you see him holding up the angels new jersey we'll never forget it and it was one of the great great nights of our lives that's for sure we got him we got the kingfish i mean we got him and he's ours we knew we had a tremendous talent but i'd be kidding you if i said that i knew he was going to be mike trout people messed up you know he shouldn't have been there 25 but can gladly take it until the next junior comes along or the next barry bonds comes along he's going to be the one that got away jim's lunch is your best bet for a good burger if you ever find yourself in the center of town in millville new jersey that is if you can get a seat during the midday rush but as sundown approached on a tuesday in may of 2014 things were a little quiet at gyms and all across town millville's favorite son was as close to back home as he'd get as a big leaguer with the angels visiting the phillies for the first time in his career go to jim's lunch today i've had i had a burger today correct that's correct just one yeah just one i got a game that i can't be too video millville is just a short drive away from philadelphia and everyone who could made the trip to the park and it is millville new jersey night here at citizens bank park because of this guy when we came to philly oh was that just unbelievable i mean i just stood up there i could have cried because like it was just so great that like they were all there to see mike it's got that friday night lights feeling if you will where it seems like the entire town of middleville new jersey has come to citizens bank park tonight there wasn't a light on in millville that night most of it was there they're estimating there's probably about 8 000 people from the millville area that have come out here today there was a lot of novel fans there that represented this city we had busloads of people the mayor's going to throw out the first pitch i believe the school choir is going to sing the national anthem growing up as a phillies fan and you know all the phillies teams it's going to be pretty cool to see the reaction because i know when i was growing up as a kid if i saw somebody with a different jersey on you know they were getting booed first time at bat was just insane when he first came up i mean the whole the whole place of roughly this is very impressive to see and he's philly's faithful we've been known to boost santa claus in the easter bunny mike trout more popular than both that standing ovation in philly came three years after the summer of 2011. [Music] when at age 19 the kid from millville was baseball's most promising prospect following barely two tantalizing minor league seasons and he called home with some news that night when he called he said he was going with big leagues it was july right he was right running your shoulder july 8th july 8th and uh i know we got the phone call and middle of the night middle of the night we had to hurry up scramble and get tickets we always wanted to see his first game making his major league debut after a solid season in double-a mike trout the pride of millville high school in new jersey the things that happened that day that that 24-hour period are incredible there is an unbelievable thunderstorm it's lightning a hidden different thing and we're delayed for like an hour and a half so many people are so excited to see these young men at 19 years old we landed in l.a at like 6 30 4 7 and we take a cab to anaheim which is an hour away right well here he is center fielder mike trout his major league debut tonight we had traffic to get to anaheim we do not get to the stadium until the sixth or seventh inning and we like running so listen here's the other here's the killer so we tell them like mom says mike now leave us four tickets we'll be there well i go up to the poor kid i know he's got he's gonna he doesn't leave his tickets right we're like okay just we'll buy tickets just give us a ticket somewhere when we finally get into the stadium it's like the top of the eighth inning and a ball is hit the center this one out toward right center and we had just sat down mike trout giving chase long run by trout he runs it down mike made that unbelievable catch out the outfield holy smokes won a catch by the kid 19 year old mike trout and like 44 000 people just go crazy we're up standing over here this first night as we get there it was unbelievable you talk about you know a moment you'll never forget the heralded 19 year old rookie in his big league debut he takes away extra bases he may have made the play of the night but at the plate trout went over three and he quickly realized hitting in the big leagues was going to take some adjustments [Music] it was tough you know the game was moving so fast for me you know when you first get up the league it's just so sped up and you would go for eight two games and you know strike out five times swing into missy struck him out it's tough because you know you can do better this young man just 19 years of age hitting 167 in 13 games this year in the big leagues you know i knew he's going to struggle at 19 you're going to struggle you know uh i knew how difficult it was yeah to hit a 90 mile an hour slider you know and then get thrown at a 79 mile an hour change up jeff trout could speak from experience considering a few decades earlier he'd also been a can't miss talent with the bat out of millville this guy's a legend in millville successful a minor league background and all-american in college his senior season he hit 519 and it shows up as one of the best offensive seasons in ncaa history i was a good little player he got drafted and played some pro baseball jeff trout was drafted by the twins in 1983 and had some strong seasons in the minors but after four years he decided to walk away from the game and return home to raise a family the fact that jeff quit playing when he did and was around mike all the time maybe jeff imparted to mike the single-minded dedication to