A major league clubhouse is a unique place. It’s the player’s domain, but also where the writers do a bulk of their pre-game work. Shawn Green was the obvious story today. Jose Valentin was a bonus.
I spent most of my time working on several feature pieces, and had some long and productive conversations with Billy Wagner and David Wright.
After talking with Wright, I noticed ultimate fighting on one of the clubhouse TV’s. That led me to ask him if he ever watched professional wrestling. “When I was little, I watched it,’’ he said. “Everybody watched it.’’
I then asked what he might say to a pitcher before an at-bat if hitters could talk to pitchers the way the wrestlers do before a bout. He couldn’t because he was laughing so hard.
It is interesting to see how they spend their time before heading out to BP. John Maine, tonight’s pitcher played a little chess with Green, then watched golf. … Another TV had the Braves and Phillies, while another had the Duke lacrosse game. … Ambiorix Burgos was eating a mango with a knife that could pass as a machete. … Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano played cards. … Tom Glavine sat next to Maine on a couch and read a magazine. … Jose Reyes listened to music on his headphones. … Others went in and out of the trainer’s room. … Others to and from the batting cages outside the clubhouse. … Rick Peterson was on an exercise bike. … Sandy Alomar on the phone. … Julio Franco ate a plate of rice and black beans.
These are the best times to talk with players because they are relaxed and their work day isn’t in full swing.
9 Comments
Hi John – It’s interesting that no one was watching Yankees/Angels, or Phillies/Braves.
The Phillies-Braves game was on and a few sneaked a peak. Yankees game wasn’t on here.
I love posts like this – it’s so interesting to know what goes on “behind closed doors.” Especially in Florida when they have special guest appearances.
re: Special Guest Appearances
John – Did you get a chance to visit with Pedro? I heard that some thought he was way ahead of time in his return schedule.
Hey John. Just wanted to agree with SNK here. You give us a nice look into the off-field Mets, something that 99.8% of the readers will realistically never get to see for ourselves. Even if its just a tiny peek, its still cool to get that glimpse. So Thanks.
To Annie (RE: Pedro)
Yes, spoke with Martinez yesterday. It’s in today’s paper.
To Dan and SNK (RE: Behind closed doors)
Thanks … I’ll make a point of doing more of this type of thing.
John = thanks for telling me about the Pedro piece in the paper this morning – I just missed it, saw the El Duque picture/article, but didn’t realize you had written twice. Sounds like Pedro is up to his old tricks = sending little ‘messages’. He is right though, Clemens does not look like he is anywhere near in the physical shape he needs to sustain more than a couple of innings.
that’s interesting stuff, sounds like the mets enjoy spending time in the clubhouse even with the presence of the writers before the game. i’d like to see more posts that go behind the scenes. have a good remainder of the trip.