A simple baseball play becomes the best Christmas gift

There is no partridge in a pear tree this Christmas morning at the San Dimas home of Mike and Sandy Pettit.

Just a baseball.

It is meticulously framed, has a letter of authenticity to go with it and will rank near the top of all-time Christmas gifts given in this family. This one won’t be finding its way onto EBay. Ever.

It was just an ordinary baseball until the night of Sept. 29, when it made its way into the hands of Texas Rangers pitcher Pedro Strop, who had a 2-and-2 count on the batter in the seventh inning of a game at Angel Stadium. Strop pitched and Angels rookie Chris Pettit, son of Mike and Sandy, hit a single to left field. Manager Mike Scioscia, understanding the moment, called timeout and made sure the ball was retrieved.

Now, this ordinary baseball is extraordinary, at least in the Pettit household. It will rest on a mantle, or in a trophy case, as a symbol of a son who not only succeeded but also tried hard, stayed the course and kept things in perspective while dreaming a dream.

That Sept. 29 trip to the plate was Pettit’s first at-bat in the major leagues. He had been called up to the big leagues from his triple-A team in Salt Lake City Sept. 7 and had been in a couple of games as a pinch-runner. But this was his first look at major league pitching.

This was also a moment that could, conceivably, be the best one in his career.

Chris Pettit is not a star. At least not now. His is a story of somebody drafted No. 582 in the 2006 baseball draft. That was in the 19th round, on the second day.

He is 6 feet, 190 pounds -- or about the same size as thousands of players in the minors and in college, all trying to get to the bigs. He runs well, fields well and has a quick bat. So do thousands of players in the minors and in college.

Actually, the thing that sets him apart from the majority of major leaguers-in-waiting is that he has a college degree, a major in sociology and a minor in business from Loyola Marymount. In baseball, that also can be viewed as a negative, as time wasted in classrooms that could have been spent on fields.

By virtue of being called up to the Angels in September, he will go to spring training as a member of the team’s 40-man roster. For Pettit, that’s huge. What isn’t huge is that he is 25, will be in his fifth season in the minors, most likely at least beginning the year back at Salt Lake City, and has a history of being injured.

Added to that is the reality of playing in a system for a major league team that is not looking to build, nor nurture its minor leaguers, as much as it is looking for World Series rings. And not in two years. Now. Outfield spots get filled by the free-agent superstars, the Torii Hunters and Bobby Abreus, more so than the home-growns from Salt Lake.

Pettit understands that.

“I’m not looking to push Torii Hunter out,” he says. “I’m just waiting my turn.”

He knows that, even with Vladimir Guerrero gone, Juan Rivera is probably set in left field, sore-knee Hideki Matsui might be able to mix in a little outfield play with his designated hitting, Gary Matthews Jr. might still be around despite his desire to be traded and Reggie Willits seems like a utility staple. Also, that Salt Lake outfield teammates Terry Evans and Brad Coon have been around longer.

“I just have to do well, play well, and let whatever is going to happen, happen,” Pettit says.

The first thing that has to happen is for his right shoulder to heal. He has a slight tear of the labrum (shoulder joint) and won’t be able to start throwing for another two weeks but expects to be 100% by the start of spring training. He injured it Nov. 9, playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, when he was sent home from third, was out by several steps and tried to hurdle the catcher. He did that successfully but jammed the shoulder scrambling back to the plate.

Pettit was the minor league player of the year in the Angels’ organization in 2007, hitting a cumulative .327 at Cedar Rapids and Rancho Cucamonga. Then, in the opening game of his 2008 season in Arkansas, he broke his foot. Last season, he started red hot in Salt Lake City, then needed surgery on a hand injury and missed six weeks.

But he kept going, a young man with both a dream and a sense of reality.

“I’m very happy right now, not at all frustrated,” he says. “I’ll probably be back at Salt Lake and I’ll want my team to do well.”

So, Chris Pettit’s story is mainly a story because, in a world of sport driven by such things and usually spoiled by them, he has no illusions of grandeur.

He does, however, have a special baseball that he made into a special Christmas gift for his especially supportive parents.

For a young man such as Pettit, head squarely on his shoulders, that may end up being more than enough.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com.