On Monday night, July the 13th., we managed to see 7 of the best home run hitters in baseball and Brandon Inge get together in an attempt to put on a power display where batting practice pitchers grooved balls at 70—75 MPH and in turn the likes of Pujols, Fielder, Cruz, and Howard deposited them deep into the St. Louis sky.

None of these performances was close to those put on in the past by the likes of Abreu, McGwire, or Sosa during the steroid era.

Can I ask why baseball is the only sport with a steroid era? Now we can clearly discern that the game had, and some will argue has, a steroid problem.

So the witch-hunt will continue around the steroid issue, but worse for baseball is once a year they come back to the scene of the crime. The day before the mid-summer classic they showcase an event that has a history that is reeking with the smell of so much Deca-Durabolin and Andro.

So instead of trying to figure out if it’s Winstrol, HGH, or Primobolan that’s to blame, let’s take a giant step backwards and give baseball a bit of a rest.

Yeah I said it, give it a rest already.

This is the part where you tell me that they don’t deserve a break and baseball has put itself in this position. Admittedly I am not able to defend any of that, as you would be 100 percent correct.

Because steroids are BAD!! That’s right they are the devil in sports, in fact, they are the single biggest evil facing sports today. Even worse, baseball highlighted and showcased these cheaters, liars, and all around bad guys right? I mean they are quite simply the worst athletes and role models on the planet. I don’t need to explain the vilification of baseball to you.

You know the story all too well.

Over 100 positive tests, multiple all-stars and dare I say it, there might even be a guy or two in the Hall of Fame, although thus far I cannot prove that.

What I can prove is that baseball isn’t the only sport with a steroid issue.

See we all remember the Mitchell Report. The one where baseball spent $20 million to have senator George Mitchell basically talk to the trainers from the Mets and Yankees and identify that baseball players were in fact doing steroids.

After 20 months, on December 13th, 2007 the senator released his 409-page report that named 89 baseball players. It was released to much fanfare and media coverage. The report drew five conclusions:

1. Major League Baseball’s 2002 response to steroid use resulted in players switching from detectable steroids to undetectable human growth hormone.
2. The use of performance enhancing substances by players is legally and ethically “wrong.”
3. While players that use illegal substances are responsible for their actions, that responsibility is shared by the entire baseball community for failing to recognize the problem sooner.
4. An exhaustive investigation attempting to identify every player that has used illegal substances would not be beneficial.
5. Major League Baseball should adopt the recommendations of the report as a first step in eliminating the use of illegal substances (credit wikipedia).

For all those reasons, baseball became the whipping boys for steroids in America. Everywhere you turned was a picture of a baseball being jacked up my a syringe full of a toxic goo that looked like it may have come from the Toxic Avengers.

So why was it, when the San Diego Union Tribune dropped a steroid bombshell that includes pro bowl and hall of famers, quickly swept under the rug?

In their September 21st, 2008 addition Brent Schrotenboer dropped the list the Tribune had compiled.

So, just so we are clear, the performance enhancing drug list in the NFL goes back to 1962 and includes 185 names since then, it includes at least one player from each position, that’s right even kickers were doing it, and at least one player in each season over the past 47 years.

Some would argue that baseball’s list was full of heavy hitters, including several players that would have gone to the Hall of Fame if not for the cloud of performance enhancing drugs.

Don’t worry though, in an attempt to not be left behind, the list of 185 contains 52 Pro Bowl players.

Also included on the list are four guys with their busts in Canton, Ohio.

When Manny tested positive for a female fertility drug used by known steroid users and Alex Rodriguez was identified as one of 104 names that tested positive, the entire world pointed the dirty end of the stick back at the MLB once more.

Yet these same people stood by Pro Bowlers Shawne Merriman, Todd Steussie, Shaun Rodgers, Todd Sauerbrun, Marcus Stroud, David Boston, Byron Chamberlain, Rodney Harrison, Barrett Robbin, Bill Romanowski, and Dana Stubblefield as each one of these all-stars tested positive in the NFL long after it introduced testing. By the time these guys tested positive, even baseball had a testing policy in place.

