The B.J. Ryan Express
Louisiana native found success amid trying times as an Oriole last season
B. J. Ryan once described himself as a redneck. But it’s a term that fits the Jays’ new closer rather loosely. By all accounts, Ryan never assumed the stereotype profile.
According to critics and handlers, he’s carved a reputation as a very big lefty, one with a great wit and sense of humour, one who’s a bit of a card in the clubhouse, but who keeps his opinions out of the public domain.
“ He’s the kind of guy players enjoy having in the clubhouse. He was an instigator but it was always good fun with him,” said University of Louisiana- Lafayette baseball coach Tony Robichaux, who had Ryan in 1997 and 1998, when his team won the Sun Belt Conference championship.
“ He never gave us any problems. He had the size and talent, and he was a good person. He’s one of those people who you’d be disappointed about if they didn’t go on to a great career.” Ryan arrived with the Blue Jays yesterday after a tumultuous season in Baltimore with the Orioles, and back home in Bossier City, La., which is a sixhour drive northwest of floodravaged New Orleans. Ryan was often approached by reporters as the Orioles fell from first place to a distant fourth in the American League East. Players — including several relievers — confided in offtherecord reports that manager Lee Mazzilli had lost the confidence of his clubhouse, and was mishandling his bullpen.
Mazzilli was fired Aug. 4, but Ryan never uttered a word to the media about the manager. Many reporters expected he had a strong opinion on the steroid disgrace that surrounded Rafael Palmeiro, and ultimately pulled the O’s further into oblivion.
Ryan, though, remained tightlipped.
“ Those were tough times and some players put their team in tough,” Ryan said. “ They were isolated incidents and not something you pin on the organization.” Ryan acknowledged his willingness to face critics after a blown save, but said after a win, he’s just as comfortable hanging out in a corner of the dressing room with his buddies.
Despite the problems with the Orioles, Ryan remained part of the unofficial “ redneck corner,” a section of the clubhouse occupied by good ol’ boys like himself.
Players in the corner like Buddy Groom, Kurt Ainsworth, Steve Kline, and others, sipped from cans of Budweiser, and discussed baseball and just about everything else.
In relative redneck fashion, most broke out magazines devoted to hunting and fishing, but Ryan was never a devotee. One of his off- field passions remains golf. He reportedly found out about his signing with the Jays while on a golf course, but would only say “ it was a good day, on and off the course.” Ryan celebrated a milestone in his life — the birth of daughter Madelyn last Jan. 3, the first child with wife Candace.
His wife joined several Oriole player wives last summer in asking for donations and humanitarian aid for flood victims.
“It never reached up there (Bossier City), but I went to school in southern Louisiana and I talked to a lot of friends. It was terrible,” Ryan said.
Louisiana is not a hockey hotbed and what Ryan learned about the sport was mostly gleaned from video games.
“I don’t know much about hockey,” he said. “ I played it on PlayStation and I knew all the guys from the ’ 02 game, but all the guys have changed and I’m confused.
“ I like to watch it live. I actually got to spend some time in Louisiana, they had a minor league team there and we’d go out and watch those guys play, it was a lot of fun.” As for the initials in his name, they come from his father, Bo. His given name is Robert Victor Ryan, but his father liked Bo Jr., hence the B. J. “ It’s a Louisiana thing,” Ryan said.