Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

The autograph table was filled with a more than a century’s worth of talent and knowledge, when Yogi Berra sat down to talk with Don Zimmer.

Standing just behind them was Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon, as smart and sharp around a baseball field as anyone in the game.

Around Hazleton, Russ Canzler is as heavy a hitter as any of them.

And just as big of a story.

He’s the kid who came from nowhere to make his major league debut with Tampa Bay last season, after languishing for six long years in the Chicago Cubs minor league system.

All because Canzler never stopped believing he was going somewhere.

“I set my goals high every year,” Canzler said, during a fundraising dinner Friday for the Hazleton Integration Project created by his Tampa Bay manager and fellow Hazleton native Joe Maddon. “I feel like I’m really able to help this team win championships at the major league level.”

The Cubs picked him out of Hazleton Area High School in the 30th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. But despite hitting 66 homers, 132 doubles and driving home 322 runs over his first six seasons in the minors, Canzler was never promoted past the Double-A level with the Cubs.

He accepted the situation and moved on.

Road to the bigs

Canzler signed with Tampa Bay’s organization as a six-year minor league free agent last year and immediately blossomed.

It was more than Rays manager Maddon giving a fellow Hazleton boy a chance — Canzler made his own breaks with the Rays.

He excelled in his debut season in Triple-A, hitting .314 for Tampa Bay’s top minor league team in Durham, with 18 homers, 40 doubles and 83 RBI. Canzler connected for a grand slam on his first swing in Pennsylvania as a pro ballplayer, leading Durham past Lehigh Valley.

He homered again in the Triple-A All-Star Classic to win the game’s most valuable player honors, and was selected as the International League MVP after the season ended.

Only that’s where Canzler’s dreams really began.

He made his big league debut against the Boston Red Sox in historic Fenway Park.

He connected for his first major league hit at the new Yankee Stadium.

He was part of a Rays team that made an improbable run over the season’s final three weeks and passed Boston for the American League wild card on the final day of the regular season.

“What an unbelievable experience,” Canzler said. Through it all, Canzler gained valuable experience.

It was only three games for the Rays, but Canzler hit .333 in them and drove home a run with a sacrifice fly.

“I think that was huge,” Canzler said. “Just to get my feet wet, to be around those guys, to get that deer-in-the-headlights look out of the way.”

Now he’s determined to find a way to stay with the Rays when spring training ends, and that preparation has already started for him.

“Just working my butt off in the gym,” Canzler said, “trying to get ready for next season.”

No matter what happens, it can’t get any better than this past one for him. Maybe that’s why the smile stayed on Canzler’s face from the moment he walked through the door at Friday’s fundraising dinner until he moment he left. Christmas came early for him.