So as I hear the likes of Gregg Doyle over at CBS Sports.com lament the long ball and throw out accusations like, “Eventually, in months or years, someone from this year’s group of eight Derby sluggers will land on the wrong list of names. That’s damn near a lock.”

This after he informed us that this outrage was done back in February of 2009. “Listen, steroids such as those used by Rodriguez—and by Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and so many others, allegedly—are wrong. They’re illegal, they’re unfair, they’re awful. My outrage is gone, sapped after 21 years of being angry about Ben Johnson and then Marion Jones and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti and Shawne Merriman and Bonds and Clemens and—done.”

“My outrage is done. You can have yours, and that’s good, because athletes and society need the outrage of everyday people to keep them in check. So be outraged. Me, I’m depressed about the steroid scandal. Just not outraged. Not anymore.”

So instead of being outraged, Doyle simply blasted eight guys, and predicted their guilt with no proof, but hey who needs proof right? This is Major League Baseball.

This is the hypocritical nature of our media. That’s right, I said it. MLB gets killed at every turn when steroids are mentioned. Shawne Merriman tested positive and made ESPN’s All Pro Team, and then received six votes by the Associated Press, yeah the AP, for Defensive Player of the Year.

Hopefully the day will come when our press decides to report the facts, instead of speculating in the interest of creating a story.

Come to think of it, considering what they allow to be swept under the rug, there should be plenty of stories to go around.

The summer Olympiad of 1904 was the first Olympic Games to welcome baseball into the fold.

In 1936, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) removed Polo from the Olympic Games. Why is this important? Well, until baseball was voted out of the Olympics it was the last sport to suffer such a fate.

At the games of the XXV Olympiad in Barcelona in 1992 after a long run as an Olympic demonstration sport, baseball finally became a medal sport.

Then came July 8th, 2005 when the IOC ruled to discontinue softball and baseball as of the 2012 Olympics in London.

As it stands now the last country to win an Olympic medal in baseball will be South Korea, as they captured the gold in Beijing in 2008.

By dropping baseball and softball from the 2012 games, it has eliminated close to 300 athletes from competition at the games.

That leads us to where we are today. The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is currently looking to prove to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that baseball is in fact a sport that embodies the Olympic spirit and thus should be included in all Olympics going forward starting in 2016.

So all eyes have started to look forward to October 2016 when the IOC will then select from Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, or Madrid to host the Games.

Baseball is without an Olympic home but in the capable hands of IBAF President Dr. Harry Schiller baseball soldiers on with an eye towards the 2016 games.

Despite its global popularity growing and the fact that three different teams have hoisted a gold medal around their neck in the past five Olympiads, the IOC has felt that it is time for baseball to be taken off the program.

It is the goal of Dr. Schiller and the IBAF to make sure that baseballs absence from the games is merely temporary in nature. As it is unclear to the regular fan the exact reason that the great game that claims to have its roots in Cooperstown, New York is being discontinued, but one thing is for certain.

Baseball like the other games approved for competition embraces the Olympic spirit and the lessons of sportsmanship, friendship and hard work that the IOC looks to promote at every turn through out the games.

As far as I can see the Olympic movement is defined by Pierre de Coubertin, its creator. It was Pierre in June of 1894 along with Demetrios Vikelas who founded the Olympic movement and subsequently the International Olympic Committee that organized the Athens of Olympics of 1896.

It was these two gentlemen that began the movement, keeping in mind “the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

It is now the IBAF’s job to convince current IOC President Jacques Rogue and the rest of the committee, that baseball does exactly that.

As part of Dr. Schiller’s campaign to outline baseball’s importance to the international community and the lessons that can be learned he turned to an unusual source. The International Baseball Federation didn’t look for testimonials from professionals, from as they are called in the industry, “baseball people.”

