Baseball part of Ray's genes | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat
Baseball part of Ray's genes
Jackie Robinson was cousin to NFC center fielder's father
By David Sáez • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER • May 9, 2008
Melvin Ray Jr. turns to his right as he says it. His eyes face the wooden, cubed batting helmet rack in the visitor's dugout at North Florida Christian's Posey Field.
Ray is two days removed from today's first two games in a best-of-three series in the Class 2A regional final, and the NFC center fielder is talking about his family's history in baseball.
His tone almost makes you miss it.
First, he lobs up facts about his father pitching in the Detroit Tigers' minor-league system from 1974 to 1975 and his brother, Travis, being drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1995.
But the next detail comes in like a 100-mph fastball delivered at whisper pitch.
"Jackie Robinson is part of my family," he says. "He's a cousin on my dad's side."
Ray's father, Melvin Ray Sr., remembers his mother telling him about their relation to the man who integrated Major League Baseball in 1947. Robinson broke the color barrier and is the only player in the game to ever have his number (42) retired by every Major League team.
"My mom said we were kin to Jackie Robinson — distant cousins," the elder Ray says. "I was amazed. I knew he was from my hometown, but this was something else. Even though I was a pitcher, it was motivating for me."
The elder Ray says he spoke sparingly about it to his son. But as a sophomore at Chiles High two years ago, the younger Ray says people knew about it before he could even mentioned it.
"It got to the point where people were asking me questions I couldn't answer," Ray says. "I just left it alone for more than one reason. I didn't want people to use it against me or see me as bragging about it."
Ray is only now letting his teammates at NFC in on his family lineage. NFC head coach Mike Posey knew Ray's family was from Robinson's hometown, Cairo, Ga., but this he hadn't heard.
"That's pretty big," Posey said to Ray during practice Thursday.
Having this link was not something Ray, 19, latched onto early in life. He says his understanding of what Robinson accomplished as an athlete, a baseball player, and historical figure became apparent to him when he was 10 — a time when he began watching baseball on television where references to Robinson were regularly being made.
"I started talking more to my family about it," he says. "I make sure I learn everything about the history I can. As a child, I was like, 'Oh, I was related to him. OK?' But if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be playing. . . . Because of him, they started allowing more and more of us to play. He represents the beginning of blacks in Major League baseball."
Gripping an aluminum bat while his team takes batting practice, Ray considers Robinson's legacy and what he would tell the Hall of Famer if he were still alive.
"We have a lot more opportunities than he ever had," Ray says. "Now it's about if you can play, not if you can get into the game. I'd tell him I'm just thankful. A lot of guys these days take the opportunities for granted and a lot of them mess it up."
Racism will always exist, Ray says, but he wonders if he's been shielded from it because he's a good baseball player or because he stays out of trouble. Often he is the only black player on the baseball team for which he plays, but he says he's never experienced racial tensions.
Sometime soon, perhaps as early as a month from now, Ray will be faced with another choice: sign a professional baseball contract or head for Tuscaloosa, Ala., to continue his education and play football at the University of Alabama.
While Ray, one of the country's top receivers, signed a letter-of-intent with Alabama in February, professional baseball scouts have been attending his games with great frequency. In fact, scouts began noticing him the summer between his sophomore and junior year when he played in a summer team tournament in Atlanta. The scouts told Ray and his father they'd be in touch during Ray's junior and senior year.
After completing the first half of his junior year at Chiles, Ray transferred to NFC in January 2007, but he had to sit out from playing baseball last season.
Though scouts missed him during the high-school baseball season, they caught up with him last summer when he played for the Panhandle Indians and this high school season.
Ray has a .361 batting average, six home runs and 26 RBIs.
Reuniting with the professional baseball scouts has meant completing informational questionnaires for 28 of the 30 Major League teams. In March, there were about 23 scouts in the stands watching Ray and two other NFC prospects, seniors Dayne Read and Tyson Workman.
Ray said he's closely followed by the New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, and Cincinnati Reds.
Ray knows the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft is June 5-6, and he says scouts have been impressed with his speed in the outfield and his ability to hit with power. It's uncertain what round he will go, but at one point he said he was told anywhere between the first and fourth round.
"He's off the charts athletically," Posey says. "He's gotten a lot of looks. I'm sure he'll have a decision to make in a month or so."
Not playing high school baseball as a junior prompted him to focus on football. Though he did have scouts back on the trail last summer, he believed football would be his scholarship ticket to college.
As a wide receiver with NFC, Ray totaled 1,062 yards and 16 touchdowns as the Eagles advanced to the Class 1A title game. Ray earned first-team All-State honors and was a first-team selection on the
Tallahassee Democrat's All-Big Bend team.
The prospects of a baseball career have altered his course. No longer is football inevitable. According to Ray's father, Alabama football coach Nick Saban is aware of his son's interest in baseball.
One of the provisions Ray made when signing at Alabama included getting the opportunity to play college baseball, too. He says his son has met all the eligibility requirements to go to Alabama, so all options are open.
But if the baseball draft goes well, Ray may pursue the opportunity made possible to all black ballplayers by his kin.
"I fell in love with football this last year," Ray says. "When I first signed, I was 100 percent sure I was going to Alabama. Now I have eight or nine pro teams very interested. That could mean a big change. So as much as I love football and Alabama, and not to take anything away from what that opportunity means, I'm willing to leave my options open. . . . But baseball is my passion. It's in my family."
Baseball part of Ray's genes
Linear Mode
