April 04--White Sox shortstop Jimmy Rollins will make his 16th consecutive opening-day start Monday against the Athletics, but this one will be unique.
Rollins, who is from the Oakland area, will open the season for the first time at the Coliseum.
Rollins has played eight games at the Coliseum, including two last year with the Dodgers, hitting .182 with two homers and five RBIs there in his career. But he also played 50 more games in the Bay Area against the Giants.
The 37-year-old, who went to high school in nearby Alameda, said there's always a little pressure to get a hit in front of family and friends, who he expects will come out to some of this week's games.
"The very first time I came here, just being back, that was pretty special," Rollins said. "You want do something special. Family, cousins, everybody's coming out, haven't had a chance to see me play since I was in high school. After that, it's just doing the job, playing baseball, trying to win."
Rollins' favorite player growing up and to this day was Rickey Henderson, the Hall of Famer and all-time stolen bases leader who played with the A's for 14 of his 25 seasons.
Rollins said he met Henderson several times and hounded him for five years for a jersey that he will soon hang on his wall.
"The way he would snatch the ball on a routine fly ball, the way he would steal and mess with the pitchers," Rollins said. "I couldn't take my eyes off him, and I liked that value. The field is full of baseball players when the game is going on, but he brought that extra entertainment package."
Rollins, who was named the opening-day starter at shortstop last week over Tyler Saladino, will become the oldest Sox player to start at shortstop in the season opener since Luke Appling did it at 42 in 1949.
