student life
REPPING PHOENIX
FORMER SUN DEVIL ANDRE ETHIER AMONG SPORTS HALL OF FAME CLASS CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI • COLLEGE TIMES
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ndre Ethier stood on the Seventh Street bridge in Phoenix watching the construction of Bank One Ballpark in the 1990s. His dream was to play in it someday. He did — but as a Dodger. Growing up in Phoenix and playing for one of the top teams in the league was a Catch-22 for Ethier. “It’s a tough thing to be a native son of Phoenix but have all your professional success for the hated team of Phoenix,” says Ethier, a former Sun Devil ballplayer. “It’s a Catch-22, you could say the least.” He adds with a laugh, stressing, “I’m proud every damn day of my adult life to be an LA Dodger and represent LA, because I have everything I have, obviously, because of my upbringing and the great city of LA and the great fan base of the Dodgers.
“I will never deny that. I will always acknowledge what I have because of where I played.” Ethier was recently inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame along with Paul Westphal, former Phoenix Suns player and coach; Ann Meyers Drysdale, Phoenix Mercury and the Suns; Joe Caldwell, former ASU basketball star; John Bridger, former Thunderbirds executive director; and Roland Hemond, former D-backs executive. Ethier grew up on 19th Avenue and Osborn Road and attended St. Mary’s Catholic High School. The school is 2.5 miles from what is now Chase Field. Besides being a star player on the Dodgers, Ethier was a standout athlete for Chandler-Gilbert Community College and ASU baseball. “I was introduced to ASU sports very young by my parents,” he says. “My dad was an avid ASU baseball
PHOTO • COURTESY OF JON SOOHOO
Andre Ethier played for the ASU Sun Devils between 2000 and 2003.
PHOTO • COURTESY OF LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Andre Ethier played for the LA Dodgers from 2006 to 2017 prior to his retirement.
fan. We went to the games at Packard stadium on the weekends. I didn’t have a dream to play for any major league team. I just wanted to make it to ASU. That was a dream of mine.” He knew if he was successful at ASU, there was a good chance of moving on past there. “The moment it happened, it was a pinch-yourself moment,” he says about joining the Sun Devils. “When I put on that Sun Devil uniform, there was nothing like it.” While at ASU he was a teammate and good friends with future MLB stars Dustin Pedroia and Ian Kinsler. On June 5, 2001, he was drafted by the Oakland A’s in the 37th round of the amateur draft but did not sign. Two years later, on June 3, 2003, he was drafted by the Oakland A’s again in the second round and signed on July 1, 2003. On December 13, 2005, he was traded by the Oakland A’s to the Dodgers for Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez. “I was traded to the Dodgers, the rivals of this team (the D-backs), and I have my professional career flourish and become successful,” he said. “So many of my friends and family have a deep-rooted sports hatred for the Dodgers.” On September 19, 2013, the Dodgers notoriously celebrated their NL West crown in the Chase Field pool. He is frank about the Dodgers’ actions. “The funny part is, is that where the D-backs go in and swim
themselves?” he says rhetorically. “Are they using it themselves? Any fan can rent it out and use it.” The championship is just one of many accolades the Dodgers — and Ethier himself — have collected. He’s proud, however, of the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame induction. “I’m not saying this bragging-wise, but you win so many accolades and awards over the course of baseball playing,” he says. “There are, what, 500 players who get to play Major League baseball on a roster. You’re at the pinnacle of your sport, so you win awards and accolades. “Being removed now a couple years and to be given another one that goes back to my roots and upbringing and acknowledges where I came from and how I got there is incredible. “I took pride every day representing Arizona. Clarendon Little League on 15th Avenue and Osborn, that’s where I got my Little League start. I ate snow cones with my buddies in the neighborhood after games.” He’s still proud of his hometown. The Ethier family are big Phoenix Suns fans and season ticket holders. “That’s a milestone moment for me in my life — being a kid from Phoenix who comes from a humble area, humble background, begging his parents to take him to Suns games, and now being able to be a guy in my late-30s, early 40s having season tickets to the Suns. It’s a cool, full-circle moment.” CT
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