baseball and that might be one of mike trout's best assets that dedication and focus were critical in 2011 as a teenage prospect trying to figure out how to be a major leaguer i don't think he's ever played baseball that long before and through september coming from the minor leagues maybe high school before that i think he was burned out and tired but he still fought he still went out there every day early batting practice working on his game the moment i told myself to you know calm down and just relax and just have fun enjoy it you know the game starts slow down a little bit trout jump starting the angels offense tonight with a home run are you getting in your groove are you feeling like okay i belong in the big league yeah you know i'm starting to get comfortable at the plate and being more aggressive in the outfield and things are clicking for you right now [Music] mike's been coming here for about two years now i've known him since we were kids though i've been friends with his sister since high school so i've known the family and mike forever the trout hawk we're trying to work on that something a little different he's got a big head so we're trying to you know make it look better looks good on them getting a lot of good feedback with it life here in milwaukee it's great it's a small town everyone knows each other it's like family here you're in the little carrier [Music] he's one of the biggest stars in baseball and when he's home you wouldn't even know it back in the spring of 2012 mike trout was almost 3 000 miles away from millville as he prepared for his first full big league season with the angels looking to build on the momentum of his progress the year before but what he built no one saw coming this one hammered down the left field line it is gone big fly for mike trout when you watched him struggle in 2011 you figured he's not gonna show up next spring and be the best from day one that one is out of here and he was he started off fast and he hit he was hitting home runs triples drilled down the left field side trout rallying second he's going to try to go to third what an offensive skill set he's out there doing some great things running balls down he made the catch what a spectacular play by mike trout we took two trips out there early in the season and there's hardly any trout stuff anywhere i was actually trying to find so you got any mic stuff that they're like who we went back in august and that's all you saw the fish hats were out by then and everybody was wearing a trout shirt everything just happened so fast looks like a different player this year i think just giving me a bath every day at bath i had the experience in 11 and uh just playing every day it was a big thing not a lot of 20 year olds not only perform well but perform well in every aspect of the game that quickly i don't think anybody including trout thought he'd have the kind of year that he had in 2012. it was a season with almost too many mike trout highlights to count but there was one signature moment that came to define his gifts more famously than any other this looks at the center field and deep back out at his trout back it goes it is oh what a catch by mike trout takes a home run away what a play by the 20 year old in center field and you bet he's smiling that was an unbelievable play that catch that he made in baltimore i was almost passed out because of the adrenaline that was in me just watching him jump up and reach over that wall might try with another spectacular grab it was one of the greatest catches i've seen with my eyes i've made some and people say oh toriel was an awesome catch but i hadn't i didn't see it you know just watching it it was the greatest vision i've ever had i just try to catch everything in the outfit i think it's better to rob in a home run than hitting a home run it's uh well santa for years it was incredible bring back a couple runs it was pretty special you know one of the one of my better catches i think yeah just made a big play he makes that catch in baltimore and every time i'm saying to my kids i'm like guys pay attention this you don't understand this gonna you know this doesn't come around very often and every time you thought maybe he kind of hit a plateau something else happened first player in major league baseball history with 30 or more home runs 45 or more stolen bases in 125 or more runs the way that he sprung onto the scene his approach his plate discipline all of that was fully fleshed out he essentially came to the major leagues as a 20 year old as a hall of fame type player you're looking at one guy in a generation with this kind of a talent package with 10.8 wins above replacement for the season the highest in baseball history for a 20 year old he ended up the unanimous choice as al rookie of the year and runner-up as the league mvp that season that he has is pretty much what he replicates almost every year trout doesn't tend to have big ears and shallow ears he's pretty consistent just the way that he's able to do the things that he's doing that's what separates good and great players but while his consistency at the plate and in the field has been remarkable and he's played almost every game every season an unlikely consequence persists that the game's greatest player is overlooked everything about mike trout is sort of not with our time if mike trout plays in the 40s and 50s he's stan museum maybe it's just that simple maybe in this age crowded with headlines consistent greatness can go underappreciated even though he compares to the all-time greats we just kind of take it for granted it would be great for baseball it'd be great for all of us to appreciate what he's doing right now let's fully appreciate what we're seeing [Music] ted williams famously said the all-star game was invented for willie mays and mays in fact made a record 24 appearances in the midsummer classic winning the game's mvp twice one of four players to do so but in 2015 that