Mike Lupica: Brett Gardner Can Be Yanks' Version of Dustin Pedroia

From Mike Lupica :   The other day, in another part of Fort Myers and another spring park, Joe Girardi was talking about Pedroia, saying, "It's good to see guys like that succeed. It's the message you want to send to kids and everybody, that anybody has a shot to fulfill their dreams. A guy you wouldn't even know was an athlete if you saw him walking down the street." Then Girardi said, "There's no size chart in baseball." There was no size chart for Pedroia, who was the best little guy in his sport before he became MVP. He got off to a terrible start in his rookie season and Terry Francona , the Red Sox manager, stayed with him, and Pedroia just kept swinging from his heels and making the plays at second and winning games. Now he has become a star of his sport. The kid who fights to be the Yankees ' starter in center field on Opening Day, Brett Gardner , is not the kind of hitter that Pedroia is, will never have that kind of power. But Gardner does not fit the modern profile ... (link)