I need a Devil Rays fan to help me out here... I am pretty sure, but not 100% sure that Brooks was based on Carl Crawford. Time frame fits, player style fits, but im just not sure he was in AAA in 1999. Can someone help me out?
shareI'm afraid you're incorrect on both counts about Crawford. 1999 was his first professional season, and he played for the Princeton Devil Rays, Tampa Bay's Rookie League affiliate. He did play at Durham in 2002, but that was after Morris had retired, and he did not make his MLB debut until 2002, either.
If you read the book by Morris himself, he doesn't mention anybody who really resembles the Brooks character. I think it's pretty clear he was written into the script for dramatic effect. I can see what you mean about Crawford, though. He seems to fit the description, but it seems unlikely the writer had him in mind since the script was written long before Crawford made it to the big time.
I'm actually a Cardinal fan, but I'm also a big fan of thebaseballcube.com. It's got college and minor league statistics for nearly every professional player in recent memory. You should check it out.
And just for kicks and grins, here's a link to Durham's complete '99 roster.
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/stats.asp?Y=1999&ID=10186
Brooks Kieschnick did play for Durham that year, but he's a white guy who never played for the Devil Rays. He did make it to the bigs with Milwaukee as a pitcher/outfielder/pinch hitter, though.
And a guy named Brooks Badeaux did play for Orlando, the Rays' AA affiliate that Morris briefly played for in '99 before moving up to Durham, but he is a shortstop who has yet to make the major leagues. He did spend a couple Spring Trainings with the big club, though.