It went back to find where baseball fit in conjunction with the principles of the movements founder. There back at the beginning of the IOC he found education through sport, mutual understanding, friendship and fair play.

He also found A Glove of their Own, a beautifully illustrated children’s book that captures just that. The lessons we all learn as children playing on our own sandlot. The lessons of that a strike is a strike, an out is an out, and you don’t need an umpire to tell you why.

Baseball teaches that after you make out, your friends will pick you up, whether it shouts of you’ll get him next time, or a rally saving base hit.

More importantly it is the education of our youth that makes this world a better place, A Glove of Their Own goes beyond keeping your eye on the ball and your elbow up. It tells of a story that not only benefits those involved, but the ripple effect of paying it forward.

With that in mind Dr. Schiller and the IBAF ordered copies of A Glove of Their Own, which they distributed to 30 members of the IOC. It is through A Glove of Their Own that the IBAF continues to make its case that baseball is the perfect vehicle to contribute to the Olympic Movement.

So the IBAF stares ahead, armed with an unusual secret weapon. A small illustrated book written to educate, to teach youth of one more lesson baseball brings us to enrich our lives. It unintentionally has managed to mirror and embody the IOC’s goals. Without compromise A Glove of Their Own has managed to show that baseball encapsulates the principles, beliefs, and lessons that the IOC has set for each of the sports on display at its celebration of sport.

With that in mind, I fully expect Dr.Schiller and IBAF will be able to open the 2016 the games with the “PLAY BALL” heard around the world.

A Glove of Their Own, is an award winning children’s book from Franklin Mason Press that is winning the hearts and minds of baseball fans everywhere. Special thanks to Bob Salomon for his unwaivering support of the project, and Debbie Moldovan, Keri Conkling and Lisa Funari-Willever. Please take the time to visit www.agloveoftheirown.com

Former MLB Catcher Brent Mayne

Whenever you get the chance to talk to someone that has been there, it’s always special to see it through their eyes.

On June the 19th, 2009, I was given the pleasure of an audience with Brent Mayne, a 15 year Major League Veteran. My connection with Brent was made through a gentleman named Bob Salomon, one of the driving forces behind the new book “A Glove of Their Own“.

Bob had originally connected with Brent by reaching out to him through checkswing.com. Which is a social networking site for former and current players and coaches.

As we slid into the interview, I asked Brent what his first impressions of “A Glove of Their Own” were, and he opened up with a great answer. You can tell this book continues to go that extra mile to touch people.

“You know it’s a really neat thing” he said, “the point it is getting at is, if you do things correctly, you do them the right way and for the right reasons that success kind of comes. For me playing baseball that was a real big concept…if I did things correctly and didn’t worry about the results, then the process would take care of the results.”

As I would come to learn, process is a staple for Brent. He is a big believer in being part of things for the right reason. In the case of Brent the there are many right reasons, and one of them he mentions when talking about why he wrote the “The Art of Catching“, is giving back.

Now to better understand Brent’s journey and thought process you really do have to start at the beginning. “I grew up in a baseball family, my dad was a high school baseball coach, and I’ve been around the ball park since the time I was in diapers.”

When I asked him where his equivalent of the Old Oak Tree stood, Brent paused, “That’s a great question…the first baseball park that I remember was at Eisenhower High School in Rialto. That was my place; I didn’t play in front of anybody there. But I spent a good portion of my young life there.”

It’s funny how 15 years in the majors or 40 years in the mailroom all start out with a similar story. Whether your David Allan or Brent Mayne, and whether it’s Eisenhower High School or the Back Stop at Rose Schymanski Park, the lessons are the same.

The other thing that doesn’t change, no matter who’s answering the question is, “Did you have any quirky rules? What were they?”

Brent paused, with what I took as a where to start, for a moment before answering, “Anybody who’s in their 40’s or late 30’s definitely is going to have stories about that. I don’t think kids now-a-days play baseball that way. It’s not so much the over the line or three fly’s up or sock ball or rock ball or whatever the heck games we’d make up.”

