Hunter worth Angels' investment Peter Gammons, ESPN Wednesday, February 27, 2008 TEMPE, Ariz. -- Torii Hunter's motor is always running. He's in the clubhouse at 7:30 a.m., with the clubhouse kids and the rookies. His voice carries across the field during the rites of stretching. He's first in line for the outfield drills. He hits in the group with Chone Figgins, Garret Anderson and showstopper Vlad Guerrero. And Hunter is the one talking. "He's like Dusty Baker was when he was with the Dodgers," says Mike Scioscia, "because he's never afraid to say something when he sees something he doesn't like. He never has an excuse." Nor does he accept them. Last spring Hunter walked up to B.J. Upton, Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes and gave them some friendly, worldly, tough advice. Hunter could have excuses. He was in gangs growing up in Pine Bluff, Ark., in an area he says "is as tough as it gets." He witnessed drive-by shootings when he was 12. He had his signing bonus and his first car taken by his father, who was consumed by drug demons. "I've never been bitter; I've never held grudges," says Hunter. "I knew what I wanted. I knew what I needed to do. I knew the person I wanted to be. I never lost sight of the self-respect I needed. I never allowed the bad to strip me and lose all trust. That's the way it has to be." He's lived his life and explained to others that there's a train every day, leaving either way. There's a way to go. Where so many have lost hope, Torii Hunter never lost it. Where so many perverted the meaning of potential, he pushed for it, never looked back in anger. And he has gone on to a great career -- in the past seven years he has averaged 25 homers and earned seven Gold Gloves -- and this winter was rewarded with a five-year, $90 million contract by the Angels.   Now, this is not going to be a lecture about whether this is a "good contract" for a midfield player who turns 33 during the season (remember, Manny Ramirez's contract was once considered so horrible that he was put on waivers; and now with options for 2009 and 2010, the Red Sox believe it's a great contract). This is about a good player being rewarded. This is about the values that social leaders like Earl Martin Phalen of BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) in Boston have built into hundreds of thousands of children in Boston, Baltimore and New York (and, yes, Phalen was Barack Obama's classmate at Harvard Law School). When Hunter's agent, Larry Reynolds, told Angels owner Arte Moreno that Torii's social dreams had to be a part of the contract, the Angels built Hunter's Hundred into the contract so that not only will 100 underprivileged children go to every game, but the team also will invest in and work with agencies of Hunter's interest.   Hunter and his wife, Katrina, already have The Torii Hunter Project, which donates huge amounts of money to Little League and youth programs in depressed areas. They sponsor 14 teams to go to Williamsport, Pa., and other areas of the country, and work with the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program.   "I can't stand hearing people complain that 8 percent of major league players are African-American," says Hunter. "I say, 'Do something.'" When asked about the funding for his project, he says "some comes from corporate sponsorships, some comes from other players, and whenever we need more, I pay for it. I can afford it."   The Angels have invested in more than homers and OPS. They've invested in a person, one who they believe will have a strong impact on Howie Kendrick and Figgins. "I think he helps everyone here," says Scioscia. "Some guys don't like to answer questions. Torii loves it. He isn't afraid to take the heat."   "He represents what we want the Angels to be," says Moreno. "We lowered [ticket] prices because we want the kids back in the park. We've tried to be fan-friendly." They've also finished in first place in three of the past four years, and they might have 60 percent of their 2008 team developed by their farm system.   Moreno has been a stickler for continuity, suggesting the Angels pay the good instructors up and down the organization. Scioscia himself represents continuity. The Angels have sold a record number of tickets. Have they made some curious signings? Everyone has. But Moreno has made the Angels relevant, as relevant as they can be down the freeway from L.A. What's ridiculous is the bean-counting mentality that critiques good and bad contracts as if they're heretical. You don't think the Yankees are good for baseball? So are the Red Sox. It was comical when the Mets were criticized for what they gave Johan Santana; they brought the best pitcher in the game to New York for the opening of their ballpark in 2009. Have the Cubs spent? Yes, and they're relevant. The White Sox had one of the top five payrolls when they won the World Series in 2005 and re-established themselves on the baseball map. The Tigers often are criticized for their spending. If Mike Ilitch and Dave Dombrowski didn't go out and put the cash on the line, they wouldn't be selling out the entire 2008 season; they probably would be lucky to get 12,000 a night into downtown Detroit. The Blue Jays were questioned about the money they spent to get B.J. Ryan and A.J. Burnett. First, they couldn't get really good free agents to go to Toronto (Remember when Tom Underwood said, "I don't want to go someplace where they speak Canadian?") without "overpaying." Now it's a place to go, because it's home to a team that has a legitimate shot at the playoffs. Baseball has gone from being a $1.3 billion industry in 1995 to one that will top $6.5 billion this year, and it's not because everyone avoided spending on big contracts. Alex Rodriguez brings attention to baseball. So will Johan Santana. Magglio Ordonez, Pudge Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Cabrera et al have already brought a rundown franchise to heights it never before experienced, at least not since the automobile industry gutted Detroit. The Angels know who they got in Torii Hunter -- a man who drips energy and preaches hope and potential. There are numbers that will quantify what Hunter is or isn't worth, just as there are politicians who try to tell us that "experience" is far more important than the foundation of hope and potential. Those numbers don't matter as much as Hunter's ability to energize and inspire his teammates, with character that cannot be quantified. A "bad" contract to a good and generous man is worth a great deal more than a "good" contract to a mediocre and selfish man. Hunter hopes to inspire fellow players to reinvest in their heritage, their country, their hope. And Arte Moreno knows that a lot of that $90 million is going to all the right places.