Former River Cats’ star Bobby Crosby, who was the PCL Rookie of the Year in 2003, is back in full health and has been an important part of the early success of the Oakland A’s 2008 season. But Crosby still has plenty of fond memories of the one year he spent in Sacramento, a season that saw him bat .308 while smashing 22 homers and knocking in 90 runs.

“Sacramento was above and beyond any other place I played in the Minor Leagues,” Crosby told The Union before a recent A’s game with the Texas Rangers. “The thing I’ll always remember was how they always packed the place. The fans at Raley Field were knowledgeable, they understood the game, and it’s always fun to play in a place where they know the game and treat you pretty well.”

Crosby was asked to take a huge step forward in 2004, as Oakland General Manager Billy Beane had him move into the regular shortstop spot after fan-favorite Miguel Tejeda signed a free agent contract with the Baltimore Orioles.

He was not intimidated by the promotion, though. The son of former A’s scout and big leaguer Ed Crosby, Bobby had been around the game as long as he could remember, and always felt comfortable.

“I remember Billy Beane told me, ‘Just play your game,’” Crosby said. “There weren’t a lot of expectations and the A’s just wanted me to play good defense up the middle. Anything else I did was going to be a bonus.”

What Crosby did was probably more than anyone expected, as he not only played superb defense, but also contributed 22 homers while driving in 64 runs for a team that contended in the AL West until they were knocked out on the final weekend of the season by the rival Angels. For his efforts, Crosby was named the American League’s Rookie of the Year, joining the likes of former A’s stars Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Walt Weiss, who had been back-to-back-to-back winners of the award in the late 1980s.

Crosby has some distinct memories of his rookie campaign, but his first game with the A’s actually took place late in the 2003 season and was a bit unusual, to say the least.

“It was really cool, almost like a dream but also kind of weird,” he remembered. “I joined the team in Baltimore and something crazy happened. A guy was batting in the game and he broke his bat and a piece of it came into our dugout and hit me in the back. (Luckily for Crosby, he wasn’t hurt.) I later got into the game and came up against BJ Ryan (at the time, one of the hardest throwing and better relievers in the game), and flew out in my first at bat. That was a pretty memorable debut.”

Crosby was also lucky that he had a pair of veteran infielders to help “school” him in the ways of becoming a big leaguer.

“Mark McClemore always treated me well and ‘Chavey’ (third baseman Eric Chavez) also took me under his wing,” Crosby said. “Those guys really helped show me how to do things right at this level.”

One thing the A’s have done since Beane took over as GM in the late 90s is have a loose clubhouse. With an almost constant infusion of new young talent joining Oakland each year, the mood of the A’s has always been happy and upbeat. Crosby said the atmosphere remains the same and is not dissimilar to what he experienced during his Minor League seasons in Modesto, Midland and finally Sacramento.

“I always loved the Minor Leagues because guys liked hanging out together and that always created a real team atmosphere,” he explained. “It was kind of like what I experienced in college ball, and we’ve definitely got the same thing going in Oakland.”

At age 28, Crosby is now considered one of the seasoned veterans, but he’s been impressed with what he’s seen of the new crop of young players who have joined this year’s team. Although he admitted to being a little surprised that Beane traded last year’s stars Nick Swisher and Dan Haren away in the offseason, he knew that the GM made the moves out of necessity, as the farm system was running thin of top prospects.

“You see the guys we picked up in the trades, and the guys who have come up here from Sacramento, and now we’re pretty stacked again,” he pointed out.

And while Crosby enjoys his new role of being a mentor and role model to the younger players, his memories of his years in the minors, particularly that one season in Sacramento, are distinct.

“I like the Minor Leagues,” Crosby said. “A lot of guys complain about those long bus rides, but I loved going to different cities and hanging out with the team. You get a chance to talk a lot of baseball during your free time and when you get to this level, you don’t do that as much.”

Sacramento fans loved watching Crosby on a regular basis at Raley field, and they can take pride in the fact that yet another one of the River Cats’ alumni is now playing his trade pretty well on the big league level.