I really think Brent gets the heart of why “A Glove of Their Own” has been so successful in connecting with adults. It really takes them to a place that isn’t about Little League as he describes it today.

As Brent went on it’s more about today’s game he described, “year round baseball, uniforms, and competitive, but back then when we were playing you name it, there were all kinds of rules, there were ghost runners, missing bases, their were rules about what were home runs and not home runs, where you could hit the ball and where you couldn’t hit the ball depending on how many players you had in the field.”

“We had eight billion rules and that was half the fun.”

Talking to Mayne there is a certain ownership, a responsibility to his youth playing days to pass along and let every child feel like George Brett or Todd Helton. You feel that he and his friends on their own field, own a little piece of baseball. They had their own rules, a set of rules that were universal and yet universally different.

Geography or not, if you were 8, 10, 12 year old Brent Mayne, or future team mates like Todd Helton in Knoxville, Tennessee, Mark McGwire in Pomona, or George Brett who years earlier made up rules from West Virginia to El Segundo there is a tie that binds in baseball, organized or otherwise.

Just as each of the 30 major league stadiums has it quirks, the short porch in right in Yankee Stadium, the Monster at Fenway, the huge outfield at Dodgers stadium, or the thin air of Coors, so did each neighborhood. So did each and every different version of the fields of their youth.

During his transition from high school to Orange Coast College was where he made his move from the middle infield to behind the dish.

I asked him if it was a difficult transition. He was more or less told that college was in his future and if he was doing that he might as well be playing baseball for his Dad while he did it. As Brent mentioned though, it came with a catch, “The caveat he (Brent’s Father) said, is you have to start catching, you are too slow, too weak and too small to play any other position.”

Brent had told me he was 5’6 and 135lbs. upon graduation of high school.

To Brent it offered a fresh start because the truth as his father laid it out was, “whether it be with me or much less at a four year school, you’re going to have to start catching and to be honest with you, not having any success at any other position I was eager to play the catching position and explore it, their was no downside for me.”

Now right around the time Brent said yes, as he described, “A couple of things happened, he (Brent’s father) along with a couple of other guys were reinventing the catcher’s position…trying to take it from a 1970’s Johnny Bench style position to something that could deal with the speed of the modern game.”

From there he went on to spend a couple of years at Cal State Fullerton and then on to the major leagues.

It is that change from the stocky Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, or Thurmon Munson style catcher that has helped facilitate the change in catching that we have seen in recent history. Mayne points to Bob Boone as a bridge between what a catcher was and what he was going to become.

It’s the principles that his father was experimenting with using his son as a “Guinea Pig” that not only carried Brent to the Majors, but it is these principles that Brent Mayne is promoting with his book “The Art of Catching” and at his website www.BrentMayne.com

When I asked Mayne about his time at Cal-State Fullerton and his fond memories of playing there, you can tell he still feels an attachment to the young men that are currently playing at the College World Series. He also mentioned his dad Mike was the pitching coach for the 2008 NCAA Champion Fresno State Bulldogs.

So it is clear that teaching is in his blood.

When talking about the joy and excitement he felt for his father as he got to watch him enjoy the Bulldogs win, and his son getting to be the team’s bat boy. I am brought back to the children, everywhere, the thrill of victory.

So I asked, “Is there anyone you played with, whether it was in the minors or the majors that had that level of joy or excitement that we talk about with little kids?”

His answer was as refreshing as it was instant.

Almost before I could finish the question he responded, “Almost without a guy (sic), every great player is like that. To a guy about every great player, for me uh, George Brett, Mark McGwire, to Todd Helton were great players, and almost to a man the really good players are the guys that approach the game like little kids.”

He continued on in describing how that child like mentality allowed them to stay in the moment and brush off failure without being rattled by it. He continued, “This game will crush you if you take it too seriously or get too down on yourself when you do poorly because that’s the way the game is designed.”

