Coming back to his roots

ATLANTA -- As Veterans Stadium hosts its final regular season baseball series starting today, former Penn baseball and football standout and current Atlanta Brave Mark DeRosa comes to town as his team prepares for the National League Playoffs.

DeRosa excelled in his time playing for Penn. He held the starting quarterback position during the 1994 and 1995 seasons, including an undefeated campaign in 1994 that yielded the outright Ivy League crown. DeRosa is also the third all-time leading passer in Penn history with 3,885 total yards compiled in his two seasons at the helm.

On the diamond, DeRosa was a fixture in the baseball team's middle infield, playing shortstop. He was a two-time second-team All-Ivy honoree, as well as a member of the 1995 Ivy League champion team that made it all the way to Oklahoma City to compete in the NCAA Regional playoffs.

However, DeRosa's journey to the big leagues started just around the block from his Carlstadt, N.J., home on the neighborhood Little League field. He started playing baseball when he was about 5 years old with T-ball.

Raised to love the game by his grandfather, who was a tried and true fan of the New York Yankee pinstripes, DeRosa recounts numerous times going to his grandfather's house to watch the 1980s' version of the Bronx Bombers.

"It's a shame because when he passed away, the Yankees finally got good and he had to suffer through the '80s with the Yankees when Don Mattingly was the best player, but besides that, they didn't win too much back then," DeRosa said.

Although baseball was always a part of his life growing up, DeRosa always had a special place in his heart for playing football.

"I think my true love was always football," he said. "Just the excitement of it and the way people, even in college, rallied around the football team. There's just more excitement in the sport, more of a blood, sweat and tears kind of atmosphere with the players."

As a high school senior, DeRosa was considering Rutgers, William and Mary and Penn. Ultimately he felt Penn offered him more than his other choices. The ability to be in a city after growing up in a small-town atmosphere, the quality of education and the ability to play both football and baseball made it the right choice.

With all of his success on the Quakers' playing fields, the one thing DeRosa takes away from his college playing days are not the Ivy League titles, but the camaraderie that he formed with his teammates and being able to enjoy their successes as a team.

"It's the time with your teammates when you've reached such a milestone or collective success as your team winning a title," DeRosa said. "Just to be on the bus to enjoy those moments with those guys, that for me is what it's all about.

"To win a World Series with the Braves would be unbelievable, but what I'd take most from it would be probably diving on the pile like a little kid."

After making the decision to forego his senior season at Penn, it was a surreal feeling for DeRosa when Atlanta came calling in the 1996 amateur baseball draft.

"It's something that I'd worked so hard for my entire life and when it happens, it's just like you can't believe it, it's like a state of shock," DeRosa said.

"I don't think it really hit me until I had to report to Eugene, Oregon, and actually had to play in my first minor league game and realize that I was doing this for a living. Even though you're in Eugene, Oregon, you feel a million miles from getting to the big leagues."

On his road to the big leagues, DeRosa made stops at the Braves' minor league affiliates in Durham, N.C., and Greenville, S.C., before making his major league debut.

After he received word that he was being called up to the majors on Sept. 2, 1998, he called his friends and family on his cell phone to tell them the news, waking many of them up. Unable to get any sleep that night, DeRosa showed up to the Turner Field in Atlanta very tired and simply in awe of everything.

His first appearance in a game was not common, as he crossed paths with three sure-fire Hall of Famers. First, he pinch-hit for starter Greg Maddux in the seventh inning to face then-Houston Astro Randy Johnson. DeRosa eventually struck out, but the final pitch got away from Houston catcher Brad Ausmus and he had to throw it down to first baseman Jeff Bagwell to get the out.

"It was good in a way and it was bad in a way," DeRosa said. "It was bad in a way because I knew I pretty much had no chance, but it was good in a way because I pretty much know that 90 percent of the world has no chance. It was a good wake-up call."

DeRosa has been a fairly steady part of the Braves roster ever since being called up in 2001. This year, he has seen his most big league action in one season, with 260 at-bats in 100 games, while batting .265.

"He's a great athlete, number one. He can play first, second, short, third and the outfield," Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "He's really developed into quite a player and Mark is not a bench player really, he's an everyday player and eventually he's going to get that chance. He's an extremely valuable, valuable player to a team like ours."

As the Braves are in town to play the Phillies in what will be the last major league games played at the Vet, DeRosa enjoys coming back to Philadelphia.

"Philly is one of the cities that I enjoy coming back to the most because I know the fans are true," DeRosa said. "They live and die with the Phillies. They live and die with the Eagles. I can't wait to go back to Philly for these last three games at Veterans Stadium, especially with them fighting for a wild-card berth, it's going to be electric in that place. It's great to be a part of things like that."

Coming back to his old college city is definitely something DeRosa looks forward to, but there's nothing more he'd like to do this season than jump on the pile like a little kid.

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