group grew to five in unprecedented fashion for the first time in the history of baseball a player has won back-to-back mvp awards in the all-star game mike trout's been an all-star in every one of his five full seasons and made the game his own personal highlight reel in 2012 he plays in his first all-star game he comes into the sixth inning has his first at-bat and he hits a single here's trout with a base hit in the center field and mike trout the 20 year old then he comes back in 2013 he leads the game off with a double the millville new jersey native goes head first into second base the next year jeter doubles to lead off the game trout triples to drive amid round third and score trout digging for three walking the big man fly in 2015 against zach cranky he has a leadoff home run against him [Applause] [Music] so he essentially has a cycle in his first at-bats of his first four all-star games [Music] just to put the cherry on top and his his 2016 appearance he hits a single in his first at-bat so essentially starts to cycle all over again it's just one of those quirky things that of course if anyone's going to do something like that it's going to be mike trout for all his brilliance in settings like the all-star game and his huge numbers every year there is a gap on mike trout's resume the angels have only made one postseason in his six years getting swept by the royals in a 2014 division series the next pitch the crowd will tell you what happened [Applause] you work so hard throughout the year to make the playoffs and spring training you train to you know you have one goal is to win a championship and you gotta get to the playoffs first and you know just to come out short it wasn't fun [Music] his frustration has only grown with every year his team has fallen short leading to a familiar narrative that seems to be harder and harder to avoid are the angels yeah i hear that a lot you know we're all positive here we don't think i don't think about that stuff trading trial is a topic that a lot of folks want to talk about but it's hard to conceptualize just how much value the angels would have to get back some people in the media or whatever would say that maybe the angel's going to haul back for him um how do you that's not happening we can just move on that's not happening i believe everybody feels like they have time to turn things around and get him to the postseason and it's not like he wants to get himself to the postseason he wants to get the angels there that's our goal we want to win a championship i hear great things about it so it's uh especially when i have a ring you wanna get some rings [Music] for now though the biggest headlines have gone to other stars and trout is still waiting for the chance to perform with the entire baseball world watching for mike trout he needs that moment in the national spotlight the reason the willie mays catch is famous is because he was in the 54 world series if that had been in july of 1954 nobody would even know about it think of derek jeter jumping into the crowd or running in front and flipping the ball at the plate that guy is a hall of famer because it plays like that that's what made him such a national figure and i think mike trout hasn't had that opportunity yet still in anaheim trout will tell you himself he doesn't look to the nearby lights of hollywood to grow his profile any bigger than it is you think he hit a golf ball from home play over the over the monster it all goes back to who he is a guy who'd prefer just to be on the field i want to do that one time t went up from home plate and let everything else fall as it may he's one of the greatest players in the history of the sport and i don't know maybe if he was more notorious or did flashy or wild things he'd be a bigger celebrity and that's kind of a shame we say we love a player who is consistent who is a model for kids out there and trout is all that i think it says something more about us and and what we pay attention to in the society that trout isn't an even bigger star thank you so much no problem i don't think he dwells too much on fame and celebrity that's one reason why he's achieved as much as he has is that he's not distracted by anything else throw a strike please bp i'm not trying to work counts i think that's one of my better qualities that can block everything out once you think you're bigger than the game you know it's going to come back and get you he doesn't want that he wants to stay humble and he wants to have fun and and be who he is [Music] who he is now is the star of a big market team with a hundred million dollar contract but you get the sense he's most comfortable as a kid from millville he loves coming back this is his home it'll always be his home and i don't think he'll ever you know want to leave for any extended period of time except to get play baseball you know which is why he stays connected to the team where it all started all right guys welcome day one coach hallenbeck i'm the head varsity coach appreciate the numbers oh as always we got a ton of kids out and that's great what we're going to do right now we've got a109 we've secured that classroom we need everybody down in a109 together okay seniors lead them down let's go all right so it's not very long those of you that have had a chance to meet mike you know he's a man of very very few words okay you don't get much out of him but uh he sent you uh a quick message from spring training so we're going to see that message real quick and we got a little something else for you hey guys good luck on the upcoming season hope you like the cleats enjoy them big mobile crowd no thunderbolts that's all you get from mike trout okay that that's a lot that's him being talkative as you guys know he's never forgotten what it's like to be a player here and he made it very clear that he wanted to take care of you guys for as long as he can [Music] right before his first signature cleat he came out to campus