Full plate

Harvard product Farkes, a novice catcher, is eating up his experience in Red Sox camp

February 27, 2008|Gordon Edes, Globe Staff

FORT MYERS, Fla. - They made quite the procession as they departed a posh local steakhouse in single file a couple of nights ago. Jason Varitek was at the head of the line, his personal assistant and trainer, Leslie Eddins, brought up the rear, and in between were a dozen or so catchers from every level of the Red Sox organization: the rostered veterans, the nonroster invitees, and every kid from the minors who has put on shinguards and chest protector to help in big league camp this spring.

This was Varitek's treat, something he has done quietly for the last five or six years, and it begged this question: At an Unmaskederade Ball, what do catchers talk about?

"It's not really what they talk about," said Zak Farkes, who was making his first appearance at a Varitek soiree. "It's what Doug Mirabelli wants to talk about. It was pretty much Dougie telling stories, trying to bait Jason into talking a bit, but mostly him running the show, holding court."

Mirabelli, at 37 the oldest of the invited guests, also did not miss an opportunity, Farkes said, to remind Varitek who was picking up the tab for the night. But in the midst of the Mirabelli monologues, and the lightening of Varitek's wallet, there was no missing the purpose of the night.

"It's seeing that leadership, and how it filters down, why catchers in this organization pride themselves on the work they do," Farkes said. "You spend time with Varitek and Mirabelli, you see how they carry themselves on and off the field - the professionalism, the love of the game, the will to compete at all times.

"When you come up from the minor leagues, your adrenaline is going, you're willing to work as hard as possible, and then you look to your right and you see Jason Varitek working just as hard as you, like he's trying to win a roster spot, it's inspiring to watch him work. And the dinner, where he is so generous to us, that's just another part of who he is as a person and a player. It really sets an example for all of us."

Farkes is a newcomer to the catching trade, but anything but a novice to what it means to wear a Red Sox uniform. He grew up on Beacon Street in the Back Bay, so close to Fenway Park that he could hear the cheers of the crowd coming through the window before the same tape-delayed cheers played on his TV set. His dad, Gary, who runs his own chemical and pharmaceutical company, and his mom, Renee Duchainey-Farkes, the principal of the Kingsley Montessori School, had a pair of season tickets, Section 16 along the first base line, and Zak and his three brothers, Josh, Adam, and Alex, often walked to the ballpark to see the Sox play.