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Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.
— UCLA basketball coach John Wooden
OF THE many quotes adorning Millville High’s locker room, that best sums up Mike Trout — a big-time talent with a small-town ego. Just four years removed from high school, one of baseball’s top young players will start in Tuesday’s All-Star game at Citi Field two hours from his South Jersey home — the home where he spent last offseason.
“Mike’s just a Millville kid,’’ said Trout’s mother, Debbie, who taught preschool in town for years.
Despite following one of history’s greatest rookie campaigns up with this year’s encore, despite drawing comparisons to Mickey Mantle, the Angels outfielder hasn’t gone Hollywood after his Usain Bolt-like sprint through the minors and stunning emergence in Anaheim.
“We like to think we did good job with all our kids. The No. 1 rule of the house: Be a good person, and everything else will take care of itself,’’ said Trout’s father, Jeff, who first set most of the Millville records his son broke and even coached the team after a minor league career with the Twins. “He’s exciting on the field but your basic kid off it.
“He has a tremendous love for his brother [Tyler] and sister [Teal], and niece and nephew. He’s really, really family-oriented. That means a lot to him. … He kind of stays [low-key]. He’s a homebody. … Mike’s just a regular guy, and wants to be treated like a regular guy. That’s what makes him so appealing to the masses.’’
The masses just saw the 21-year-old Trout put up astronomical numbers in his rookie season, a .326 average and AL-highs of 129 runs and 49 steals. He hasn’t disappointed fans this season either, because he is in the top five in runs, steals, triples, doubles and hits.
Nevertheless, they don’t get to see Trout playing with little nephew Landon before a recent game in Baltimore, and they probably don’t know he still has the same drive, still holds the same values and still hangs out with the same friends.
“It’s not just us. It’s everybody that was part of Mike’s life,” said Millville baseball coach Roy Hallenbeck, who succeeded Jeff when Mike was about 10. “My two assistant coaches are taking trips later this summer. A lot of his high school friends have already been out.
“He’s stayed close with everybody he was close with, and that’s a tribute to his character.’’
Millville has seen some tough times since the glass business left. Though New Jersey is one of the country’s richest states, Cumberland County is one of the nation’s poorest. It’s not a town scouts used to frequent, but when Trout showed them the place, they found friendly neighbors, such as Louisa Oliver, cooking up delicious zucchini bread for them.
It’s part of Trout’s character to give back, letting Hallenbeck sell more than 200 Trout Millville T-shirts to benefit the program and giving the MLB Players Choice AL Outstanding Rookie’s $20,000 charitable donation to renovate the Thunderbolts’ aging facilities. On Aug. 12, before his Angels open a series at Yankee Stadium, they officially will rename the field he played on Mike Trout Field.
“I remind the guys now if there’s one guy that could’ve skipped extra BP or taking ground balls, he’s the one that could’ve gotten away with it, and he never did.” Hallenbeck said. “He worked harder than everybody else. The most talented player to come through here is also the hardest-working.
“He was wired that way. That comes from his mom and dad. That light never had to go on. It was always lit.’’
At heart, Trout is the same kid who used to sleep in his uniform after Tee Ball games, who essentially grew up in the locker room, coming by Millville High and shagging fly balls during batting practice and serving as the bat boy during games.
Trout didn’t switch from shortstop to the outfield until his senior year, when he hit a state-record 18 homers. He signed with East Carolina, but after Pirates coach Billy Godwin watched him dominate rival Vineland — dazzling a cadre of scouts with an inside-the-park home run — Godwin saw the writing on the wall.
“They all huddled together, rewinding [the play] on videotape. They looked like little kids, giddy about how fast he was,’’ Hallenbeck recalled. “Billy walked past the dugout and I said, ‘You’re leaving?’ He said ‘That’s the best high school kid I’ve ever seen. He ain’t coming to me.’ He kind of slunk off depressed, because he’d lost the best player he’d ever had.’’
With a 3.53-seconds time to first base, Trout — nicknamed the Millville Meteor — always has been quick. Jeff has told and retold the story that he took Debbie to the hospital in labor at 4 a.m., and Mike was born by 7 a.m. His ascent to stardom has been as fast, and he is one of baseball’s top young players just four years after being drafted No. 25 overall.
His 10.7 WAR (wins above replacement) last season was the best since Barry Bonds in 2004, and the fourth-highest of any player under 25. The other three? Oh, just Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mantle, to whom he is most often compared. Yet, when outsiders ask what makes him so special, his family and friends say the fact he has stayed so ordinary is what makes him so extraordinary.
“He still loves to hunt and fish,” said Hallenbeck, who took his family to visit Trout this past week, and attended Monday’s Angels game. “He spends all winter in the woods. He loves the seasons, loves to sit out in the deer stands, be out there in the cold. He just loves it. We had lunch with him, and that could’ve been any other former player I’ve had.
“We sat for an hour-and-a-half, and it was really hard to look at him as a major league All-Star. That was just Mikey. … It’s hard to explain that, but he’s just so normal. He’s just like every other kid until he puts on the Angels uniform and he’s the [fourth]-leading vote-getter in the All-Star Game. He’s never big-leagued anybody. Not once. And that’s refreshing.’’
Oh, there have been changes, with his prankster personality starting to come out. Hallenbeck said he drives a nicer car and dresses a bit better, while Debbie adds her son — always a steak-and-potatoes guy — is “switching a little to sushi and salad.’’
But in the offseason he still can be found eating at Jim’s Lunch on East Main Street, still the same Millville kid he always was.
“[He’s] ultra-competitive, in everything every day. Game of Monopoly at the house, or Scrabble or darts or Ping Pong in the basement, or bowling or beating his brother down the stairs Christmas morning,’’ Jeff said. “He’s humble and he comes across ‘Aw, shucks.’ But inside, he’s a killer.’’
But a humble, thankful and careful one.
brian.lewis@nypost.com