FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- While with the Boston Red Sox, Kevin Millar considered himself to be part of one of baseball's most popular band of players.
"You are a rock star when you play in that city," Millar said Monday, minutes after exchanging handshakes with several members of his new team.
The Orioles once received that kind of reverence in Baltimore, but enthusiasm for the team has waned in the wake of eight straight losing seasons. Millar intends to help change all that.
"I think that there have been some situations that you get stagnant," he said, "but our job as a group is to come in here and make everybody, you know, be a rock star."
Sporting bleached-blond hair and a full beard that will soon be gone because of team policy, Millar arrived from Texas well ahead of his suitcases. That minor inconvenience did little to deter his excitement.
"It's been kind of a long night. Our plane got canceled out of Houston, so I don't have any luggage," he said. "I have no underwear, no spikes, no gloves. But I'm here. I made it."
He made it onto the field, too, borrowing equipment for a workout a day before the full squad was scheduled to gather for the first time this spring.
The 34-year-old signed a one-year, $2.1 million contract (with a possible $2.6 million in performance bonuses) as a free agent after ending his three-year run with Boston. He helped the Red Sox reach the playoffs in 2003 and win the World Series in 2004, but last season Millar hit .272 with a .355 on-base percentage -- the second-lowest totals of his major league career.
Millar spent much of the winter working out in Arizona, and now he's ready to enjoy a bounce-back season with one of Boston's AL East rivals.
"I have worked a lot harder than I ever have in the offseason," he said. "Mentally, I think I am tougher. Does that mean I am going to go out and hit .350 with 35 home runs? Probably not. But you know what? I am going to go out there and try to stay healthy and do the best I can."
The Orioles are counting on Millar for hits and homers, but his presence in the clubhouse is nearly as important. During the 2003 season he coined the phrase "Cowboy Up!" -- which became Boston's battle cry in September and into the playoffs.
"I'm a little wacko," he said. "I'm going to be myself and have fun here. Hopefully everybody has fun and we roll."
John Halama, a former Boston reliever trying to make the Orioles this spring, loved having Millar as a teammate.
"He's a positive guy, whether things are going good or bad. There's always an upside with him," Halama said. "If you make an out with the game on the line, he'll come over and give you a hug. You're going to have your bad days, but the better mood you're in when things are going bad, the better chance you have of getting out of that slump."
It's tougher in Boston, where every at-bat is dissected by the fans and media. Millar found that out last season, when he hit .237 through May.
"I just think Boston is very unique. Boston is a small city, it's Sox Nation," he said. "People live, die, eat and breathe baseball. There's 24-hour talk radio, a bazillion media members. That's Boston."
And now?
"This is Baltimore. It's the American League East, it's still a phenomenal division," he said. "It's a great place to play. Just because you don't have the 50 television crews around you all the time, doesn't mean this team can't generate that enthusiasm. Our job is to do that by winning baseball games, playing hard every day and doing the right things on the baseball field. I think we can do that."
Millar is focused now on adjusting to a new clubhouse, but during the first week of the season he will meet some old friends when the Red Sox come to Baltimore for a three-game series.
"You get a chance to see them and beat them up hopefully 19 times," he said. "And hopefully I can give away some of their secrets."
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Millar Hopes To Rock Baltimore
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Originally Posted by RockSports17