to see the lunar vapor trout for the first time so our footwear guy showed him a millville colorway and him and his dad they both lit up like little kids they were so excited and then since then we've been outfitting their baseball program with trout cleats and turf shoes pretty good right all he wants to know is that you guys are living up to it all right so that's your job you got to go earn these now can't get better you know mvp of mlb five years been there won it twice three years running up i mean you can't get any better than that and you know for him to give back just gotta love it it's awesome she's gotta love it mike trout was number one when he was a millville thunderbolt but the team hasn't retired his jersey instead since he left it's been given to players who are deemed worthy of the legacy of the town's favorite son the highest honor that a baseball player can achieve is to be awarded that number it's not necessarily the best player it's it's the guy that exemplifies what we're doing on and off the field every year sometimes we have one this year we have three [Music] being part of all this it's amazing mike's amazing given all this stuff and he's always able to come back as he cares about us we care about him so much talent supports him we're always happy for him we're all with him regardless of what happens like there's no losing in this town for some reason when it comes to this kind of stuff like we're just we're all in together we're gonna win that ring for you mike or get you that ring just a high school ring but it's not no you know world series ring with diamonds or anything but you know we'll get there we'll get there we're going to get it it happens rarely every great while a ballplayer comes along who is so special and so identified with his roots that his hometown becomes synonymous with baseball commerce oklahoma mobile alabama alvin texas it taps into something at the game's core going back to town ball sandlots and schoolyards little league in legion when first we are defined by where we are from now forever locked in our baseball consciousness there is millville new jersey [Music] millville the name itself is blue collar named for the mills and factories that hummed in the 19th century the spirit lives on in the brick storefronts of main street and at the counter of jim's lunch where they've been serving comfort food since 1923. cash only please millville population 28 000 is typical small town hardworking flag waving america with one very big difference it is home to the greatest young ballplayer who ever lived young phenom michael trout he's about the best i've ever seen mike trout is millville born there raised there lives there engaged to a girl from there smile on his face dirt in his shoes sweat on his brow that's millville too trout never stops working at greatness he wants to find his goals very simply i tell myself to be the best player in the league every year he has been even better than that most of his competition is dead trout not too far behind joe dimaggio maybe another manhole tied with ted williams mike trout is the all-time leader in wins above replacement after seasons for ages 20 through 24 displacing ty cobb in four of those years and mel ott in another this kid is something to behold if you tried to build the perfect player you'd look a lot like mike trump trout does more than just hit like an all-time great i don't want to catch he is a spectacular center fielder holy smokes and an elite base run man oh man that's right there has never been a young slugger who ran like this at least not since the 1950s when a healthy mickey mantle played center field for the yankees is there anything mike trout can't do no not on a baseball field baseball didn't see this coming not from millville the last player born and raised in new jersey who hit trout's 168 homers in the big leagues was joe medwick who was born in 1911. almost a hundred years later 21 teams passed on trout in the 2009 draft before the angels picked him mike trout thrills once again they picked a born ball player he plays like a hall of famer it's incredible on the eve of little league opening day mike would go to bed with his uniform on that same child's joy is there in the big leagues whether signing autographs before games or robbing a home run [Applause] oh my goodness send that kid to a higher league [Applause] [Music] see that's the most amazing thing about baseball's most amazing player it's not that he has finished first or second in mvp voting in all five of his full seasons it's that the more mike trout changes the record book the more he remains the same he's a jersey boy man he loves home he bleeds blue and orange for sure he's a movable guy through and through he hangs with the same friends he had in high school he returns every off season to millville where he sits down at jim's lunch after a day of fishing with the boys and orders his usual six hamburgers with sauce and a side of fries with sauce he trains next to local high school kids who have mike trout posters on their bedroom walls he just comes in hunting gear on he doesn't try to act like someone he's not he's a great guy it's been said that a ball player reaches his prime in his late 20s that's the case we haven't even seen the best of trout he turns 26 in august what we may see next stretches the imagination mike trout proving once again why he's the best player in the game this much is certain about what comes next trout will remain true to his hometown roots he will wake up each day as if he slept in his uniform eager as a child to go and play baseball and with each game he plays each home run each stolen base each great catch the kid from millville gets closer to the greatest ball players who ever lived

Channel: cacable7

Views: 420,354

Rating: 4.9163837 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 4-V6hvIufgY

Length: 44min 49sec (2689 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 08 2021