KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Southern California born and raised, now a Houstonian, Morgan Ensberg has a soft spot in his heart for Auburn.

The All-Star third baseman flashed back to the summer of 1998 while sitting in the Astros clubhouse after a spring-training game earlier this month.

“I just remember people being really nice,” Ensberg said. “As we started winning, they really came out and supported us. You hear about small-town minor-league ball and I think Auburn really captured that. It had a nice stadium. It was a fun experience for me.”

The Doubledays rallied to earn the New York-Penn League's wild-card berth and beat Batavia to reach the finals against the Oneonta Yankees.

But trying to get home from Batavia became the adventure of a lifetime. The Labor Day storm, which struck around midnight, prevented the team from entering Auburn.

They had to spend the night in Cortland before returning to Auburn Monday.

“I don't remember experiencing anything like that,” Ensberg said. “It was nuts, crazy.”

Even though the championship series was canceled, with Auburn and Oneonta being declared co-champions, the run to the wild-card and the first round helped Ensberg when he reached the majors.

“I think any postseason, starting from anywhere helps; you need experience playing in playoff games that are clearly more important, do-or-die situation,” Ensberg said. “I think accumulating postseason experience is incredibly important.”

That 1998 season was Ensberg's first as a professional after being selected by the Astros in the ninth round of the draft out of USC, where he won a College World Series.

But it wasn't an easy season as a Doubleday - Ensberg batted .230, still his worst as a professional.

“If you look at my stats in Auburn, that was me trying to get used to playing pro ball, playing every day” he said. “It was learning how to play every day. In college, you play four days a week and you can gear up and go full tilt. In pro ball, you really need to learn how to pace yourself.

“When I was going into a slump in Auburn, I didn't know how to get out of it. I was really adjusting.”

Most players who hit .230 in Auburn don't make it to the majors and it wasn't much better in 1999 when Ensberg hit .239 at Class A Kissimmee.

But in 2000, Ensberg hit .300 at Class AA Round Rock and earned a spot in the bigs, playing in seven games with Houston.

He spent 2001 in Class AAA New Orleans, batting .310 and split the following season between Houston and New Orleans. In 2003, he was in the majors to stay.

“If you looked at my stats (in 1998), you wouldn't think I was going to be one of the guys to get to the big leagues,” Ensberg said.

It could be understood if a big-league player remembers his minor-league days as an innocent time but Ensberg's memories are different.

“The funny thing is when I got into that season was that it was not innocent at all,” he said. “You knew immediately stepping on the field and being in the clubhouse and so forth that it was a business. It was very strange, it was far from innocent. It was my first time when baseball now, guys were dying to play and you could tell we were being grown on the farm so to speak.”

Ensberg looked at a 1998 Doubledays roster, with names like Roy Oswalt and Johan Santana, and knew how far every player went. Only a handful reached the majors.

“You realized it was a business right off the bat,” he said. “It was a different feeling. Pro baseball is very cutthroat.”

Right now, baseball is pretty good for Ensberg. He had his best season in 2005, setting Astros records for home runs (36) and RBIs (101) by a third baseman. The Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America selected him as the team's MVP.

Coming off the team's first pennant, Ensberg is pretty happy where he is.

“It was a really fun run,” he said.

For Ensberg, that run started in 1998 and has been fun ever since.