Rained Out Rook

A call from the Philadelphia Phillies brings a big league opportunity to a pitcher holding out hope. Thank you, Brian Mazone, for sharing your story with the Snap! After retiring from baseball in 2010, Brian started a new career in medical supply sales in the San Diego area. To read more about Brian’s journey in baseball, check out thearticle https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2018/08/30/feature/he-spent-his-whole-life-working-toward-one-goal-the-big-leagues-then-it-rained/ from the Washington Post by Dave Sheinin which inspired this story. Produced by Bo Walsh, edited by Anna Sussman, original score by Dirk Schwarzhoff, art by Teo Ducot. Season 17 - Episode 12 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:08Glynn Washington?

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• 1:32Glynn Washington?

  baseball's got rules. Then it's got rules. The unwritten ones, right? Like, do not step on the foul line. Don't say "no hitter" anywhere near a pitcher. And if your team is hot, let's not watch them lucky draws. Because baseball is a game of skill, but it is also a game of luck. And sooner or later, baseball will break your heart. It has to. It must. It will. But the folks are playing. They know the cost. They pay it anyway. Today, producer Bo Walsh takes us into the minors, where one man pays his dues and then

• 2:16Glynn Washington?

  some, chasing that big-league dream. Snap Judgment.

• 2:29Speaker 01

  On a Monday night in September of 2006, Brian Mazzone and his family were out to eat at a PF Chang's in Rochester, New York.

• 2:39Speaker 02

  We were playing the Rochester Red Wings. I was in AAA with the Philadelphia Phillies, having a great year. And randomly, my wife and kids were actually there.

• 2:51Speaker 01

  This was the only way Brian's family could see him, at a strip mall alongside a highway, in between road games. And as a 30-year-old pitcher, Brian had seen a lot of cities.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  Zion Pioneers in Utah. The Joliet Jackhammers in Chicago. I went to Norwich again the following season. And I was in Lehigh Valley and Scranton.

• 3:26Speaker 01

  And were also stints in...

• 3:28Speaker 02

  South Korea, everywhere from Puerto Rico to Mexico to Venezuela.

• 3:33Speaker 01

  Everywhere but the show. For eight years, he had been trying to get to the big leagues. Now, he was at that twilight age, where in his mind, making the majors still felt reachable. But in reality, most players just don't have it anymore.

• 3:52Speaker 02

  It was always on my mind, you know, you get to a certain age and you're not questioning yourself, but it's also, you know, how much longer am I gonna do this? You start thinking about your wife and your kids and, and, you know, that part of your life, you know, constantly being away and my wife starting to raise two boys on her own.

• 4:12Speaker 01

  And that night, while they waited for their crab wonton at PF Chang's, Brian's phone started buzzing. It was his manager calling, so he got up and walked outside the restaurant.

• 4:26Speaker 02

  They said, "We need you back at the hotel. You're going to the big leagues." I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think. I didn't see this coming at all. Even though you look forward to it, even though it's something that you dreamed of that as a kid, this just completely broadsided me, which I think made it even more emotional.

• 4:47Speaker 01

  He'd been having a great year, one of the top pitchers in AAA ball. But he'd had that before, and the call never came.

• 4:56Speaker 02

  Even as well as I thought I was doing, you never expect the call. So I was just completely floored, and obviously shocked. Tears coming from every direction. And, you know, at that point, I didn't even care. So I went back into the restaurant and told my wife, and she's

• 5:18Speaker 02

  she's going crazy and everything else. So we headed back to the hotel and the best part about it is when I went up to John Russell's room and my pitching coach, Rod Nichols was there, and me and my wife walk in and they're crying too. They knew my past. They knew where I came from. They knew, you know, quote unquote, you know, how much of an underdog story this was.

• 5:42Speaker 01

  Brian was scheduled to be the Phillies' starting pitcher the following night against the Houston Astros. The Phillies had a hotel room waiting for him in Philadelphia and needed Brian to fly out immediately. Brian knew he had one shot to pitch well if he had any chance to stay with the team.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  I was just trying to get into the right mindset of, yes, it's the big leagues. Yes, the lights are a little bit brighter, but, you know, obviously you want to enjoy it and embrace it because you don't know if and when it'll ever happen again, but priority one is to pitch well and, you know, hopefully perform the best I've ever performed.

