Mangum family has full-circle moment in Boston

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This story was excerpted from Adam Berry's Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

News of some shared history made its way through the Mangum family earlier this week, when Rays outfielder Jake Mangum's parents, John and Stacy, traveled to see their son play his first series at historic Fenway Park.

John was a defensive back who spent nine years in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. His brother, Kris, spent 10 years as a tight end with the Carolina Panthers. And his father, John Sr., was a defensive tackle who played two seasons for the Boston Patriots in the American Football League.

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Those Patriots didn't have a dedicated home field, so they played their games at a few different stadiums around Boston. One of them was Fenway Park.

The same place Jake signed his name inside the Green Monster nearly six decades later. The same place John sat in the stands on Tuesday and Wednesday night, proudly watching his son live out his Major League dream.

"Pretty cool to think about," John said.

Jake doesn't remember a ton about his dad's playing career. He was born in 1996, and John's last game was in September 1998 -- against the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium, oddly enough, right across the street from where Jake made his MLB debut at George M. Steinbrenner Field on March 30. Yet he picked up on how John and Kris operated, the mentality they needed to compete at the highest level.

Jake gave up the family business of football after his freshman year of high school, instead putting all his focus on the diamond. He had the full support of his father then, just as he does now.

"He's always had my back, man. My best friend, and I wouldn't be here without him," Jake said. "When I was a kid, my dad always just made sure I played hard. Everything else is kind of out of your control, but you can control playing hard. Still trying to do that to the best of my ability."

The sports couldn't be much more different, in some ways. Football is once a week, an all-out rush of intensity and energy that takes its toll on the body. Baseball is a daily grind, a test of mental stamina as much as physical ability. Whenever John asks Jake why he pulled up while running out a ground ball, Jake jokes back, "Well, Dad, you didn't blitz every play."

But the way Jake carries himself -- the way he battles in the batter's box, the way he runs hard, the passion with which he plays the game -- reflects his father's style.

"I've learned so much from him. All that competitive stuff, football mentality stuff, I like to think I carry it into baseball," Jake said. "Super aggressive hitter. I'm going up there to hit. If it's the zone, I'm swinging. I like to think that's kind of from my dad a little bit, but who knows."

That attitude also carried Mangum through his unusual journey to the Majors. He had to wait longer than anticipated, certainly longer than he would have liked. He produced everywhere he played, yet he bounced from the Mets to the Marlins before spending a full season with Triple-A Durham. Then the Rays gave him his shot, and he hasn't looked back.

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"That's probably what I'm most proud about. It would have been so easy for him to get down, but he never did," John said. "He just said, 'Dad, I'm just gonna go to Triple-A, and I'm gonna put up numbers. And someday, somebody's gonna give me that chance.' And we're thankful it happened this year with the Rays."

John and Stacy are enjoying it just about as much as Jake. They've been to plenty of games in Tampa, including his debut. They were in Arlington for his first big league road series. They were in Houston to see his first Major League home run. And they were at Fenway Park, where he added another chapter to the family legacy.

"To be honest, I'm just happy for him," John said. "Coming in here and playing at Fenway Park, and then he gets to go play the Mets, the team that drafted him -- he's living his dream, and I'm just happy for him."