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They flocked in from various parts of Nevada to watch infielder Brian Dallimore fulfill a lifelong fantasy. They paid top dollar ($80 a seat) to sit near the Giants dugout for Saturday's game. There were 11 of his closest friends, and after the game they went out for dinner and a libation or two.
According to his father, Fred, they told Dallimore, "You know, you're living
our dream."
Maybe so, but this was no overnight success. This was years in the making, a journey that included eight seasons of bad food and long bus rides in the minor leagues, near misses, soul searching and possible career changes.
The dream was realized Thursday, after 3,063 at-bats and 828 games in the minors,
when he grounded out against Florida's Brad Penny. The next night was his version
of "The Rookie." In his first at-bat, Dallimore, 30, hit a grand slam
off Dontrelle Willis, a blow that not only sliced into a seven-run deficit on
the way to a 12-9 Giants win but also is said to have sparked a renaissance
for the once-sagging team. The only other Giant whose first hit was a grand
slam was the late Bobby Bonds on June 25, 1968.
There was just one regret: Dallimore's father, the former longtime baseball
coach at UNLV, missed it. He had driven from Fresno by way of Reno to collect
some of his son's belongings and was walking on the ramp leading into SBC Park
when the blow was struck.
"He was driving like a madman, and he walked into the park just as the
ball was going over the fence," Dallimore said. "The first glimpse
he got of the field was the ball up in the air."
Said his father: "The traffic was just horrible. I saw (the grand slam)
on the replay. As a father, you couldn't ask for a better feeling than that.
I know how hard he's worked to get here. We waited a long time for this. It's
like something out of a storybook. You couldn't write that kind of script. You
really couldn't dream it up. That's a credit to him, the kind of player he is."
The Dallimores, sitting in Section 119, have become instant celebrities. Television
cameras have constantly focused on Fred and his wife, Alice, and Brian's wife,
Kim. After the slam was hit, they were standing, almost in shock, seemingly
unable to digest what had happened.
"We got 150 phone calls that night," the elder Dallimore said.
Dallimore is with his third organization after playing at Stanford in the mid-1990s.
He always was superior to most players his age since becoming immersed in baseball
while his father coached at UNLV from 1974-96. Fred Dallimore sent 25 players
to the major leagues, including former Giant Matt Williams, Todd Stottlemyre,
Cecil Fielder and Bip Roberts.
Brian Dallimore was, of course, a Giants fan growing up. "I watched them
a lot, because of Matt Williams," Dallimore said. "Will Clark was
my favorite player in high school. All the way through college, I was a big
fan."
Dallimore was a ninth-round pick of the Houston Astros in 1996, but he always
seemed to be stuck behind such players as Morgan Ensberg and Keith Ginter. Twice
he said he thought seriously about quitting, in 1999 as a minor leaguer with
the Astros and again the next year in Arizona's chain. He had earned a psychology
degree and believed he could fall back on his education.
"In '99 I was playing behind three guys," he said. "They said,
'You're going to be a utility guy.' Being a utility infielder at 25 years old
at A-ball is not a good position to be in. But a week-and-half later they called
me up to Double-A."
On the depth chart below the same players the next season, Dallimore asked for
a trade and was dealt to the Diamondbacks. The scenery changed, but not much
else.
"I was playing behind a guy that I thought I was better than. I thought
about quitting then," said Dallimore, who was persuaded to keep playing
by minor-league hitting coach Ty VanBerkleo. "Ever since then I've gotten
an opportunity to play."
After three decent years, Dallimore became a free agent and signed with the
Giants before last season. He led the Pacific Coast League with a .352 batting
average but was not on the 40-man roster and remained at Triple-A Fresno.
"That was disappointing," he said. "I was pretty proud of the
accomplishment. I was more disappointed just because of how old I was. I felt
this was my one good shot to get to the big leagues. I got over it and signed
back with the Giants. I felt there was still an opportunity here."
Dallimore has started the past three games -- twice at third and once at second
-- and had two more hits in Sunday's 9-8, 11-inning victory, raising his average
to .429 entering a three-game series in New York.
"That Dallimore kid has injected a lot of energy into the team," manager
Felipe Alou said. "He's had some big hits, some tough two-strike hits to
keep rallies going."
And every one of them has been treasured by the Dallimore clan in Section 119.
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