• 6:19Speaker 01

  The next morning, hours before he was set to make his Major League Baseball debut, Brian woke up at the hotel and opened the drapes to look outside.

• 6:31Speaker 02

  It was already, you know, dumping rain and kind of a little bit of a a shock, but, you know, playing out there for as long as I did, you know, things can change fast too. So it wasn't like I threw on the towel because things can change in a heartbeat.

• 6:46Speaker 02

  You just kinda wanna go about your daily routine and get to the park and, and let nature do what nature does and, and hopefully it works out.

• 6:57Speaker 01

  It was raining hard when Brian arrived at the stadium around 1:30 PM. Five and a half hours before the scheduled first pitch.

• 7:06Speaker 02

  Walking into the clubhouse that day was, it was pretty epic. You know, when you open the door and, and you're finally there and I, I think the biggest thing was actually walking around for a little bit and finding your locker and, you know, seeing your name tag above a major league locker.

• 7:28Speaker 01

  Hanging up at Brian's locker was a jersey, red on white, number 49, with his last name, Mazon, stitched on the back.

• 7:37Speaker 02

  When you see it hanging up there and you can actually take it off the coat hanger and seeing your last name on, on a major league jersey that is, you know, truly a major league jersey, not a major league spring training jersey. You unbutton it and you put your arms in and, and you, you know, it, it feels different. It feels satisfying. This is that moment that makes everything worth it.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  Word had spread amongst the Phillies that a 30-year-old would be making his big league debut and taking the mound for them that night.

• 8:12Speaker 02

  Everybody in the clubhouse kinda knew what was going on and where I came from and, you know, being undrafted and they were so happy for me. They were so inviting in the clubhouse, so supportive. It really kinda puts your mind at ease and it kinda does give you a little bit of solace that, you know, you do belong there. I was never the flashy one. I was never the one that... Lit up the radar gun. I never, you know, came in throwing 95, 96. Who I was, was a control pitcher, throwing in the upper 80s. I don't want to say I was crafty. It was just an ability to throw four pitches and keep the hitters guessing.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  Brian started to warm up, but he could hear the rain from down in the tunnel.

• 9:00Speaker 02

  Obviously, everyone's, you know, talking about the weather and, you know, what we're going to do and what the game plan may be. So, other than the inner emotions and your heart going a thousand miles an hour and trying to control that, pretty much just was stretching and just trying to stay loose. Probably more out of nerves than, than anything else.

• 9:23Speaker 02

  By that time, I was, you know, fully dressed and kind of just getting ready and wanted to go just put my mind at ease and kind of spend a few moments with myself. So I walked down, down the tunnel and, and out the dugout and the dugout was just flooded with water.

• 9:41Speaker 02

  It was staying pretty heavy. It wasn't lighting up at all. So the field was tarped and puddles were on the grass and the dugout had a few inches of water in it. At that point, I kind of just soaked it in, looked around the stadium for a little bit and kind of just spent a couple of moments with myself.

• 10:05Speaker 02

  I always had a weird, a weird vision of standing on the mound and, and hearing the national anthem for the first time. And then turn around and, you know, throwing your first warm-up pitch and looking around and that was the moment that you kind of always dream of, right? Walking out there and warming up in the bullpen and getting ready for a game and hearing your name being announced over that loudspeaker and these are all things that I played in my head, growing up, looking forward to this spot that I put myself into.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  Did you want to walk out to the pitcher's mound at all?

• 10:46Speaker 02

  No, I actually didn't. That never even crossed my mind to take a walk out there. I wanted that to be a special moment, not just something that I forced upon or, you know, took it upon myself to do. So it was never even a thought, never even wanted to unless it was, you know, really time to go.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  Finally, he walked off the field, drenched, and headed back to his locker.

