Writer Takes The Road Less Traveled

In the mid 1990's, I started a feel-good magazine called Country Essence. I was fed up with the rapes and robberies and murders we are all subjected to on a daily basis fueled not only by the media's need to gain viewership but also by our own sadistic need to know.

We drive by car accidents and rubber-neck in hopes of seeing a mutilated body. We watch the show Cops in hopes of seeing someone who is more messed up than anyone we've ever seen. We are glued to the CBS Nightly News in hopes of feeling just a little worse about our lot in life than we already do. In short, we become part of the problem and not part of the solution.

As a writer, I have a choice.

I can choose to write a juicy story about Manny being Manny, or A-Rod shooting himself up, or Plaxico shooting himself down. My goal, I guess, is not to truly fix the broken world but to score reads and comments.

As you all know, we write strictly for the love of writing or perhaps to be discovered. We write to climb up the rankings and to hopefully see our story or, better than that, our own picture perched atop the unofficial writer's rankings.

Been there. Done that.

It's cool, but it's not why I choose to write.

Like Country Essence, Bleacher Report can be our own personal platform for (yes, that word you're all sick of) CHANGE.

I've now written 35 stories. I've written a half dozen or so that make me feel good and 29 that make me part of the problem. My victories were stories written about my son, my love of the sport of baseball, my loss of my job, my family, and the mentoring I received from a friend who has since passed on.

I've written about the personal achievement of the Italian National Baseball Team and the friendships that the teammates have forged. They made me feel good and I sense the readers have left feeling the same.

So, effective now, I have made a choice. I've made a choice to dare to be different. I can march to the beat of a different drum instead of cruising down the path of negativity. Walk the high road instead of crawling along the road of slander, drivel, and libel.

This idea actually entered my thoughts after I wrote A-Rod Isn't My Hero, My Son is My Hero. My fear was that I'd become predictable. I'd become a cream puff writer. People would start to say, "Oh, more of the same." If I am truly as strong a writer as I profess to be, I'll bet I can remain interesting.

It's so funny how we are so concerned about being repetitively good, instead of caring that we are repetitively bad. Messed up, huh?

A man was walking along a beach. The tide was high. He saw another man, ankle deep in starfish. As each wave would come in, more and more starfish would be beached on the shore.

One by one, the man would reach down into the cold surf and pick up a starfish. A starfish that was doomed to die. He'd throw them into the surf, only to see the majority of them float back onto shore. Occasionally, he would witness one make it over the top of the next approaching wave.

The first man said to the second, "What are you doing? Can't you see that your effort doesn't make a difference?"

The second man bent down and picked up another starfish. He threw it into the ocean. He looked at the other man and said, "Made a difference to that one, didn't it?"

I've chosen to be that man.

When Team Italia Ruled the World

The World Baseball Classic seems to be trudging into the championship rounds with a mixed level of enthusiasm. This week, teams from Puerto Rico, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Japan, Korea, Venezuela, and the Netherlands stagger to the finish line playing before thousands of fans disguised as empty seats.

Stories about the classic are all too abundant as writers speak of the event's unpopularity, while MLB officials try to spin the event as a rousing success in bringing a global sport to the globe.

As I watch the games, I admit, that I have not watched a single inning thinking about the event from a National perspective. I couldn’t care less. But I do continue to think about what it must mean to the players themselves. Not the MLB players, but the Dutch and the Italian, and even the Korean and Cuban players. Players who rarely get to play on the World Stage.

As a little leaguer, I never viewed myself as playing for Spencer, MA or for Williamsport, PA. I thought of my glove, my teammates, my turn at bat, my bubble gum, my mom and dad watching me from the stands.

Watching the Classic, has truly stirred up my own inner emotions. I think of Tommy Gregory and Jimmy Grady, the slick double play combination of my Little League team. I think of the sport itself, not of the event.

The flowing of my emotions caused me to pick up the phone and call my friend, Ken Germano. Ken is the principal owner of Wellness Fitness Consultants and past president of the American Council on Exercise. A finer human being you will never meet.

But there’s a side of Ken that not many know. Ken was an integral part of first European Champion Italian Baseball Team in the mid 1970’s. He played with heroes of Italian baseball like Hall-of-Fame catcher, Giorgio Castelli. He forged life long friendships with Ed Orrizzi and Mike Romano when he played in Rimini, Italy in 2004.

Most importantly he played for the country of his ancestors and the country that he still thinks of lovingly as home.