He then went on to acknowledge, baseball is a game of failure and bounce back, a quality we definitely have more of in our youth. Brent continued, “If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a Billion times, if you get a hit three out of ten times you get to go live on a Yacht.

“But you have to be able to deal with failing seven times, or striking out seven times out of ten which is a tremendous amount of failure.”

As he talked I wandered back to “A Glove of Their Own“. It’s maybe the reason we stay connected to baseball so long, the game is full of great lessons. It was at that point that Mayne had planted one right in front of my face, which I hadn’t even thought of.

Of course I had understood failure, but where had I learned to deal with it more effectively than on a diamond where you weren’t allowed to hit it right because there was a bee’s nest?

Where had failure been more obvious than the fly ball I didn’t hit to score the run from third base?

He explained an innocent quality to the greats, “there is no ulterior motive, and they aren’t playing to make money.”

He went on to explain that for 90% of big league rosters that is the case. Brent doesn’t have his head in the sand. He knows there is an exceptional living to be made from playing baseball, that being said, “Their main motivation is that they love the game, and they love competing.”

He went back to a point that he made repeatedly from the beginning of the interview, “it goes back to what we talked about in the very beginning, in letting the process take care of the results.”

We have seen a couple of managers use position players in relief this year, but while with the Rockies, Brent managed to get a relief win. When asked if he could pitch, he responded, “Absolutely!” the result from a stat line that year 1 – 0 with an ERA of 0.00.

Mayne did admit that the competitive nature of athletes is such that they all think they can pitch, and every pitcher thinks he can hit. He mentioned it certainly gave him a new perspective and respect for pitchers to go out there and actually do it.

When I asked him later about what he tried to impress on young catchers, he said, “Try every position.”  In this respect you’d have a hard time convincing me that Brent Mayne didn’t practice what he preached.

“You know the funny thing about baseball,” he continued, “the way baseball is, it’s so upside down, I spent my whole life trying to be a great catcher but the thing I’ll probably be recognized most for when I die is that I won a game as a pitcher, that’s so like baseball.”

We continued on down memory lane, discussing a night in 1991 when he was behind the plate with Brett Saberhagen on the mound pitching a no hitter, I asked, “what does it feel like to be the catcher in that situation?”

He quickly found the words, “As a catcher you take it personally …you have a portion of that win or that loss that you are responsible for.”

“In my mind I am right there… I am just as nervous and just as anxious as he probably is”, said Mayne.

Now what came next amazed me, as you hear about their being something special in the air. It’s a term that really relates to those great nights in sport. It’s that intangible that you can’t put your finger on.

As Brent was telling the story, he mentioned that he had done something that night, something different that he hadn’t done before and hadn’t done since. What caught me off guard was not that he had such a moment, but was how direct it was.

“It was a unique, experience, I don’t know how to explain it other than it was really intense and pins and needles, but it was also very enjoyable because coming out of the bullpen that particular game (after the 10-15 minute warm up session) I said he’s going to throw a no hitter today, because it just felt like it was that kind of stuff.

Brent also made the point, “to succeed at that level you have to do it more than 99% of the people in the world, and if you are doing something more than 99% of the people in the world, you probably enjoy doing it.”

To further address the process, he went on to say, “the money is simply a bi-product of approaching your craft the right way.”

As I listened to Brent my brain took me back to the start of the interview. His credo, of “take care of the process, and the results will come” is as powerful a message as “A Glove of Their Own’s“, Play it Forward. Both are about setting yourself up for success. One is the hand you’re given, and the other is the one you use to pull yourself and others up.

There are plenty of times in life where we could take a short cut, we could leave someone out, or off the list. It’s when you talk to a guy like Brent Mayne, you realize the only way to get to the top is to have tremendous support and to go after your goals and your dreams with dedication.

I know it seems obvious, but he makes the point that it is about more than time spent, it’s about quality time spent, and I think that can be applied to parenting, teaching and learning.

When you’re young they tell you to go practice, be it the piano, algebra or hitting the cut off man. What they don’t tell you is to practice correctly, and that is the proactive approach that Mayne has taken.

