A David Ross story, before he was ‘Grandpa’

Since winning their first World Series in 108 years with a dramatic Game 7 victory over Cleveland 10 days ago, the Chicago Cubs having been taking more bows than the cast of “Phantom of the Opera.”

This is especially true of David Ross, Jon Lester’s retiring personal catcher who hit a home run in Game 7. It was the final game Ross probably will play, other than Wiffle Ball with his kids.

This led to Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo choking back tears when he introduced the team’s spiritual leader during the massive victory parade. It also led to “Grandpa Rossy” assuming the guise of a Chippendales dancer on “Saturday Night Live,” and receiving a medical walker with pinstripes and his name and jersey number on the “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

So this seems like a good time to retell a David Ross story.

It happened long before he was Grandpa Rossy, in 2002, when Ross was a 25-year-old catching prospect for the Las Vegas 51s.

There was a game in Portland on a chilly May evening during which young hecklers were giving Ross a ration of you know what. A fan sitting nearby called the hecklers “punks” in her email. She said they were unmerciful. Late in the game, when Ross headed for the stands at PGE Park to confront his antagonists, she thought it might get ugly.

“Instead, I witnessed something completely unexpected,” wrote Vicki Ballou, who was sitting with her husband and son near Ross and his leather-lunged critics. “Ross stood there until he caught the boys’ attention. He then tossed a ball to them, smiled and returned to his warmup routine.

“After a moment of stunned silence, the boys began yelling, this time even louder. But this time, the chants were ‘Ross, you’re the man!’ and ‘Ross, we love you.’ ”

As Ballou noted, “At a time when people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with professional athletes, a 25-year-old catcher named Dave Ross demonstrated what true character and sportsmanship really mean.”

I wrote a column about the incident after I received Vicki Ballou’s email.

This is what David Ross said:

“I’m not saying that I have always handled those (situations) the right way. But I learned something that night.

“Basically it got to the point where they were ragging me so much. Then a foul ball came my way, and I looked right at them and tossed them the ball. Then they started cheering for me. That showed me what can happen when you turn things around.”

After the column was published, the newspaper ran a letter to the editor.

It said thanks for all the stories on the 51s, and especially the one about David Ross going into the crowd to quiet the young hecklers in Portland.

“… We are proud of David for so many things. But this was special to us because this is the side of him that most people never see or write about.”

It was signed The Ross Family, Jacksonville, Florida.

VAUGHN TIME COMING

The jury is still out on whether Rashad Vaughn made the right decision in declaring for the NBA Draft after playing one season at UNLV. But the jury would have been impressed by two of Vaughn’s early-season stat lines.

Playing 27 minutes, the former Findlay Prepster shot 8-for-17 from the field, including 6-for-12 on 3-point attempts, and scored 22 points in Milwaukee’s 110-108 victory over Brooklyn on Oct. 29.

He logged nearly 25 minutes against the Kings on Nov. 5, sinking 5 of 9 field-goal attempts, including 4 of 8 on 3-pointers, and scored 14 points during a 117-91 blowout.

Shabazz Muhammad, another relative NBA neophyte with local ties (Bishop Gorman) who left UCLA after one season, is giving the jury less to deliberate.

Muhammad appears to have carved a niche with Minnesota as a top reserve. After appearing in 82 games and averaging 10.5 points last season, he tallied a season-high 15 in a loss at Oklahoma City on Nov. 5 and followed with 13 in a win Wednesday at Orlando.

Anthony Bennett, who also left UNLV after one season, was drafted first overall by Cleveland but has yet to pan out in the NBA, has gotten off the Brooklyn bench four times heading into this weekend. Bennett also made a blooper reel when he mistakenly told Nets fans, “Don’t watch us play this season.”