On the Beat with Steve Mapel-Part 2

This is part 2 of my Q&A with Steve Mapel, a former pitcher in the Minnesota Twins organization.  I first met Mapel on a family trip to see the Wisconsin Rapids Twins, mainly because they were managed by our neighbor Rick Stelmaszek.

Q-What part of your career gets you as excited as playing?
SM-What part of my career now gets me as excited as playing?  Nothing.  I can't compare the two.  There was nothing that compared to playing professional baseball, something you LOVED to do, and was getting paid to do it, the traveling, the experience of meeting people, and playing with, and against some players that you grew up idolizing.  For a short time, I was one of them.......for a short time.   Even though I enjoy what I am doing now, it's not really comparable.  I am coaching baseball now for my 15 year old son's team.  I still love baseball, it's still a passion of mine.  Trying to pass on what I've learned over the years.

Q-Have you kept in contact with any former teammates?

SM-Over the years, I've played with and against a lot of stars.  I have kept in contact with some.  My first roommate in my first year was Tarry Boelter.  He was a second baseman for Minnesota, playing with Paul Molitor as his shortstop. We talk on the phone a couple of times a year, and we try and get together every couple of years.  I have met Molitor, and we followed his career in the bigs, when ours was done in the minors.   I played high school baseball with Jim Wright, the bullpen coach for the Rockies.  We just saw him last year.  Scott Ulger, the 3rd base coach for the Twins, I still get out to the Royals games and talk to him.  Ron Washington, the manager for the Rangers, was my AAA team's 3rd baseman.  I missed seeing him the last time.  But, I played against Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken Jr.  Billy Ripken, Bye Bye Steve Balboni to name a few.

I'm getting too old now, everybody I played with are just about retired as coaches now. Gaetti, I played with in College at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville MO.  We also played on the AA team together where we won the AA Southern League Championship in 1981 in Orlando, FL.  Tim Laudner, Scott Ulger, Randy Bush were part of that team.  I still wear the ring today.

Q-Do you follow the Twins now?

SM-I still follow the Twins today.  Our family took a vacation two years ago and went to the Twins game in Minnesota.  It was great.  It was inside the dome.  I try a get out to the games when they are here in Kansas City.  But I'll watch all the teams, it doesn't really matter who's playing.

My favorite vacation destination has to be Florida.  It's warm there.  Arizona is nice, and Colorado is beautiful.   I like Colorado in the summer more than the winter.

I had a pretty good career over all.  I played for 5 years, had an overall record of 60-39  if you count instructional ball, winter ball and the Mexican league.

I made the A Allstar team in 1979, AA Allstar team in 1980 and 1981.  I played Instructional ball in 1979.  I played in Venezuela with Davey Concepcion in 1980 and the Mexican League in 1982.  I was not drafted, so I was not in their plans in the big leagues from the start.  But I was able to hold on for 5 years.  My only regret, to this day, was not getting a chance to play in the big leagues.  But that's water under the bridge.

I really appreciate Mapel's time and cooperation.  Thirty years ago, I was an excited teen meeting ball players.  Now I am happy to be able to hear more about their careers and life after baseball.

On the Beat with Steve Mapel-Part 1

A few weeks ago, I made contact with George Dierberger who I first met about 30 years ago when he was playing for the Wisconsin Rapids Twins.  I enjoyed that so much that I looked up some other players from the WR Twins whom I had met back then. 

Steve Mapel pitched for 5 seasons in the Minnesota Twins farm system, compiling a 40-31 record and was on the WR Twins when my family went to see them.  He answered all of my questions which you will see below and tomorrow.

Q-How did it feel the first time you saw yourself on a baseball card and was asked for an autograph?

SM-The first time I saw myself on a baseball card and was asked for my autograph was my first year in pro ball...1978, in Rookie league in Elizabethton, TN.  It was an amazing feeling to say the least.  I was already on cloud 9, beginning to live a dream.  There's a great feeling of accomplishment that comes to you, but also knowing there's a lot of hard work to do.  I loved every minute of it.  I sent home some of my baseball cards to my family.  It wasn't long before I found out that my two younger brothers, ages 9 and 13, were trying to sell them.  I'm not sure how that went.

Q-You pitched briefly in 1982, then never again.  Why did you leave baseball?
SM-1982, my 5th year in pro ball, I went to spring training still as a starting pitcher, like I have been my entire career.  This year they drafted a bunch of young pitchers.  They began using me as a reliever.  I told them that if this is my ticket to the big leagues, then I am all in.  They tried to hold me back and send me to AA again.

But I did well in spring training so they sent me to AAA Toledo Ohio to be a reliever for the Mud Hens.  The first two weeks of the season our record was 3-11.  Our younger pitchers were not ready for AAA.   I had 3 relief appearances....no wins, no losses, no saves....but I pitched well and had a 3.38 ERA.  Shortly thereafter, our manager, Cal Ermer called me in to his office to say that I would be getting back in the starting rotations soon, that these younger pitchers were not ready for AAA.

Well, 3 days later, Cal called me into his office and said that he got a call from the minor league director, George Brophy, and they released me. I WAS CRUSHED.

I was 25 years old, I thought on the verge of making it to the big leagues, and my world was coming down.  This was the first time in my life that I had been cut from a team.

I went home, called 24 baseball teams, trying to find a team to play for.  I called my buddy, Tony Oliva, and he got me on a team in the Mexican League. I spent the rest of the summer of 1982 playing in Mexico where I was 6-3 for the Broncos.  I asked for my release after the season, so I could get hooked up with a team

back in the United States.  In 1983 I was invited to the AAA training camp with the Detroit Tigers.  I was 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA, and they released me in 3 weeks.

Being married at the time, we decided to go home and get jobs and begin our life together.......but 2 months later, the Indians AA team had called me and asked me to fly up to Buffalo, NY to try out for their AA team.  I guess I didn't have what they were looking for, so they sent me home.  That was the end of my pro career. So, I didn't leave baseball......baseball left me. I would have played until my arm fell off.  They got rid of me.  Not being a drafted player, and signing out of a try-out camp, they didn't have any money invested in me.  I was not in their plans in the big leagues to begin with.

Q-What have you done post-playing and how was the transition?

SM-What I have done post-play was go back home to Kansas City MO and got a job as a carpenter building houses.  I had a Construction Degree in College, so other than baseball, Construction was all I knew. I built houses for 2 years, then moved into the Commercial construction field where I have been up to now.  I am now 54 years old and I'm a field Superintendent for an interior tenant finish Construction Company.  I have been married since October of 1982, and we have two daughters and a son.

The transition was not that easy and took a long time to get over.  You have to remember, I was 26 years old at the time, and I have been playing baseball since I was 6 years old.  My dream had come to an end, and I didn't like that.  I had fallen short of where I wanted to be....in the big leagues.  On the other hand, I probably got a lot farther, and did a lot more, than a lot of other players did.  It was truly a dream come true. I'll always treasure the memories.  Met some awesome people in my experience.