Tom Corbett, a self-proclaimed lifelong baseball fan, said he executed "the ultimate political sacrifice bunt" in accepting an appointment as Pennsylvania's attorney general in the wake of the Ernie Preate scandal in 1995.

That "sacrifice bunt" came in the form of a request from then-Gov. Tom Ridge who told Corbett that to accept the nomination he had to promise to not run for the office in 1996.

"The reason was, we needed five Democratic votes in the Senate to get the two-thirds confirmation," Corbett, 54, said Wednesday during a news conference at Sharon Country Club where he received endorsements from more than a dozen elected officials from Mercer and Crawford counties, including Sen. Bob Robbins of Salem Township, R-50th. "I always understood what that was."

Eight years later, Corbett finally has the chance to swing for the fences as a Republican candidate for the same office.

"Most of my career as an adult has been in protecting Pennsylvanians," Corbett said, explaining his motivation to become the state's top cop.

Those jobs included being a lifeguard in college, a member of the National Guard for 14 years, an assistant district attorney in Allegheny County, an assistant U.S. attorney, a U.S. attorney and, following an appointment by President George H.W. Bush, chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

"It's all been involved in protecting Pennsylvanians," he reiterated. "And I want to go back to that role. ... I believe I have the experience, I believe I have the leadership and I believe I have the vision for the office."

It's an office he held for 15 months in 1995 and 1996 when Preate was forced to resign after pleading guilty to mail fraud for campaign finance violations while Preate was the district attorney in Lackawanna County. Corbett was appointed and although he might have had aspirations to hold the post beyond 1996, he kept his promise to Ridge and didn't seek re-election. But not before earning the respect of many throughout the commonwealth, including Robbins.

"He restored faith in Pennsylvanians in the office of attorney general by doing an outstanding job, and bringing integrity and honesty to that office," Robbins said. "Most importantly he's a person that has worked in the trenches that gets down at the local level to work with the people doing the job. And he has earned the respect of all those people he has dealt with legislatively, in the law enforcement field and as attorney general."

Corbett was appreciative of the turnout of local politicians and party leaders, noting "the support of elected officials at the township level, the local level, the county level and the state level is very, very important. And I'm pleased to be able to come up here and have such wonderful support coming out of northwestern Pennsylvania."

Although he lives in Shaler Township, Allegheny County, where he has his own law firm, Corbett has been emphasizing the diversity of his Pennsylvania roots, which stretch from Ohio to New Jersey, during the campaign. He was born in Philadelphia, lived in Harrisburg, grew up in Pittsburgh and went to college in the central part of the state.

"I know Pennsylvania and that is a tremendous benefit when I'm out there campaigning," he said.

Some political pundits around the state have held the perception for some time that a western Pennsylvania candidate is often at a disadvantage when it comes to statewide races. Corbett's reply?

"It's a false perception," he said moments after rattling off a handful of names, including Ridge, Rick Santorum, Barbara Hafer and current Attorney General Mike Fisher, who he said proved that perception wrong.

Corbett and his wife Susan have been married for 30 years. They have two children: Tom III, who is an architect in Pittsburgh, and Katherine, a second-year student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

You can e-mail Herald Political Writer Jeff Greenburg at jgreenburg@sharonherald.com.