• 11:10Speaker 02

  People start, you know, saying different things, but the emotions of, you know, this may not happen, start to creep in, but you gotta be ready to go when it's time to go. So, pretty much tried to stay in my routine, and that was the advice that I was given. Don't do anything different, don't prepare anything different. You've been doing this for a long time, so I really took that advice to heart, and I tried to stick with that the best that I could.

• 11:38Speaker 01

  And then, just two hours before the first pitch, the manager, Charlie Manuel, called him into his office.

• 11:45Speaker 02

  It wasn't really a surprise what was going on. We sat down and talked, and, you know, unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, obviously, and, you know, we're gonna send you back down to the Lehigh Valley team and finish the season out there.

• 12:02Speaker 01

  With the rain still falling, the game was called off. The Phillies told Brian he was needed back in the minors for the playoffs.

• 12:10Speaker 02

  They have the ability to call you up for one day and send you back down and not make any roster moves, there's, you know, there's no harm, there's no foul of you coming up and down. It's gonna be based upon, you know, what they need and for how long, and that's just the unfortunate business part of the game. It comes with the job. As I packed up my locker and stuff, all the players came up to me, and they were very apologetic, and they knew how awesome that moment was gonna be and how cool it was gonna be, and they were so proud of me and, you know, where I had even gotten then, and it was hard. I mean, you're obviously disappointed, I'm not gonna say that you're not heartbroken, I'm not gonna say that you're not disappointed.

• 12:55Speaker 02

  The clubhouse guys came up to me and they were awesome and said, "Hey, you're more than welcome to keep the jerseys if you want it." And I did, you know, I felt like that was one thing I had earned. I had earned that jersey and I'm keeping it.

• 13:13Speaker 01

  When Brian walked out of the clubhouse in Philadelphia that evening, he fully expected to be back in a matter of days. He had 13 wins that year, a sort of season that should have earned a promotion to the majors, but he never did. Three years later, at the age of 34, Brian Mazone hung it up and retired from baseball.

• 13:38Speaker 02

  I had run my family through the wringer. They did everything they could and supported me and traveled and, you know, at 34 years old, even though, you know, you were close, that was, you know, let's put it in perspective. It was still four years ago and the opportunity hadn't come back yet. It was time to be a dad. It was time to take care of my kids and be there for them. You always go through the emotions of, you know, you're no longer a baseball player. Through the years, it kind of becomes your identity and who you are. You don't realize that until you don't have it anymore. You're quote unquote, just a normal person again. The baseball cards and the news articles and everything are all gone.

• 14:21Speaker 01

  What he will always have are the jerseys that hung in his locker that day he walked into the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse.

• 14:29Speaker 02

  For a few years, I had him in frames and then when my older son, he went to Wash U in St. Louis for four years. He just graduated. He played baseball there too. He's a catcher. He came up to me and asked me, "Hey, do you mind if I take, you know, one of your jerseys and hang them up on my wall in my apartment at school?" And I said, "Absolutely." The point blank story of baseball is the game of failure, right? So no matter how hard you work and no matter what you do, the game is set up for you to fail. And, you know, there's a bunch of cliches that go with it, but it's honestly true. That day could have gone two different directions, right? I mean, who knows?

• 15:12Speaker 02

  I could have gone out there and throw seven scoreless, or I could have gone out there and given up nine runs in the first inning. And whether you get another opportunity after that first one, again, is not up to you. But, you know, I got the call. You know, in that moment, I was a big leaguer. I was given the opportunity to be a big leaguer. It may not be on paper, it may not be in the book, but Mother Nature got the best of me that day.

• 15:55Glynn Washington?

  A huge thank you to Brian Lazon for sharing his story with The Snap. After retiring from baseball in 2010, Brian started a new career in medical supply sales in the San Diego area. You can read more about Brian's journey. Check out the article from the Washington Post by Dave Shining, which inspired this story. Find a link to it on our website, snapjudgment.org. This piece was edited by Anna Sussman. The original score was by Dirk Swartzoff. It was produced by Beau Walsh.

• 16:37Speaker 03

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