I called Ken, needing to pick his brain. I needed to feel the love of the sport and the love of his country. It exploded through the phone wires. Ken’s zest for life, his passion for the sport and his love for Italy poured through the wires.

“This recent WBC has really stirred up memories, Todd. It kind of validated what we did over there 35 years ago."

"We were the building blocks and keystones for generations to follow in the game“ said Germano who tried out for the Chicago Cubs in the late 1970’s.

“I was really pleased and proud to find everything so well archived on the FIB site as it had not been previously there over the last 10 years."

“If you go to www.fibs.it, you will arrive at “Il Federazioni del Baseball’ e Softball Italia“. Click on “La Storia Della Nazionale. It lists all Italian International Players including my teammates and me from the first European Championship team."

I could feel Ken’s enthusiasm as he talked of his historic team from the towns and villages of Italia.

“It tells the entire story of Italian baseball in Italian. Somehow reading the history of baseball itself in the language of my heritage makes it feel so warm. It makes the sport come to life."

“We were the first to defeat the Netherlands. I remember it as if it were yesterday, and yet it was almost 35 years ago. I can name each on of my teammates, my brothers and can visualize what they looked like when we walked into the Olympic Stadium in 1976 to play as an exhibition sport in Montreal. We looked slick in our Italian suits and hats. The crowd cheered for us, louder than anything I’ve ever heard."

Germano went on to tell me the history of the sport in Italy.

“Italian baseball started by an American Irish Soldier named Horace McGarrity on the beaches of Anzio where I had the honor of playing in 1975 for the champion Nettuno baseball club. That is where the American War Cemetery is located for WWII heroes and where I also had the privilege and honor of meeting with General Mark Clark when he was still alive."

I asked my “amico” about the television coverage of the event and how he felt about the future of the WBC and Global Baseball.

“The TV coverage has been great, but there is so much that ESPN and MLB network are missing on the little teams, e.g. Italy and Netherlands.”

"Its been interesting listening to Bruce Sutter announce the World Baseball Classic games while watching Italy versus Venezuela. He was speaking of fellow countryman, Mike Piazza, and the Italian Baseball Federation. How the global reach of the game is now getting there and the need for resources and money."

"I feel that the insertion of US Major League Baseball players into International play is needed to make the sport and the event flourish. Wouldn't it be superb for MLB like Major League Soccer to loan players, good minor leaguers, high A, AA+ to these leagues during their season to help them build and promote a global game?"

"These players would also get to see the world and learn a new language. Talk about an experience." "But. MLB doesn't seem to be thinking like this and if they are, they are not saying. It's not rocket science, it just needs resources and the right audience to get done. MLB should hire us to do this, we have the credentials!"

"As baseball Italia and ESPN's Bruce Sutters coverage of the team, Ken added, "It's been thriving there for decades. In Holland, for example, they can recruit many players from the Netherlands, Antilles, Sidney Ponson, Andruw Jones to name two."

"I can remember playing this tournament in Barcelona and the baseball was as good as it gets. Our ace Mike Romano, a Dennis Eckersley look alike, threw harder than Eck. We just didn't get the same looks when we got to the States."

Ken explained that the Italian team also worked for the Italian Olympic Federation /Baseball Federation and put on clinics and worked with kids all over Italy.

"The only American contingency having anything to remotely do with MLB to come over to Italy was Joe Garagiola with NBC when he had the show "The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola" aired before the game of the week with Tony Kubek, Bob Costas, and Jim Palmer. Of course Joe was Italian and grew up with Yogi on "The Hill" in St. Louis, but this was right in his wheel house to televise back to the States. He spent two days with us in Nettuno, Italy and our folks go to see us back home doing what we loved."

I asked Ken, who used to work out with Arnold Schwatzneger, what he thought of the escalating baseball salaries of 2009.

"I always dreamed of earning six figures playing baseball and I finally did."

He laughed and said, "Yup, I earned L600,000 per month, which was equal to $300 US in the early '70's. Six figures, at last. Playing ball, hmm?."

"Back in those years soccer was down and we were gaining momentum and playing in front of up to 10,000 in the right cities. We beat Olanda, the Netherlands, for the first time and European supremacy in baseball."

"I think MLB can do whatever they want, wherever they want if they are willing to invest the dollars to market and grow the game globally. The interesting thing though is before global coverage and the Internet, global baseball was going on and we were playing against the US, Japan, Korea, Canada, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Spain, France, and England even had teams, as well as, West Germany."

