Spending the offseason in Seattle, Jason Bay thought that the hoopla surrounding his rookie of the year award had simmered down.

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger greets Pirates rookie of the year Jason Bay, left, yesterday at the Steelers' South Side practice facility. Click photo for larger image.

But in town to meet with and sign autographs for PNC Park suite holders and the team's corporate sponsors, Bay found his image and accomplishments gracing the front and back of the Pirates' pocket schedule. And a life-sized picture of him is in the window of the team store outside the ballpark.

"Coming here and seeing all the stuff, it's almost like winning the award again," Bay said yesterday. "People's interest and everything is through the roof."

In the whirlwind days after he became the first Pirates player to be named National League rookie of the year, Bay said it has been "a little overwhelming at times" to have met such political dignitaries as Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Deiter Boggs, mayor of his hometown in Trail, British Columbia.

One of the highlights of Bay's trip will come tomorrow at the Ronald McDonald House, which serves the hospital complex in Oakland. Bay will donate the $20,000 charitable contribution he received for winning the Player's Choice rookie award as voted by his peers in the Major League Baseball Player's Association. His wife had done charitable work in the past with the Ronald McDonald House, which is a home away from home for children and their families while the children have or await medical treatment.

After Christmas, Bay is moving to his new home in Chandler, Ariz., before heading to spring training.

"Hopefully, I have a starting job," Bay said in that self-effacing way of his. "Someone said at one of the functions this week that without Jason Kendall, it's Dave Littlefield's guys now. Dave's plan is coming into full focus, which is exciting."