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JEFF FRANCOEUR, Right fielder, Atlanta Braves
Job: Right fielder, Atlanta Braves
What I do: Jeff Francoeur plays baseball -- and very well. The second-year right fielder for the Atlanta Braves is also a hometown hero. He was a star in football and baseball at Gwinnett County's Parkview High School, graduating in 2002.
Francoeur, 22, said his schedule is not unlike that of other people who work nights. He generally wakes up at about 10:30 a.m. and tends to chores, such as reading the mail, walking the dog and doing his laundry -- especially after a road trip. He gets to Turner Field at about 2:15 p.m. on days there is a night game and practices hitting in the batting cage. For the rest of the afternoon, he watches video of that night's opponents or of himself to improve his game; then he takes batting practice on the field at about 5 p.m. The games usually start at about 7:30.
After a postgame shower, he's usually back at his home near the Mall of Georgia by about 11:30 p.m. "Then I play video games [Mario Brothers] or watch ESPN," he said. He usually goes to bed at about 1 a.m.
On his few days off during the season, he spends time with his girlfriend, friends and family.
In the offseason, "I play a lot of golf" and speak to groups such as the Fellowship for Christian Athletes.
Francoeur said he went to his first Braves game when he was about 2 years old, and he remembers well some of the first games at the then-new Turner Field in 1997.
He admitted it is a little weird sharing a clubhouse with boyhood idols like longtime Braves pitcher John Smoltz. "I give Smoltzie a hard time that I was going to my first day of kindergarten when he started pitching for the Braves."
What got me interested in this: "I've always loved baseball," Francoeur said. "It's the ultimate test." He explained that baseball is a sport in which you can fail 70 percent of the time and still have a very good .300 batting average.
While it takes great physical skills, the game is 90 percent mental, he said. "I love the challenge of facing a guy one-on-one, trying to beat him."
Best part of my job: "Coming out and playing in these beautiful stadiums," he said. "I love to do this. There's nothing better than playing baseball for a living in your hometown."
Most challenging part: "Every day is like being on a roller coaster," Francoeur said, with game-winning hits, strikeouts in key situations, spectacular catches or losses in close games. "I try to stay on an even keel -- never too high or too low. You have to do something to help the team win, give 110 percent all the time."
He said manager Bobby Cox and the rest of the Braves coaches "challenge us every day to do our best. They give us the confidence to do our best."
What people don't know about my job: "We get here at 2 or 2:30 every day," he said. "Some people think we get here at 5:30, put on our uniforms and play. We put in eight to nine hours every day."
What keeps me going: During his drives to the stadium, Francoeur notices things about the other drivers: "I see guys in suits. But I get to play every day, playing a game I have passion about. I'm very blessed."
Francoeur also is proud to be part of the sport's rich history. "Lou Gehrig was right," he said, that a baseball player is "the luckiest man on the face of this Earth."
Preparation needed for this job: Besides being an athlete at the highest level of competition, you have to be "focused, ready to go," he said. "You know what you have to do" to win.
Francoeur's entire working life has been in baseball -- first as an umpire while he was in high school and since then as a professional player.
"Baseball is the only job I've ever had," he said. "I love it that way. I've got the perfect job, and baseball is the perfect game," test-
ing him physically and mentally.
Even on a bad day, he loves the game. "I can go 0-for-4, but I still get to play baseball."
- By Karl Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.
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