"It was unreal for me to play on the same field with future Hall of Famer, Paul Molitor. We played against other US major leaguers, like Ron Hassey and Denny Walling who played for great Oakland and Houston teams in their day."

"What MLB has finally done with this tournament is shine a light on what has been here for many years. What the IBF, the International Baseball Federation in Indianapolis drove for all these years with a US National Team coached by great college coaches like Itchy Jones from Southern Illinois."

As our hour long conversation came to a close, my buddy climbed on his exercise soap box and had one more pitch for International Baseball and why the WBC may be more important than we are giving it credit for.

"It would be great to see MLB players get behind overall conditioning and fitness programs for kids. To help the nation combat inactivity and obesity. Kids in the coming decades will not outlive their parents if the data and statistics are correct. The incidence of juvenile type II diabetes on the rise and how can over 300,000 kids have arthritis already."

"Through these generic programs they could become specific in regards to their sport of choice. Programs have to effect the most versus the least at the school level where all kids have to be each day for 75 percent of each year."

I hung up the phone and sat back on the couch. I thought of Ken and his Italian buddies jumping up and down in the middle of a baseball diamond after "conquering Europe" for the first time.

And somehow, the WBC felt a little more important to me.

A-Rod's Not My Hero...My Son Is My Hero

My son, Corey, is 22 now. I love this guy more than I love anything. (Well except for my two daughters, who are tied for first place).

He's a lot like me, yet, in a wonderful way, he's a lot different than me. This is what I love about him.

He has a mind of his own. He makes decisions. He's going to grow up (oh wait, he already did)...to be anything he wants to be.

He kept me strong when I was weak.

HE'S MY HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The biggest thing that we do have in common is our love for baseball.

It's our common bond.

As a parent, sometimes it's tough to talk to your boy. I'm 47. He's 22.

What do I know?

But, whenever we need to find common turf, we talk baseball.

Not steroids, salaries, attendance records, agents, and that kind of stuff.

Not Bonds, Canseco, Sosa, McGwire, Manny, A-Rod, or even Joe Torre's book.

We talk baseball.

My greatest day as a Dad was taking Cor to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. We were never closer. We talked baseball. We hit in the batting cage. We talked records.

We never said the word asterisk one single time. We went for lunch outside and had burgers and dogs.

Our favorite movies are The Natural and Field of Dreams.

We plan to sit down this summer after he graduates from college and watch the entire series on baseball done by Ken Burns.

Last year, Corey and I went to watch real baseball. We spent a whopping $38 for the day and watched Minor League ball. That's real baseball. From the top of the roster to the bottom, it's filled with heroes—kids who play because it's their dream.

Oh sure, we know that their ultimate goal is to make money. Some of them probably even juice.

But in our world, they are pristine and pure. They hustle out every ground ball. They chew tobacco and ride buses to games.

They love the smell of the field and the feel of the glove.

They love the sound that the ball makes when it connects with the bat.

This isn't an infomercial but check out The Road to the Show by Larry Richards. It's awesome. Larry Richards is my friend. He too is passionate about baseball.

What Corey and every kid, from four to 84, need right now, is a hero—someone to come along and throw baseball on their back—not A-Rod, or Manny, or any of those other greedy bastards.

They need someone who loves the game like Corey does and plays it right because they are passionate about the game.

If Corey or I could hit a curve ball or throw from deep right to home plate, we'd sign contracts right now.

The contract would be for $0 dollars.

We'd play just for the heck of it—not because we want fame and fortune, but because we love the sport and we love kids.

Because...

We have respect for Joltin' Joe and the Babe.

We know Cy Young pitched all nine innings, Lou Gehrig never missed a game, and Willie Mays was the GREATEST right-handed hitter to ever walk the planet.

Hank Aaron would be our eternal Home Run King and Jackie Robinson would be the most influential human being in every history book.

Wee Willie Keeler would always hit 'em where they ain't, and Ted Williams would leave the sport he loved to fight for his country...

I'm babbling aimlessly.

This happens to me when you hurt my kid—the kid inside of me.

I pledge from this point on to never write another story that does anything but endorse baseball in all its perfection.

Ninety feet from home to first, run hard.

Real Baseball is:

Players who know the fundamentals of the sport.

Little League players who are really 12 and under.

Minor League ball.

Roy Hobbs, Ray Kinsella, Terrance Mann, Archibald Moonlight Graham, and Corey Civin.

My heroes of baseball...My heroes of life.