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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2008 > June > 02 > Entry
BLOG: Jay Bruce, Diaper Dandy
For all the memories Jay Bruce has made swinging a bat — especially this past week with the Cincinnati Reds — here’s one he can’t quite remember.
“They tell me it’s true,” he said with a laugh as he stood alone at his clubhouse dressing cubicle just before the Reds went out to meet — and beat — the Atlanta Braves, Sunday. “I’ve heard about it all my life, but I was too young to remember.”
His dad, Joe, sure does, so let’s let him tell it:
“The first time he picked up a Wiffle bat — we were barbecuing in the backyard and he was still in diapers — he started swinging so natural. He kept hitting the ball harder and harder and harder. I was holding a beer in my hand and finally he hit a line drive that dented the can.”
Since then, Jay’s more than made up for spilling Dad’s brew. When he got his $1.8 million signing bonus as the Reds’ first-round pick in 2005, he promptly paid off his parents’ home, bought them a new car, bought his sister Amy a new home and then made a special promise to his sister Kellan, who is five years older.
The 26-year-old has some mental challenges because of a problem at her birth, but as Jay put it: “She’ll never have to worry about anything, never have to go without.”
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By Wolverine
June 6, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this
Just makes you love the kid that much more. Nice to have a new face for Cincy to cheer for. And he doesn’t wear 8-5.