It is a lesson that once learned can help an individual excel in all aspects of his or her life. It is the correct part, that Mayne is trying to address with “The Art of Catching“.

When we finally got around to talking about “The Art of Catching“, you realize that Mayne simply saw it as he called it, “a void in information” around this particular position.

As he said it, “is not true for any other position.” He goes on to talk about the importance of catching, “arguable the most important position on the field is just slipping through the cracks” (In regard to readily available info).

Mayne goes on to describe it as, “mistaught, if it is taught at all, and more often than not it’s just, take the biggest kid and throw him back there.”

As he mentions it, it’s not only the way he was taught, but the knowledge he gained over 1279 games behind the plate in the big leagues (He ranks 75th all time).

The intention of the book was simply explained by Mayne, “it’s a lot of information that I had and I thought I’d share it, that was my main motivation.”

The book is being followed with instructional videos, as well as his website.

We got a chance to discuss the style he brought to the game; the style which he describes in “The Art of Catching” has become the norm, the standard in today’s Major Leagues.

With the aid of ESPN Classic he mentioned, “It’s really easy to see the progression if you click on an ESPN Yankee game and watch Thurmon Munson catch, and compare that to the way Jorge Posada catches, its light years different.”

When I asked Brent about “The Art of Catching“, he spoke about the book audience and how diverse it could be.

He mentions that that whether you are a little leaguer or a major leaguer he doesn’t treat or teach anyone any differently. He feels the concepts are straight forward, and it not only makes you a better catcher, but considering, “the catcher touches the ball on almost every play.” It gives you a chance to enhance your team’s chances of winning.

Mayne was very candid about catching opportunities, whether it be in the MLB, little league, or college stating, “The truth of the matter is that catcher, that is the easiest position to play in the big leagues, or to go on and play at any level is catching because their just aren’t that many good ones.”

As he first talked about the book it seemed obvious that coaches and players would be interested in the book, but he then made the point, “even as a curious fan, if you just want to know what the heck is going on back there…I think it can totally enhance your enjoyment of the game.”

As players and fans, isn’t that what we all strive to do, to enhance our enjoyment of the game? To better understand it strategy? Luckily along the way we are able to gather some life lessons.

To go back to excellence, you have to be doing whatever you’re doing more than 99% of the other people out there.

I asked Brent about the 12 month, 365 days sports cycle that Americans have fallen pray to, and he made some very interesting points about the structure of practice and the opportunities to practice your craft.

He used the example of the kids that are coming from, The Dominican Republic or Mexico, where they have other priorities in life, but nearly all of their experience in life mirrors that of the kids in “A Glove of Their Own“.

Most of those future major leaguers coming out of these countries are currently playing, rock ball, sock ball, over the line, or a version of three flies up. Most of these young men and women play a game that was more common to Americans before the invention of the 12 month sport cycle.

They treasure a baseball, because it means they get to play tomorrow, and it doesn’t matter if their backstop is a half broken down fence, and home plate is a bicycle rim. In front of that fence, stepping up to that rim they may take 25 or 50 swings a day.

When these children, along with so many others practice and play, they aren’t coached to use two hands, they are forced to. Maybe one had that won’t be the case in Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Florida, Texas, New York, California, or anywhere else for that matter, but one at a time people are trying to make sure they have “A Glove of Their Own“.

Brent Mayne is a former major league catcher that spent 15 years playing amongst the best in the world. He was drafted 13th over all in the first round by the Royals. He also played for The Mets, Athletics, Rockies, Giants, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers. He can be reached at www.BrentMayne.com.

It contains information regarding his career, catching tips, and a link where you can pick up The Art of Catching.

Bob Salomon is a father, little league coach, and one of the driving forces behind the message in A Glove of Their Own. www.agloveoftheirown.com.

And I am David Allan, your fellow Bleacher Creature, available for free lance work. mr.david.allan@gmail.com