BOSTON — If you’re tired of the spoiled, money-grubbing image of professional athletes, it’s time to catch up with John McDonald.

McDonald is Providence College’s final gift to major-league baseball and he’s proud of it. Yesterday he wore a PC T-shirt while getting ready to play third base for the Blue Jays against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. This is his third major-league team and sixth full season in the big leagues and while he’s learned that it’s always tough for a light-hitting (.236 career average) utility infielder to stick around for that long, McDonald appreciates the fact that he’s living a dream.

“That’s not an unfair question. This is longer than I thought I could be here,” said the 32-year-old. “It’s a reality of coming from New England, going to community college for two years, going to Providence College. Providence doesn’t have a long history of guys playing in the big leagues.”

Through his time at UConn-Avery Point and PC, the East Lyme, Conn., native didn’t see himself as some can’t-miss hardball star. Instead he worked hard to elevate his one professional skill — a Hoover glove at shortstop — as well as build on the rest of his game. That work ethic pushed him all the way to the majors and the biggest ballparks in the country.

“So many guys have played minor-league baseball who are probably better than me,” he said. “(The majors) didn’t even enter my mind because playing in the big leagues was so far off in the distance. The closer you got as you move up from Double A to Triple A, you think, well maybe it is going to be a possibility. But I made the majors eight years ago now. Obviously I feel I belong.”

McDonald couldn’t find a manager who appreciates his career more than Toronto’s John Gibbons. He managed against McDonald’s teams in the minor leagues and understands the steady, consistent route the infielder took to a long major league career.

“I managed against Johnny’s minor-league teams when he was with the Indians and I saw him rob more hits and save more runs for his team. And he got big hits along the way, too,” Gibbons said. “Johnny does all the little things that his role requires and he does it as well as anybody. That’ll keep him in the big leagues for a long time.”

Gibbons also welcomes McDonald’s attitude. He’s in the lineup now, platooning with Jason Smith at third base while star Troy Glaus recovers from a heel injury. McDonald will also see time at short, subbing for Royce Clayton. He says he also packs an outfielder’s glove, for good measure.

“I don’t care whether you’re the last guy on the team or a superstar, sometimes it gets lost that it’s really an honor and a privilege to play at this level,” said Gibbons. “Johnny’s one of those guys who’s never had anything handed to him. When he was being scouted you probably looked at him and said, ‘He’s too small. He doesn’t run as fast as you need to.’ But you know what? He made it to the big leagues and he’s really having a nice career.”

While teams like the Red Sox burn through utility infielders on a yearly basis (where have you gone Pokey Reese, Damian Jackson and Donnie Sadler?), McDonald has stood the test of time. He spent parts of six seasons (1999-2004) with the Indians before being traded to Toronto for a player to be named. He played 37 games with the Jays in 2005 but finished that year with the Tigers after a July trade.

After the ’05 season, the Jays sent an undisclosed amount of cash to Detroit to bring McDonald back to Canada. He played in a career-high 104 games last season, starting 76 at shortstop and making just 14 errors. He hit only .223, however, continuing a career-long problem.

So far this season, McDonald is smashing the good-field, no-hit scouting report. He’s off to a sizzling start at the plate with a hit in each of his last six games (.555, 10-for-18). Last night, he had three of Toronto’s 14 hits with a single in the fifth, a ground-rule double that fell just inside the right-field line in the sixth and a clean double into the right-field corner in the eighth inning. He’s hitting an even .500 (12-for-24) for the season.

“Two years ago I felt like I turned the corner and I had a pretty productive year offensively. Last year, I feel I regressed a little bit,” he said. “This year, I changed my stance a little bit and got with my hitting coach and we’re hammering away at a certain way to hit. I’m going to prove to myself that I can do it with limited at-bats. Sometimes it’s easy to say ‘Well, he hasn’t played in a while. You can’t expect much from him.’ But I practice every day and prepare to play and nothing changes in my preparation. I’m not going to let that be a limitation on me.”

There’s another potential limitation in McDonald’s life he intends on eliminating. He’s five courses short of graduating from PC and has taken a class in each of the last two winters. McDonald is earning $750,000 this season but is on a one-year contract and, unlike so many other big leaguers and pro athletes, he knows an end to the cheers is always hiding around the corner.

“Life after baseball for me isn’t going to be sitting on the beach on the Cape,” he said. “When baseball is over, I don’t want doors to be closed to me. I don’t want to hear ‘The first thing you need to do is you have to go back and graduate.’ I want to be prepared.”

kmcnamar@projo.com