|
BASEBALL & REAL LIFE
On Sunday, May 26th, 2002, I went to a local baseball game, hosted by an 'A' level minor-league baseball team called the Lakewood BlueClaws ~ three rungs away from the Big Leagues!
I suggested to this lady that she may have been sitting in "my" seat, somewhere behing home plate and off to the right. The lady turned out to be the mother of Jeff Manto, the manager of these very 'CLAWS.' She was very nice and we chit-chatted quite a bit about baseball ~ the good ol' days, and also just how proud she was of her son - Jeff!
When I went home that night, after looking up Jeff's statistics on the 'NET,' I finally got around to reading the local Asbury Park Press, and there was an interesting article about - non-other-than Jeff Manto, by columnist, Chris Baldwin. It was very well-written, and I decided to add my "TWO-CENTS."
Since Manto himself described himself as a "marginal" player, whose statistics backed this up when I checked him out, he was around enough teams long enough to make some interesting observations. I found out from his mother, that he actually was playing 3rd base in Baltimore the day that Cal Ripkin Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's "unbreakable" record of playing in the most consecutive major-league baseball games. She also told me that he once hit four consecutive home runs as a professional. (I had also read somewhere, that he had hit more home runs than anybody else as a minor-league ball player, and certainly was beloved by the fans at the Richmond Virginia 'AA' franchise.)
Yet, despite all this, his major-league statistics were nothing to write home about, as he bounced from one team to another in the 1990s. His best year seemed to be 1995, where he hit 17 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles. [LOOK IT UP!]
Anyway, as a high school baseball manager myself, I liked the way he handled certain key situations in the game; I even predicted that he would make a certain move ~ which he did! In the local Baldwin article called, "The Price of fame isn't minor," Manto had made, what I felt, were some astute observations about the potential RISKS of being "too swift of feet" or have a bat "with no holes in it." As Chris Baldwin so poetically put it:
IT NEVER FELT BETTER TO HOLD A SWING WITH HOLES IN IT. THOSE NOT~SO~SWIFT FEET NEVER LOOKED MORE SWEET.
Manto says quite bluntly: THANK GOD I WAS A UTILITY PLAYER. In the article, he had lamenting comments...like what MIKE PIAZZA, (catcher for the N.Y. METS,) when he said, "I'm not gay." Manto also observed, "I thought I wanted to be a superstar. I guess everybody does. But I didn't.
There's no way I wanted to be part of the garbage that comes with it...Just part of the rising price of a plaque in Cooperstown & a Claritan TV ad."
Chris Baldwin goes on to list some of Manto's other concerns ~ a manager who now, himself, has to prepare his "chicks" for the possible eventuality of being instant celebrities and all the hype that goes along with (the garbage.) Manto has to be concerned about his top prospect: one GAVIN FLOYD who may very well be a 94 mile-per-hour pitcher with their major-league affiliate, THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES, the team that Steve Carlton successfully pitched for for many years. (Manto feels that pitchers like the naive Floyd, may not be acutely aware of the pitfalls that may await him as well as others ~ that comes with the 'baggage' of stardom! He also feels that it is part of his job to make them men first, so if they do become stars, it won't lead to their undoing.)
The manager pulled no punches! He stated bluntly that there are things that should remain private ~ like a man's sexuality. A man's personal life is just that - personal, and best left that way.
Manto said that he had played with Derek Jeter, and saw up-close what Derek went through. "It was a joke. Those guys can't live a normal life. You think you want to be a star, and then you hear how they build movie theatres in their homes, how they have to call the mall so they can shop after hours...They're prisoners of their own talent. That's what Mike Piazza is, just like all the rest."
The Baldwin article ends with another observation: YOU DO NOT JUST LEARN HOW TO HIT THE CURVE IN THE MINORS. YOU LEARN TO STAY OUT OF YOUR TEAMMATES' BUSINESS. THAT IS ONE OF THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF THE CLUBHOUSE, MUCH MORE RELEVANT THAN THE STILL-POSTED "NO PEPPER" SIGNS.
Yes, I, lebeau, would say that the ballplayers of the 'A' level Lakewood BlueClaws are lucky that they have such a "marginal" manager like Jeff Manto. Maybe in the not too distant future, this "marginal-man" will be shaping young men's lives in a major way ~ about REAL LIFE, which is, after all ~ not such a minor thing.
As I gazed down at seat #14, the very seat that Mrs. Manto had wandered into a few hours before, I had no idea that within 24 hours, she may have wholeheartedly agreed with me that her son was not merely a major-marginal player, but a minor manager who shapes lives in a major way!
|
