Cole Hamels at the top of the world
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Legendary Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Iooss Jr., had cluttered a Bright House Field concourse with wires, lights and equipment as he prepared for Cole Hamels' noon Friday cover shoot.
Iosss understood that most athletes would rather don tutus than pose. Typically, they show up late and beg off early. Making them wait invariably produced photographic poison. So he and his two assistants would be ready no matter how tardy the Phillies pitcher might be.
At 11:45 a.m., 15 minutes early, Hamels, wearing a crisp white uniform, the blond streaks in his hair glistening in the midday Florida sun, arrived. The eager smile on his face was as wide as Iooss' eyes.
"I've shot maybe 300 athletes [for covers]," Iosss said later. "And three have shown up early. Marion Jones, I can't remember the other one, and now Hamels."
As he prepares rigorously for a season as the world champions' ace, Hamels has at last fulfilled his "Hollywood" nickname. The transformation of nerdy-voiced Colbert Richard Hamels into cool Cole Hamels is complete.
The San Diego-area native appears remarkably at ease with a growing celebrity status, one that was enhanced by his starring role in the Phillies' 2008 world championship.
He said he was increasingly comfortable signing autographs, mingling with fans, "working those facial muscles," as he calls it. When he talks with reporters he is glib and frank, though the words sometimes pour forth so rapidly that his brain can't always accommodate the pace. In the fall, for example, he called the rival Mets "choke artists" on a New York City sports-talk radio station.
"I didn't even know what I was saying," Hamels said. "I thought I was just answering a question. Sometimes it's really hard. But I'm glad it happened. It kind of keeps me aware. Every time I make a mistake, I correct myself. I try to live by being honest, but I don't want it really to affect who I am. Playing baseball, you've got to put all your effort on the field. But all the off-the-field stuff is just kind of irrelevant."
Relaxed, cooperative
Irrelevant perhaps, but certainly nothing to be ignored. Even posing for the double-whammy of a Sports Illustrated cover on Friday the 13th, he was relaxed and cooperative."I don't mind things like this, the celebrity stuff," said Hamels, who endured the 45-minute shoot obediently, patiently, even gladly. "I guess I was always a little photogenic, so that makes it easier."
Hamels bought a sky-scraping penthouse in Center City's Two Liberty Place this off-season, a fitting purchase (of more than $2.2 million) for someone who's been on an astonishingly rapid elevator ride to the top of his profession.
At 25, he's already compiled a 38-23 big-league record with an ERA that has declined in each of his three seasons. He's been an all-star and a World Series MVP. Now, with confidence bolstered by his 4-0 record in the last postseason, Hamels seems poised to go after some of his other goals - 20 wins, a Cy Young, a no-hitter, and more World Series championships.
"I've had success and I know what it takes to have success," said Hamels when asked what his performances last October will mean. "But I grew up watching Derek Jeter win it over and over, so if I can fill up my whole hand with World Series rings, that would be something. But I don't know what a player would do if he won it every year. Would he quit and say I've done everything I wanted to?"
A future in jeopardy
It's difficult to recall that just four springs ago, in a nondescript strip-mall bar here called Razzel's, Hamels nearly wrecked his future.In February 2005, as the Eagles readied for their Super Bowl date, he broke his left hand - his pitching hand - in a fight that involved three other minor-leaguers and a number of bar patrons. The Phillies were so incensed that they disinvited their star prospect to spring training.
"I got kicked out," he laughed. "But it has all turned around quickly for me. That's what baseball is all about. You take certain experiences and you try to learn from them and make the best. Every year I come down to spring training and try to get a little better. If you're able to accomplish one little small thing every year, you obviously will eventually become someone you want to be."
So who does Hamels want to be? And what's wrong with the version as it now exists?Young. Athletically gifted. Physically blessed. A new $20.5 million, three-year contract. A new charitable foundation that bears his name. A penthouse in Center City plus a townhouse in West Chester. And a model/reality-TV-star wife to whom he's so devoted he passed up golf with teammates so he could meet her flight at Tampa's airport.
"I don't know. I think most of the time I want to be myself," he said. "But there are a lot of pitchers I admire and want to be like."
He is one of those athletes who aspires so nakedly for greatness that his earnestness can often sound like cockiness. Of course, now that he's won a World Series title, Hamels' words don't seem nearly as brash.
It's not quite so jarring to hear Hamels, who soon will have a World Series ring on his finger, talk about wanting to be another Nolan Ryan or Sandy Koufax or Greg Maddux.
