(the back cover)

The Olympic rings and the phrase 'Sydney 2000' are tattooed on Brett Roneberg's right shoulder
The tattoo is a reminder of one of Roneberg's most important baseball adventures

The Australian native was twenty-one years old when chosen to play for the host country of the millennium Olympics
Roneberg hit 0.333 (5 for 15) during the tournament, one of only three Aussies to hit above 0.300

Roneberg grew up playing near Melbourne, Australia, and came to the United States after signing with the Florida Marlins as a sixteen-year-old prospect

He says the cultural adjustment went smoothly, but found the everyday aspects of American baseball more rigorous
"In Australia you play once a week, sometimes twice a week, and never train" Roneberg said
"You come over here and all of a sudden you start every day at 6.00am and get home at 5.30pm or 6.00pm
Playing every day shocked me"

By 1997, his second year of professional baseball, Roneberg had grown accustomed to baseball's daily grind
But even the most seasoned American baseball player wouldn't have expected what happened during one trip in Florida

Brett Roneberg

"We were driving on a bus from Cocoa Beach (Florida) down to West Palm Beach to play the Expos
Everybody's passed out asleep when we hear this big 'Boom' in the back of the bus

The bus starts veering across the road
We have no brakes, nothing

You look in the back and you just see smoke billowing

There were guys sleeping on the floor of the bus

I turn around and see hordes of people coming over the seats, down aisles, just racing to get out of the bus
Guys were pushing open emergency doors and jumping out of the bus onto the freeway

It probably took us a mile for the bus to stop and guys were just spread out all the way down the road

There was a blown up engine and smoke everywhere

The funniest thing was seeing the guys coming over the seats
It didn't matter where you were - you got trampled
A guy on the bottom of the bus broke three ribs

It was a bit of an adventure, that's for sure"

Portland's Brett Roneberg is sitting in the stands next to the third base dugout in New Britain Conn, four hours before an Eastern League game against the Rock Cats

He couldn't be blamed if he were in a bad mood
Last night's 2-0 loss to Reading was Portland's fifth in a row
Roneberg went 0-for-3, ending his eighteen game hitting streak and dropping his season's batting average below 0.300

But Roneberg smiles frequently during his conversation with teammate Joe Nelson
The Australian native has an upbeat, today-is-another-day attitude that is contagious
Roneberg gives the appearance that he doesn't allow bad outings on the baseball diamond to bother him when he leaves the field

When the Aussie heads out for a post-game, late-night dinner with his teammates, they still try to chide him into heading to the Australian themed Outback Steakhouse

"I love Outback" Roneberg said
"I think it's the greatest marketing idea ever made
But it has nothing to do with Australia, except for the maps on the wall, what they call certain burgers, and 'Blokes' and 'Shielas' on the bathroom doors
We have no steak
We have no blooming onions
We have no cheese fries
We have nothing like that
And every single time I go there someone says something to me like 'You guys have this over there?'
No - we don't have any of it - nothing at all
Good food, though - I love the food"

If a night at Outback isn't on the menu, Roneberg admits to enjoying the rowdier side of minor league nightlife
One such party occurred in 1999 when Roneberg played for Kane County in the Midwest League and it left a teammate in a bit of a dirty predicament

Brett Roneberg

"We had a little party at my house before an eight day road trip
We had to leave the next morning at 7.00am

Wes Anderson, a pitcher, proceeded to spend the whole night and ended up going on the whole eight day road trip with what he had on
So he had one pair of socks, one pair of underwear, one pair of jeans and one shirt for eight days

About the seventh day of the road trip, he couldn't get his laundry cleaned anymore and he was just like, 'screw it'
He walked around in the same stuff every day"