In Their Words is a weekly feature appearing Sundays in The Blade's sports section. Sports writer Maureen Fulton talked with Doug Mientkiewicz, a Toledo native and 12-year major league veteran.
"I came up in the steroid era," said Mientkiewicz, currently playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. "First base is usually a home run-hitting position. At one point I was hitting 15 home runs and everyone else was hitting 40. I had to do something different to separate myself.
"I'm happy that the game is getting back to more defensive-oriented teams. If I had started now, I'd be considered a more valuable commodity."
Mientkiewicz was born 35 years ago last Friday in Toledo. He and his father, Len, and his mother, Janice, lived in Point Place for six years before moving to South Florida. Mientkiewicz attended St. John Elementary and rooted for the Toledo Goaldiggers hockey team.
Living in Miami, Mientkiewicz played high school baseball for powerhouse Westminster Christian on the same team as Alex Rod-riguez. The team finished his senior year ranked No. 1 in the country, and Mientkiewicz earned a baseball scholarship to Florida State.
Playing three years at FSU, Mientkiewicz led the Seminoles to the College World Series in 1994 and 1995 and was named to the CWS all-decade team for the 1990s.
In 1995, the Minnesota Twins drafted Mientkiewicz in the fifth round. The 6-foot, 210-pounder was called up for the first time in September, 1998.
Mientkiewicz played a full season for the Twins in 1999 but was primarily in the minors in 2000, allowing him to play on the Olympic baseball team that traveled to Sydney. He called that experience his "greatest achievement" in sports. USA won the gold medal, thanks in part to Mientkiewicz's two walk-off home runs, including one against South Korea in the semifinals.
In 2001, Mientkiewicz won a Gold Glove with the Twins and hit .306 with a career-high 15 home runs and 74 RBIs. He hit .300 in 2003.
In 2004, Mientkiewicz was traded midseason to the Red Sox and helped them win a World Series title. He was embroiled in controversy when he recorded the last out of the Series and kept the ball, angering the Red Sox and their fans. Nearly two years later, Mientkiewicz agreed to give the ball to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Mientkiewicz has played for seven teams, also going to the playoffs with the Yankees in 2007. He signed with the Dodgers in February and is currently on the 60-day disabled list with a dislocated shoulder he suffered April 16 sliding into second base. He hopes to be back by September.
Mientkiewicz lives in Miami in the offseason with his wife, Jodi, and 3-year-old son, Steel.
"I REMEMBER going to Goaldiggers games. We were big-time followers. We would travel to watch them play on the road. My childhood hero played for them, Mike Eruzione. I had a chance to meet him in 2000; there was an Olympic-type thing at Sports Illustrated for the Man of the Year article. They invited me and Tommy Lasorda to represent our gold-medal team. I threw my wife out of the way to go meet him. He was the end-all, be-all to me. He was even my alias on the road at hotels. When I got traded to Boston, Mike's sister worked for the Red Sox, and the day I got to Fenway there was an Eruzione jersey sitting on my chair. I wore that thing with pride."
"SPORTS-WISE there's no doubt the Olympics was my greatest achievement. I had two walk-off home runs in the Olympics. Just being able to stand on the medal stand and put my head down to get the medal around my neck. It blew me away, thinking about the commitments and the sacrifice my parents made for me, and knowing how much the Olympics meant to my mom. Anytime you wear the country's colors, it doesn't get any better. In two weeks of exhibition games, I got one hit, and they threatened to send me home. It all flashed through my mind, and I'm bawling like a baby up there, crying my eyes out."
"THE WORLD SERIES ball, that was a whole bad fiasco. Fans make jokes about it, and at the time I had people call my cell phone saying, 'I know what your wife is wearing. She's not going to make it home tonight.' It was definitely overblown. It took on a life of its own. It took me a while to wear my World Series ring. God bless my wife. She put it back in perspective. She said the guys on the team are what it's about, not about the front office, and you should wear it with pride."
"I PLAYED FOR Joe Torre in New York and I broke my wrist that year. I said, 'I think you and I aren't meant to be together, because I get hurt.' Most of the time when you get hurt in the big leagues, you go home or to the spring training facility. I missed one road trip then Joe asked me, 'What are your thoughts on traveling with us?' He said, 'I really want you to be around with the young guys, be with us every day. I need you on my bench.' When Joe Torre tells you to do something, you do it. This whole organization has been a blessing. The owners are fantastic, the fans are great. Joe gets me as a person and as a player. We are both old-school."
Contact Maureen Fulton at:
mfulton@theblade.com
or 419-724-6160.
First Published June 21, 2009, 11:02 a.m.
