When the grass needed cutting Saturday evening for the next day's adult baseball games in Newberry, S.C., Esckro Williams climbed aboard the tractor, paying special attention to the perfection of his cut in left field, where his teen-aged grandson always played.

        Yes, Esckro paid attention to center field, too — his grandson's father (Esckro's son-in-law) played there — but when it came to not a blade being out of place, left field was it.

UNSUNG

Pennants cannot be won without the Reggie Taylors of the world — role players who make big contributions. So, today — two days before the playing of the mid-summer classic, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, in which the Reds have only one representative (Adam Dunn) — we bring you the story of one of the many unsung performers of the Reds' unexpected run at a divisional championship.

        “Center field was my father's position, so he put me in left,” the Reds' Reggie Taylor explains. “I was 12, 13 years old, playin' against guys in their 30s. Baseball was my first sport. Basketball didn't come until much later. People would bring ribs and chicken and all the trimmings, and afterward we'd have a big picnic. It was great.”

        Hard to believe, isn't it, that a place like that existed only 10 years ago?

        Well, it still exists today.

        For generations before Taylor came along, the Black Sox of Newberry were playing those Sunday sandlot games . . . and they'll probably be playing them generations from now. The Black Sox have moved a few miles to nearby Mapleton, but otherwise they're better than ever, says Reggie's dad, Sammie Louis Taylor.

        If you're a baseball fan, it's heartening to hear there are places in this country where baseball remains king — the first sport of kids and adults alike . . . and the townsfolk still come out to watch.

        Reggie's mom, Barbara, is in town this weekend hoping to see her son play at Cinergy Field, but she brought him some home cookin' from Newberry, which he'll get whether or not he plays. That's what moms are for. Reggie's dad, Sammie Louis, will be visiting soon. Meanwhile, Sammie Louis watches every Reds game on TV and regularly offers his son such advice as this:

        “Oh, so you got three home runs and now you're trying to pull everything? Stay with what got you there!”

        Central South Carolina is like a mini-Dominican Republic when it comes to producing ballplayers. Among the many players who've come out of that 20-mile square area around Newberry are Pokey Reese, Preston Wilson and Taylor's first cousin, Gookie Dawkins.

        By the time Taylor went out for the Newberry High varsity team as a freshman, he was more than ready.

        “I had seen my first 90-mile-per-hour fastball when I was 14 years old, and it was thrown by a 29-year-old grown man,” he says. “In high school they were throwing 80, 85. I said, "What's this? I've seen 90, and the guy had a good curveball to go with it.' ”

        Reggie started in left field as a freshman, and soon the scouts were coming around.

Reggie Taylor poses with his mother, Barbara, who came in from South Carolina to see the Reds game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday. (Greg Ruffing photo) | ZOOM |

        It wasn't until 11th grade that Taylor began playing organized basketball and quickly began dominating that, too, getting offered joint basketball/baseball scholarships to the University of South Carolina and North Carolina State.

        “But baseball was my best sport, and it all goes back to those days playin' with the Black Sox,” Taylor says. “You can't be good at baseball unless you start at a young age.”

        He would have gone to South Carolina or N.C. State if he hadn't been a first-round draft pick. But the baseball cognoscenti knew it wasn't going to be an issue. Reggie hit .452 as a senior and was named an All-American. Before the draft, Baseball America named him the best athlete and fastest baserunner among all the high school players in the country and called him the 10th-best prospect overall. The Phillies made him the 14th overall selection.

        He progressed through the Phillies' farm system a step at a time, earning cups of coffee with the big club in 2000 and 2001. Going into this past spring training, the Phillies told Taylor the center-field job was his if he had a good spring. Well, he did (hitting above .300), but it wasn't (the Phillies traded him two days before the end of spring training to the Reds for Hector Mercado).

        Do you know what the first thought was that came to Taylor's mind when he was told he'd been traded?

        “Any place but Cincinnati! How in the world are you going to fit in there? (Ken) Griffey has to play every day. (Juan) Encarnacion every day. (Adam) Dunn every day. Oh no!”

        But now look at things: The Reds remain on the heels of St. Louis for first place in the NL Central; the Phillies are in last place in the NL East, double digits behind Atlanta.

        Nobody from Newberry is in higher cotton these days than Reginald Tremain Taylor.

        “Reggie Taylor” was the first name out of manager Bob Boone's mouth the other night when Marty Brennaman asked him during the pregame chat about key contributors during this season's heady chase of first place.

        Of course, it helped that Taylor had just gotten a huge hit the day before in a 12-8 come-from-behind victory over St. Louis. He had gotten a rare start in that game.

        “When I get a start, I'm trying to get two or three hits and steal two or three bags, because I figure maybe I'll be back in the lineup the next day,” Taylor says. “If I don't contribute, I feel like, who knows when I'll be back in the starting lineup again?”

        2 The beauty of Taylor is that not only is he a good left-handed hitter off the bench, but he also provides speed on the basepaths to a team that, going into the season, was desperately in need of it.

        Reggie is the embodiment of his old man — high cheekbones, 175-pound frame and Cool Papa Bell quick, as in flipping the light switch and being in bed before the room grows dark. The only difference between Reggie and Sammie Louis on the ballfield is that Sammie was a right-handed hitter; Reggie bats left-handed, which means he gets to first base a fraction of a second quicker.

        “I got a little bit of a gimp now,” says Sammie Louis, with a chuckle.

        Sammie Louis says there is a cotton mill in Newberry, a Louis Rich turkey plant, a lawn mower manufacturer and chicken farms all around, but time was when Newberry was known for the Black Sox, and for their center fielder, who batted leadoff.

        Sammie Louis was 37 years old when he stopped playing for the Black Sox. He shattered his leg in six places going after a ball in the gap when he stepped in a hole on the field over in Prosperity. Fifteen-year-old Reggie was in left field that day and heard the leg snap and watched in horror as his father crumpled. Reggie had wanted to give up baseball after that but hung with it. It was the last game he played for the Black Sox. After that, it was all American Legion and Babe Ruth League, playing with kids his own age.

        “But I think back on those days with the Black Sox as being what got me started and made me a better player,” Reggie says. “When I run into Pokey and Preston, we're always saying: "How about those Black Sox? How about that Big Red Machine? How about that team in Mount Olive?' It's like old home week. We all remember.

        “Nine on nine on a big grassy field, stereo music playin', ribs and chicken cookin', and I think, "Man, those were the days. That's the way baseball was meant to be.' ”

Reds 6, Brewers 4 Reds box, runs Reds Q&A The pride of Newberry DAUGHERTY: A strike for 'rights' is wrong Choosing stars no highlight for Brenly Cloudy forecast for Bud Bowl A fast but tenuous start Midseason report Cinergy Moment No. 20 - July 1, 1973 Down on the farm Graves 'Lucky' Griffey's return may come in 2 weeks Reds chatter Relief tempers envy of Yankees' Weaver trade Memories of an American original No funeral services for Kid Bats 3, Clippers 1 John Fay's power rankings AL roundup NL roundup Notes from Saturday's games

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GROESCHEN: Prep Insider

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