MLB

Eric Chavez and his wife push each other to find success

(
)

It was a “state-of-the-art facility,” Alexandra Chavez recalled, smiling. A batting cage that allowed her husband Eric Chavez to work both outside and inside, when the Paradise Valley, Ariz., weather occasionally turned cold. A weight room. A sauna. Lockers, even.

It made sense. A star player earning star money did all he could to maintain his star-level production, back in 2005.

But Alexandra couldn’t keep her horses there, which meant that she couldn’t fully pursue her new passion. So Eric, having gained some perspective with his own career travails, agreed to move in 2010. The Chavezes sold their home and purchased a larger one nearby, one that could better accommodate Alexandra Chavez’s desires. In came the horses, and out went the mini-clubhouse.

“He’s downsized totally,” Alexandra Chavez said about her husband. “He’s got a little cage and that’s it. He told me, ‘I want you to be happy, and I want you to be where your animals are.’ ”

Alexandra Chavez’s dedication has paid off richly, and Eric Chavez has withstood his winter remodeling just fine. They’ve become a sports power couple enjoying professional surges, supporting each other emotionally but often separated by their pursuits.

Eric Chavez, you know, has enjoyed a stunning renaissance in his second season with the Yankees, filling in exceptionally well for injured third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Alexandra Chavez, meanwhile, is a rising star in the equestrian world.

BOX SCORE

“She’s picked up other things before and dropped them, but this one seems to have stuck,” Eric Chavez said. “It seems like it’s going to be around for a long time. It’ll give us something to do after baseball. The kids seem to like it, which is very important for us.”

The three Chavez children — Diego (7), Dolce (4) and Cruz (3) — can often be found in a trailer with their mom on fairgrounds in Ohio, Oklahoma or somewhere else. That’s Alexandra’s season. She is both a team owner — of four horses, overall — and a participant. She competes in English style (on flat ground) and Western style and uses a different horse for each.

“You have to train your horse and yourself,” said Alexandra Chavez, known to most friends as Alex. “You’ve got to have upper body strength, core strength, leg strength. It’s one of those things where I work out and I ride horses just as much as Eric plays baseball, in a sense.”

She’s retaining her amateur status for now with the National Snaffle Bit Association, which allows her to compete in a greater variety of events; last week, at the NSBA World Championship Show in Tulsa, Okla., she placed in the top 10 in three different events. Eventually, she’d like to turn professional and keep riding for as long as 30 years.

Because of his schedule, Eric Chavez has attended only a handful of his wife’s events.

“I’m sure I’ll end up being at a lot more,” he said.

Not quite yet, though. At 34, Chavez already has posted his most plate appearances since 2007 and is on pace to pass the 100-games mark for the first time since 2006.

In 2004, A’s general manager Billy Beane committed a six-year, $66 million extension to the homegrown Chavez, making the third baseman stand out for Beane’s willingness to retain him. Beane previously had let go other franchise pillars like Jason Giambi, Tim Hudson, Miguel Tejada and Barry Zito rather than pay them market rates.

Unfortunately for Oakland, Chavez didn’t reward Beane’s faith, because he couldn’t stay healthy. He broke a bone in his right hand in 2004; missed the final two months of 2007 with lower back spasms; played in just 23 games in 2008 due to back problems and right shoulder surgery; played in just eight games in 2009 due to more back issues and an injured right forearm; and played in just 33 games in 2010 because of neck spasms.

He was a franchise player gone wrong. When the Yankees called him during the 2010-11 offseason and offered Chavez a minor-league deal, he envisioned how it could be a good fit. He did enough last year in limited playing time — again hitting the disabled list for a long period, this time with a fractured left foot — to receive a return invitation for this season.

“I told Billy when I left, ‘No matter what I do here, they’re always going to compare me to that 30-home run, 100-RBI guy,’ ” Chavez said, referring to thresholds he reached in 2001 and 2002. “ ‘So I need to get out somewhere else and just kind of reinvent myself.’ I could never do that in Oakland. They would just always compare me to the early years. Even the year I’m having this year would be under par. So I couldn’t beat that.

“So this has been a good spot for me. There are guys that perform and are in the middle of the lineup, and I’m just a piece that helps them win games. It’s perfect.”

“It’s been great, I think,” Alexandra Chavez said, “because now, he’s got everything that he worked for so hard for the couple years that he was off.”

The Chavezes credit each other for helping reach their respective upward paths.

“I wouldn’t be into this without my husband’s support,” Alexandra Chavez said. “My support for him wouldn’t be the same. For three years, he got to be with his kids a lot [because of Eric’s injuries]. We don’t like to be away from each other.”

“I’m sure it was pretty tough for her to deal with me,” Eric Chavez said. “She was really supportive. … I’ve been pretty unsure about what I wanted to do, retire or play. I bounced back and forth a few times. Every time, she was like, whatever you want to do is cool with me.

“It’s been a pretty good relationship as far as us being able to lean on each other for what we want to do.”

Eric Chavez hopes to be booked for all of October. Alexandra Chavez already is. She’ll be competing at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio.

Last year, Alexandra sneaked out of the Congress event for a day to see one of the Yankees’ home playoff games against Detroit. This year, she vows again to view the postseason upfront. Especially if Eric gets to play in his first World Series.

“I’ll make room for them,” Alex said. “I’ll cancel something.”

The Chavezes have always made room for each other in their life together. Now that both are doing so well, there’s no reason to change that philosophy.

kdavidoff@nypost.com