Playing like 'a volcano ready to erupt,' Victorino inspired a new generation of Hawaiians
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Long before he became the "Flyin' Hawaiian," Shane Victorino -- like so many other kids growing up on Maui -- was always just looking for the next adventure.
His first love was soccer. He also played football. He ran track. And sure, he tried some beach activities like boogie boarding.
Victorino, of course, also played baseball, though it never seemed like a plausible path in life. After all, nobody from his island of Maui had stepped foot on a Major League field since Tony Rego played briefly for the St. Louis Browns from 1924-25.
"Growing up where I did, the dream of being a baseball player was just a dream -- it wasn't reality," Victorino said. "A lot of people, especially from my island, hadn't really gotten that opportunity to be a Major League Baseball player. So, for me, it was about setting a standard, and hopefully, being a trailblazer for some of these kids."
It's safe to say Victorino has done exactly that.
While there weren’t many of them, Victorino looked up to the Hawaiian players who came before him. He grew up idolizing players such as Mike Lum, Benny Agbayani and Mike Fetters. (Fetters was born in California, but he grew up and went to high school in Hawaii on his way to a 16-year big league career.)
Victorino remembers tracking those guys on their journeys to the game's biggest stage, but still, Hawaii had never really produced a player from Victorino’s mold. The best players to come from the islands were pitchers -- none better than Sid Fernandez -- and no Hawaiian position player had ever been named a big league All-Star.
Victorino, though, changed all of that. He became a two-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glove winner and a two-time World Series champion as a member of the 2008 Phillies and '13 Red Sox.
"I think that him coming from Maui and the Hawaiian islands, he always played with that fire," said former teammate Ryan Howard. "You can feel that Hawaiian warrior come out, and you could feel that fire within him like he was a volcano ready to erupt. You could see it in his play."
That's just the way he was raised, not only by his devoted parents, Mike and Joycelyn, but also by his tight-knit community.
“I always tell people I come from a beautiful place that everybody loves to visit," Victorino said. "It was my home, and it's a special place. It’s about our culture, it's about the Hawaiian Kingdom, it's all of those things that made me who I am."
Through his play, Victorino has gone from idolizing the Hawaiian players before him to being the one idolized by the next generation.
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The state of Hawaii has produced four Little League World Series champion teams -- tied for the second-most by any state. All four have come since 2005, and while Victorino hasn’t played a big league game since 2015, the Little Leaguers still routinely list Shane Victorino as their favorite player.
"Kids in Hawaii don't have a lot of athletes to look up to, but Shane is one of the people in Hawaii who set the bar for people to chase their dreams," said former big leaguer and fellow Hawaiian Kolten Wong, who squared off with Victorino in that 2013 World Series. "He's one of the guys we looked up to growing up."
For Victorino, that's what it's always been about.
"I wanted to show the kids behind me that if someone like Shane Victorino can do it, then, 'Hey, I can do it, too,'" Victorino said. "And hopefully, other kids from my beautiful island come along and become a better baseball player than I ever was."