PHILADELPHIA -- Juan Ibanez's degree meant nothing in the United States. A chemist in Cuba, Raul Ibanez's father fled his native country, wary of raising his family under the increasingly oppressive Castro regime. It was the late 1960s and he felt the government was not delivering what it had promised, so he wanted out.

But one major sacrifice was required: Juan had to abandon the profession he loved, and the status that came with it. He spent the rest of his professional life as an employee of a cruise line, in various roles unrelated to his education or skills.

Raul was born in New York in 1972, and within a year had moved with his parents and two older brothers to Miami, where he spent the remainder of his childhood. For 70 hours each week, Juan reported to a financially and emotionally unrewarding job. He also watched his wife, Moraima, who held an accounting degree in Cuba, toil at the Dade County accounting department in a role that was beneath her qualifications.

"And you know what? He never complained," said Raul, who credits much of his success as a late-career bloomer for the Seattle Mariners and now the Phillies to his dad's example. This season in fact has been his best, so far. He took the major league lead in homers with his 16th of the year in a 7-3 victory Friday against the Yankees. (He hit his 17th Saturday.) He leads the National League in RBIs with 43 and is in the top 10 in batting average at .352.

"He told us that in this country anything was possible. He was early for work every day, never called in sick. A hard-core, mentally strong, old-school guy."

Try finding Raul Ibanez the day of a ballgame. He might be in the weight room, working on his core muscles or agility skills. He might be on the chiropractor's table, or visiting his physical therapist, or practicing martial arts, or watching video of opposing pitchers, or taking extra swings in the cage.

"That was the behavior we saw at home," Ibanez said. "That's what my dad instilled in us."

Drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1992, just months after the baseball-crazed Juan died, Ibanez languished in that team's system for years. He saw more than 200 at-bats for the first time in 1999, when he was 27, and never batted 300 times during his first stint as a Mariners player.

"They didn't believe I was an everyday player," he said. "They pretty much told me that by continuing to acquire other players at my position. When I was young that weighed on my confidence."

The situation also weighed on at least one member of the Mariners organization, Pat Gillick, who became the general manager in 2000. "Gillick always believed," Ibanez said, and recalled an afternoon that season when the new GM approached him in Chicago.

"If we can't find you 400 at-bats this year, we're going to move you to someone who can," Gillick told him.

"I knew him quite well and liked him," Gillick recalled last week. "I think the lack of opportunity affected him. What comes first, confidence or success? He went to Kansas City and had success. I can see now that he has a lot more confidence."

At the end of that season, Ibanez became a free agent and signed with the Royals. In his second season there, at age 30, he batted .294 with 24 home runs. After his third season, he was again a free agent, recruited by none other than Gillick.

Gillick had stepped down as general manager of the Mariners by 2003, but still worked as a consultant. Ibanez was visiting Puerto Rico during the offseason, and Gillick flew there for a meeting. "I went to convince him to come back," Gillick said. "Me and Benny [Looper, then a Seattle executive and now an assistant general manager with the Phillies] always liked him, and hoped he would return."

Ibanez did return, and became a reliable power hitter during his second stint with the team. After five seasons, he became a free agent again, and he found himself pursued again by a team that employed Gillick and Looper.

Although the Phillies became Ruben Amaro Jr.'s team after the 2008 season, when Gillick retired as GM, Gillick and Looper still yielded influence. They felt that Ibanez would not only be a fit for left field to replace Pat Burrell, but would also be a positive presence among his teammates.

"You play about 200 games a year, factoring in spring training," Gillick said. "We play such an extended schedule. When you show up in the workplace, you want to be able to say, I want to be with these people."