Rookie of the Year in 2000. 3 time All-Star. “Happy Flights” which got the Cardinals to win another World Series in 2011. Spending the whole 2013 season on the DL after elbow surgery. 68 triples for his career, putting him at 8th among active players. You probably know some of these things about Rafael Furcal. Here is something you probably do not know that might make you like him even more.
After the 2008 season with the Dodgers, Furcal was a free agent. The Atlanta Braves announced they had agreed to terms with him, only to have the Dodgers end up with his signature on their contract. A shiny red firetruck changed his mind.
After becoming a Dodger, he had visited the local firehouse, giving out autographs to the crew and riding to a fire with them. Before he wanted to be a baseball player, his childhood dream was to be a firefighter. Understand that his hometown of Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic was very impoverished. Volunteer firefighters drove ordinary pickup trucks with hoses and buckets to blazes.
A Dodgers’ PR director noted these facts and mentioned them to GM Ned Colletti during the 2008 contract negotiations. Adding the firetruck to the contract offer told Furcal the Dodgers were concerned about him as a person, and about his hometown.
LA councilman Tom La Bonge helped make the arrangements. The LA Fire Department donated one of their functional but retired trucks. A non-profit group called Los Bomberos (“The Firemen”) restored it, painting a #15 on the side. The Dodgers then paid for the transport of the truck and sent a fireman along to teach the locals how to operate it.
“I’ll sleep better knowing people will be safe. I’m the only guy who made it. It’s like a responsibility to me,” said Furcal at the time.
About this series - I grew up bleeding blue (and I don't mean for the St. Louis hockey club, though I do that now too.) And so seeing the "Go Crazy, folks! Go crazy!" homerun is one of my least favorite things since it was against my Dodgers. Ever since I arrived in Southern Illinois in 2000, I've gone to Dodger games at Busch Stadium. But I have come to appreciate the Cardinals. They have a well-run organization from top to bottom, and I respect Redbird Nation fans as very knowledgeable about the game. So much so that after the Dodgers, the Cardinals have become my second favorite team. This series of caches [ADiRN, A Dodger in Redbird Nation] is dedicated to those who have been both Dodgers and Cardinals.