"He came up to me and said, 'Is this your first game?'
" 'Yeah.'
" 'Is this your debut?'
" 'Yeah.'
" 'Don't screw it up.' That's what he told me, right before the game."
In a way, Ellsbury has lived with that admonition ever since the Red Sox drafted him.
"This year in Double A and in Triple A, I felt so much more pressure than in the big leagues," he said. "The expectation of people wanting me to get there was pretty high. Once I got to the big leagues, I felt I could relax a little bit. OK, I'm there now. I'm here, I met the expectations, I met my dream.
"In a sense, it was easier to play, I felt, than in the minor leagues, where every night I felt like I had to get a couple of hits and play terrific defense. Being the competitive person I am, staying there is how to be successful, but to me, the expectations were off me once I got to the big leagues."
Those expectations have not lessened, he said, in this respect.
"I want to do the right things, on and off the field," he said. "There are certain things you should do. I am fortunate to be the first Navajo, but I feel there are some obligations, things I need to do and should do.
"Growing up on the reservation, even though it was for a short period of time [he lived for a year with his Navajo grandmother in Arizona when he was around 12], being so close to it, they can relate to me different than a Native American who didn't grow up on the reservation.
"I think I kind of have both worlds, because I lived on the reservation and off it. I can relate to a lot of different people in a lot of different ways. It's something I feel strongly about, that they can say, 'Jacoby did it, why can't I?' "
All those kids who called out to him on his day, "Jacoby, we love you"? He's listening.
"I feel like I should give back to the community," he said. "They've been supportive of me my whole life. It's something I feel like I want to do; it's something I feel I should do. I feel like people are chosen for a reason. God gave me the ability to play baseball, but there's a reason why He gave it to me."
And so he tells them of how he has already begun his offseason workouts, twice a day, six hours a day, working with a personal trainer in Portland, Matt James, until Christmas, then off to Arizona to work at Athletics Performance Institute. Tomorrow? If the rain holds off, he said, he'll go salmon fishing on the Deschutes with his brothers, but then it's back to work.
It has to be that way, he said. For himself. For the Red Sox. And for all those kids, especially the Native American ones, wearing "Jacoby" on their backs.
