From our archives: A look back at Ryan Zimmerman’s rookie year with the Nationals.
Ryan Zimmerman arrives at the Nationals clubhouse at RFK Stadium at 1:47 for the second game of the Beltway series against the Orioles. Game time is 7:05 pm.Joey Eischen looks up from his locker: “Hey, Zimm, I have something for you.”
Zimmerman says “thanks” and cracks a rare grin. He takes the picture to his locker and sits down. The son of one of the other players sidles up to talk about school—two kids in a big-league clubhouse. Batting practice is over. The Nationals and the Orioles are milling about in front of their dugouts. A cluster of fans presses against the railing along the third-base line next to the Nationals dugout. Zimmerman is signing balls and shirts and scraps of paper.
We arrange ourselves on the lone couch facing a TV showing Hollywood stars at some film debut. Angelina Jolie smooches with Brad Pitt. Zimmerman’s apartment has the look of a freshman dorm room on the first day of school. Last September the Nationals called him up from the minors, stuck him on third base, and said to play ball.“It’s a matter of being at the right place at the right time,” he says. “You have to have a little luck.”Virginia Beach, where Zimmerman grew up, is the home of televangelist Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition. I ask if religion has played a part in Zimmerman’s ability to stay calm and avoid temptation.
Zimmerman’s parents have photos of him swinging a red plastic bat before he was two—and whacking a pitched ball. “Not being as physically mature as others, I had to be smarter,” he tells me. “I had to get the mental part of baseball down first.”“I think before every pitch,” he says. Next time you watch him step out, monkey with his batting gloves, bang dirt from his spikes, you’ll know his mind is whirring. “Every pitch is a new at bat. I have a million things running through my head.”
But athletes battle problems from within. And of all pro sports, baseball might put the most pressure on its players. The season is long, they play more games than any other sport, they stand alone at the plate and on the mound. In the clubhouse, Zimmerman occasionally plays the gofer. “I go for coffee if one of the veteran ballplayers asks,” he says. “They have earned it.”
“I pick friends I can relate to, get along with off the field,” he says. “I try to take care of Zimmerman, show him the ropes.” His stance is wide, his swing a smooth arc that makes a full circle. It’s so natural that it seems to take place in slow motion, but the balls crack off the wood in line drives, more than a few over the fences.
“Like Larkin, he’s going to be here his entire career,” Bowden says. “He’s going to develop into a leader of the team. He’s already Gold Glove caliber at third. He’s just a special kid. They don’t come around very often.The night was a happy one for the Washington Nationals. They beat the Orioles 8–3 in front of 32,502 fans, their second-largest crowd of the season.He came to the plate with the bases loaded at the bottom of the eighth inning. Pop foul. Pop foul. Brushback. Ball low. Foul back.
Keith and Cheryl were high-school sweethearts in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. They were jocks. Cheryl played lacrosse at Lock Haven University.
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