THE CANADIAN PRESS
NEW YORK — The first baseball game he ever played was on a soccer field in Auckland with temporary netting erected to serve as the backstop. He was nine years old, and had only learned of it through a newspaper ad seeking out players.
Sunday, Scott Campbell took the field at the sport’s grandest cathedral alongside 49 other top big-league prospects, trying to wrap his mind around his against-the-odds odyssey from New Zealand to Yankee Stadium.
"To be honest, before the game I was trying to stay as focused as I can, obviously a little bit of emotion was creeping in," the 23-year-old said after going 0-for-4 with a run scored in the World team’s 3-0 victory over the U.S. in the Futures Game. "Now that it’s over, there’s a smile on my face — I’m not much of a smiler.
"That was really an amazing experience."
That Campbell, a second baseman with the Toronto Blue Jays’ double-A affiliate in New Hampshire, is a prospect at all is the stuff of Hollywood, falling in love with the game and developing into an elite player in a country that at the time had no baseball infrastructure or pedigree whatsoever.
He learned of the sport from his father, Glenn, the son of a Canadian woman who spent some time growing up in Vancouver, but didn’t get the chance to play it until he found the newspaper ad. A year later he met Joe DiMaggio and Hank Aaron at the World Children’s Baseball Fair in Japan, and his love of the game was sealed.
"When I look back at it it’s kind of disappointing because I didn’t really know who DiMaggio was, his significance," said Campbell. "That’s probably the one regret I have in my life, I wish I had talked to him a little bit more. I was 10, but when I was 14, 15 years old I looked back and thought, `Man, that was Joe DiMaggio."’
What he had no doubts about was that he was going to try and make baseball his life.
By 14 he was playing on New Zealand’s senior national team, but he was having trouble finding the type of coaching and competition that would push him to the next level. Then at 16, he began attending an elite academy in Australia, a six-week training camp sponsored by Major League Baseball that helped elevate his game.
"I always had the feeling I could play professional baseball or go to school and play. The one thing I’ve always been good at is being confident," said Campbell. "I’ve always worked every day from a young age to try and get better at baseball, which was one of the challenges for me in New Zealand, but (the Australian camp) really, really was an eyeopener for me and it helped me a lot."
After attending two camps Down Under, the San Diego Padres, his favourite team, offered him a contract. He thought long and hard about it before deciding college would be the better route.
He spent a season at Arizona Central Junior College, winning a spot from among the 90 players to try out, and later transferred to Gonzaga, from where the Blue Jays made him the first New Zealander ever taken in the draft, in the 10th round.
The growth he’s shown in his three pro seasons is astounding, reaching the Futures Game by leading the double-A Eastern League with a .342 batting average, alongside 46 runs, four homers, 27 RBIs and an impressive 43 walks against just 37 strikeouts.
He batted .279 last year for low-A Lansing and moving to New Hampshire was a big step up.
"Going back to the beginning of my career, I always had a tough road in baseball," he said. "I could have very easily given many excuses along the way as to why I should quit or why shouldn’t try any more. Everyone used to look at me funny because I was a baseball player and kind of give me strife for it, so I think that’s really helped me mentally."
.Where he goes from here is now the question.
Dwayne Murphy, the Blue Jays’ former roving hitting instructor recently promoted to the big league club as first base coach, believes the natural swing Campbell has needs no work, that he only needs to refine the finer points of hitting.
His defence, on the other hand, needs work.
"That’s his next thing," said Murphy. "He’s pretty well got the natural path, natural swing. Going to double-A, that’s a really big jump from Lansing and I didn’t really expect him to do what he’s doing, but he’s handled it."
Due to his lack of pedigree, Campbell is also going to be judged with a harsher eye.
"It’s really been sudden for him," said Blue Jays farm director Dick Scott. "He’s always been kind of a grinder-type player and still is. We jumped him a level, from the Midwest League to double-A, and had real concerns about how he was going to hit and that’s all he’s done there.
"I just hope it’s the real thing. Sometimes guys just have a good year, but he’s certainly got everyone’s attention."
That’s fine with Campbell, who has more baseball smarts than his age and experience-level would suggest. A strong inner will, tremendous belief in his abilities and a determination so many more talented players lack allow him to push the envelope.
"When I go to the plate, I’m always confident no matter who’s throwing, it doesn’t bother who’s on the mound," said Campbell. "That’s part of my mental progressions, being confident and being positive. I’ve always believed if you’re confident and are positive, you’re going to have good results.
"I’ve seen some guys playing with great ability kind of mentally destroy their careers because they put so much pressure on themselves. I think a lot of guys in the game, that’s what stops them from getting to the big-leagues, they can’t step away from the negative things. It’s a game of failure and every one knows it."
That outlook may very well make him the first New Zealander to play in the majors. To date, Travis Wilson is the Kiwi to go furthest in baseball, spending eight years as a pro in the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds systems, reaching triple-A.
Campbell is hoping his strong season thus far earns him a promotion to triple-A Syracuse, if not a September callup to the Blue Jays.
"I’ve learned how to make adjustments on an at-bat, to at-bat basis rather than taking three or four days to make my adjustments. I think that’s the big difference you’re seeing in my average from this year to last year," he said. "And that’s what baseball is all about, making adjustments.
"You’re never going to have the game figured out."
And that’s the beauty of it. How else can a kid in Auckland go from a makeshift diamond on a soccer field to the most storied ballpark in the world?
"Today I was sitting there saying, `Wow,"’ he said. "Five years ago, I hadn’t played a game in the U.S. Now to play a game at Yankee Stadium, play with all these guys, there was so much talent on that field, I feel really proud to be a New Zealander."
