, Tex. — Wearing his ever-present smile,
Friday night, stretched his wrists and reached for a ballpoint pen. Awaiting his signature were 252
, roughly one for every clutch hit or sparkling defensive play that has elevated him to the status of folk hero in San Francisco over the last three weeks.
Never mind “Lights,” the sing-a-long by
Journey. “
Oooo-reebay!” has become the anthem to the
Giants’ postseason joy ride, cried by Uribe’s adoring fans whenever he approaches the plate — even when he is nowhere to be seen. After the
Giants defeated the Texas Rangers in Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday night, an impromptu chant broke out in the bowels of AT&T Park, seemingly for no other reason than it sounded cool.
Well, that and because his one-out single in the seventh inning extended the Giants’ lead to 2-0 and continued to cement his postseason reputation. Although he entered Game 3 on Saturday night hitting .171 (6 for 35) through 12 games, Uribe, the starting third baseman, has driven in nine runs to lay claim to the best value-per-swing ratio of the playoffs: a run batted in every 3.89 at-bats, according to Stats LLC.
“Whether he isn’t getting a lot of hits or he is, he always gets them in big spots,” center fielder Aaron Rowand said. “He drives them in, and he’s done that his whole career.”
Rowand did not know him a decade ago, when Uribe, young and brazen, debuted for the Colorado Rockies. A more polished version joined Rowand on the Chicago White Sox in 2004, and this Uribe, now 31, is a ringleader in a famously loose clubhouse. Uribe declined an interview request after the Giants’ workout Friday, but he cracked up his teammates with his bursts of broken English, his sweeping hand motions and his exaggerated reactions to a basketball game playing on television.
“You never hear a negative thing come out of his mouth,” first baseman Travis Ishikawa said. “He’s the same guy all the time
and, I think, for me at least, I look up to that. Being able to stay the same no matter what the circumstance is; I think that’s a trait that goes a long way.”
It may have been passed down the Uribe lineage to Juan from his second cousin Jose, the
Giants’ steady shortstop from the 1989 team that lost to Oakland in the earthquake-marred World Series. In 2006, Jose died in an auto accident in the family’s hometown of Juan Barón, Dominican Republic. Earlier in the playoffs, Uribe told reporters that he got “very emotional” when hearing the same “Oooo-reebay”
chants his cousin did during his eight seasons in San Francisco.
“One of the main things I learned was to be disciplined,” Uribe said of his cousin’s influence. “Your teammates are your family and whether it’s World Series, playoff games or regular-season games, go on the field and try to win.”
Unlike most of his teammates, Uribe has indeed won. Only three other
Giants on the playoff roster — Rowand, Edgar Renteria and Pat Burrell — have championship rings. Uribe, like Rowand, is 6-0 in World Series games, all against teams from Texas. His primary contributions from the White Sox’ title run in 2005 are remembered by South Siders with everlasting fondness: in the ninth inning of the Game 4 clincher against Houston, he dived into the stands to snag a fly ball, then whipped a strong throw to record the last out for the franchise’s first title in 88 years.
Uribe must have a penchant for teams with long championship droughts. It seems that he is single-handedly trying to break the
Giants’ 56-year hex. In the ninth inning of Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against Philadelphia, the 230-pound Uribe quelled a Phillies rally with a smooth backhanded stop of a Ross Gload grounder.
And he followed that with the game-winning sacrifice fly.
In Game 6, his go-ahead, two-out homer in the eighth inning clinched the N.L. pennant. In the World Series opener against Texas, his three-run homer capped a six-run fifth inning.
“He’s a guy we like up there with the game on the line, because we know he’s not going to feel any pressure,” Manager Bruce Bochy said. “He wants to be the guy up there.”
After losing his starting job with the White Sox in 2008, Uribe attracted little interest on the free-agent market before signing a minor-league contract with San Francisco that paid him $1 million only if he made the team. His versatility won him a roster spot, and his offensive revival — .289 average and 15 home runs in 122 games — earned him a guaranteed $3.25 million for 2010. As injuries to Renteria and Freddy Sanchez ravaged a crowded infield, Uribe stayed healthy and set career highs with 24 homers and 85 runs batted in.
“Some guys can deal with the pressures of being in big at-bats, and being able to slow things down, and he does a real good job with that,” Rowand said. “The situation doesn’t take him out of his game. Everywhere that he’s ever been, he’s had a following. Everyone loves him.”