By the time July 24, 2004 rolled around, Steve Pearce had some thinking to do. So he went to the Fenway Park bleachers to help the process.
Just more than a month before, Pearce had been selected by the Red Sox in the MLB draft, sliding all the way to 10th round. Despite the fact the Red Sox were his favorite team due to his father's upbringing (Steve Sr. was from Rehoboth), living life as the 305th overall pick wasn't what the University of South Carolina infielder was banking on.
"I was confused," Pearce remembered. "I was amazed because I started the year hot and then midseason an infection and got really sick during the season so I struggled in the middle of the year. I was killing myself because of my stock. But at the end of the year, I got hot again."
So while he tried coming to grips with his lot in life, Pearce rode out the weeks after the draft playing in the Cape Cod League. And, being so close to the home of the team that drafted him, he decided it would be worth it to buy some bleacher tickets for the Red Sox vs. Yankees tilt in late July.
It was a good game, with Bill Mueller hitting a walk-off, two-run homer against Mariano Rivera. But that wasn't what stuck in Pearce's memory when it came to his first visit to Fenway.
"That was the (Jason) Varitek, A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) fight game," Pearce remembered. So, how did one of the chaotic games in recent Red Sox memory impact his decision to sign at the time? "I was still weighing my options. It wasn't an easy decision."
He didn't sign with the Red Sox. But, as it turned out, the organization's decision to draft Pearce ultimately did pay off for the player.
"I was like, 'I can't believe what's going on here.' Then I got drafted by the Red Sox and they knew it was my favorite team and (South Carolina coaches) were like, 'Uh, oh. We better give them more scholarship money.' So they gave me more scholarship money," Pearce said. "It gave me more to think about. The only way I was going to leave was if I was a top pick. But then I was drafted by the Red Sox and thought, 'This is going to be bad.'"
The additional scholarship money was nice, but what unfolded after his decision to remain a Gamecock led to a flurry of second-guesses.
The plan was for Pearce to become a catcher at South Carolina to help boost his draft value. But he rolled his ankle so severely that option went out the window, forcing a move to first base. And then came a six-game NCAA suspension for playing some free golf. It led to another disappointing draft the following year, with the Pirates picking him in the eighth round.
"I'm like, 'What else can go wrong?'," Pearce lamented.
The end result hasn't been bad for the Florida native, who is playing his 12th season in the major leagues, finally finding a spot on his favorite team.
As Pearce noted, "It all worked out in the end."
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