When Dewayne Wise wakes up in the morning, he rises from bed, walks to the bathroom, looks in the mirror and probably asks himself the following questions: Where am I? What team do I play for?
In a world where most people live paycheck to paycheck, Wise has defined his baseball career by going from team to team, jumping from one city to another at such a rate that no mailman can ever find him.
?My family and friends, every year they always call me and ask, ?What kind of hat do I need to buy this year??? Wise says.
His baseball resume is longer than the game?s rulebook. What?s Dewayne?s rule of baseball?
?It?s all about having fun,? the journeyman outfielder says at his White Sox locker, yet another place to store his stuff, which has seen just about every city, town, village and professional baseball field from Sarasota to San Francisco.
Let?s start with the minor leagues. Since being drafted by the Reds in 1997, Wise has played for teams in Billings, Burlington, Rockford, Knoxville, Dunedin, Syracuse, Rome (Georgia), Myrtle Beach, Richmond, Toledo, Chattanooga, Louisville, Goodyear, Charlotte, Lehigh Valley, New Orleans, Scranton and Las Vegas.
His favorite minor league town? Charlotte, where he lives in the off-season. Worst? No offense to the people of Burlington, Iowa, but your town wins.
?That place is brutal man. It was April and I couldn?t wait for the season to be over with,? Wise recalls about his 1998 season with the Burlington Bees of the Midwest League. ?It was so bad we didn?t have a grounds crew. We had guys who would come out of the stands and cut the grass with a push mower. Fans just volunteered to cut the grass.?
And if none of them attended the game? ?It would look like somebody?s field in the country. Just high grass. You wouldn?t be able to see the ball out there.?
The goal for Wise has always been to make it to the big leagues and stay there. But if we?ve learned anything about Dewayne, he doesn?t stay anywhere, especially if it means going back to the minors.
?We call it the bushes because there is nothing good about it,? Wise says about the minor leagues. ?I know it?s professional ball, it?s Triple-A, but there?s no comparision.?
Which is why Wise, at 34-years-old and in the twilight of his career, has tried to do everything in his power to not sniff the minors ever again.
?There?s a strategy to it,? Wise said. ?I guess it started back in the early 2000s where you?re on a major-league club and you get designated or outrighted. I just felt like, ?Hey, they designated me, they don?t want me here anymore, why not become a free agent and see what else is out there?? For the last 10 or 11 years it?s seemed to work. I leave one team and the next year I?m in the big leagues with another.?
At the end of the 2003 season, that?s when Wise put his master plan into action. The Blue Jays, who selected Wise in the 1999 Rule-5 draft, no longer saw him in their future. So Wise walked, became a free agent, and over the next six years embarked on his mad-cap journey, getting signed and released by the following major league teams: Braves, Tigers, Reds, White Sox and Phillies.
The highlight during that time was Wise saving Mark Buehrle?s perfect game for the White Sox on July 23, 2009, making one of the greatest catches of all-time, robbing Gabe Kapler of a home run in the top of the ninth inning.
But Dewayne?s nomad existence would merely continue. On June 5, 2010, Toronto signed him back, marking the start of one of the strangest transaction do-si-dos in baseball history, where over the next 15 months, Wise?s back-and-forth career went like this: Blue Jays, Marlins, back to the Blue Jays, back to the Marlins and back to the Blue Jays again.
After Toronto let him go at the end of last season, Wise signed in January with the Yankees. The plan was for him to start the year at Triple-A Scranton. What Dewayne didn?t know was that Scranton is rebuilding its home stadium meaning the team is playing its home games over three hours away in Rochester, New York.
?When I signed over there, I had no idea. They didn?t tell me,?? Wise said. ?I didn?t find out until the first day of spring training. I was like holy _____. I can?t believe nobody would actually tell me this.?
Called up by the Yankees in early May, Wise went from playing home games in front of a handful of people to over 40,000 fans at Yankee Stadium. The problem was, after he got promoted, he barely played. At one point he went 35 straight days without getting a start.
?Not once did I ever say something to the coaches or anything like that,? Wise said. ?I just try to come in everyday to prepare myself to be ready so that when I get in there, I?ll get a chance to produce.?
However, when he was released by New York in July, guess what team once again came calling? The Blue Jays. They can?t live with him. They can?t live without him.
?I guess they?re an organization that loves me over there,? Wise said with a smile.
Or can?t stand him. They?ve let him go four different times.
But instead of returning to Toronto, Wise returned to the White Sox, whose Triple-A affiliate is near his home in Charlotte.
?Coming to a clubhouse that I?ve known from previous years, it was like coming back home,? says Wise.
Kenny Williams was excited to have him back, while a certain Yankees shortstop was sad to see him go.
?I was just down in the tunnel talking with Derek Jeter and he just raved about the job that he did over there for them,? said Williams about Wise who batted .262 in just 63 at-bats with the Yankees. ?I think Dewayne more than anything else has run into a numbers game from time to time. He knows his role, he comes to play everyday, competes offensively and defensively, and is an aggressive player that we were familiar with. We knew that if something happened, that he would fit the bill.?
So far, Wise is fitting right in. In his first eight games with the White Sox he already has nine RBIs, one more than his total with the Yankees in 56 games.
How many more games does this baseball gypsy have left in him? He says he?d like to play two more years, which at Dewayne?s rate, means at least two more teams and very likely another stint with the Blue Jays. Why not?
?It?s a blessing that a guy at my age is still grinding.?
And fighting for baseball survival. It?s a career that endures. A journey not ready to end.
Tags: Philadelphia Phillies, Kenny Williams, atlanta braves, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Derek Jeter, Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Gabe Kapler, Dewayne Wise, Miami marlinsunemployment 2012 nfl draft grades young justice nfl draft d rose iman shumpert mayweather vs cotto
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