My son has always been a professional baseball player. I mean, he’s always played for money and compensation, since he was 4 years old.

Flashback to 11 years ago.

The rules for our front-yard game of catch, were pretty simple; Every time my son would succesfully throw the baseball to my mitt, he would win a $1, and every time he caught the ball, he would earn another.  

The first couple of outings, Brady, would make between $5 and $10. We would end the evening session with tense negoiations, with management succefully able to negoitate the sum down, for either ice cream or candy. Over the following weeks and months, our game would continue. The amount of funds my son’s arm would generate, steeply inclined upwards of $100-a-night; but since he was only 4 years-old (without an agent), I was always able to escape with buying baseball cards and M & M’s.

This bribery scheme was hatched with a simple goal and dream; I wanted my “1 in 68,” (1 in 68 children are on the autism spectrum) beautifully-gifted child, to fit in.  I believed at the time, that if I could give my son, the love of baseball, specifically the Detroit Tigers — we would have a venue for conversations and a chance to mask his unique traits amongst his peers.   Miraculously, it has worked.

The phone rang on a Sunday night, it was a parent of Brady’s Kindergarten classmate.  The unexpected solicitor wanted to see if I was interested in coaching T-ball, I have no idea why I was picked, or how many “nos” happened prior.  I proudly accepted.   The following evening was the night of our inaugural practice.  Brady was outfitted in jeans, a Tigers T-shirt, an English “D” cap, and a recently purchased bat. As we walked to the baseball diamond, my son tossed-and-dropped his mitt, with every stride. The first child that arrived moments later, Nick Olnhausen, was wearing a Mud Hens’ tee, white baseball pants, and double-wristbands on each arm. Nick was kind enough to bring his own personal catching equipment and batter’s helmet, in a equally-nice baseball bag.  
Many fears of fatherhood failure instantly flooded my soul.

 T-Ball evolved into “Coach Pitch,” which turned into “kid-pitch” and eventually travel baseball.  My dream for my son,  since that first time stepping on the grass at Sylvan Elementary — was for him to love the sport when his body’s coordination would match his size. My bigger fantasy was the hope that he could one-day make his High School team. It wasn’t about potential letters sewn on overpriced jackets, but social acceptance.

When I was nine years old, the Detroit Tigers won the 1984 World Series. The summer leading up to Fall Classic, might have been the greatest for children in Northwest Ohio. There wasn’t a single day we failed to play baseball. Armed with long yellow whiffle ball bats and tennis balls, kids would dream to be Lou Whitaker, Kirk Gibson, Larry Herndon or anyone else in Sparky’s lineup. 

My favorite player was the center fielder, Chet Lemon. It wasn’t for Chet’s tenacity on the basepath but for the way he chased down fly balls in the outfield. Number 34 didn’t use the traditional and coach-endorsed method of using two hands. Mr. Lemon used one. I quickly adapted his style, and remember my Dad yelling from the sideline: “Use two hands, Chet Lemon.” My dad was not a fan of his approach to the game.

I knew if my son would find a Tiger of his own, he’d be cursed for life. Brady found #30, Magglio Ordonez. in late 2006.  Magglio hit a walk-off home run, that sent Detroit back to the World Series. One of the symptoms of 1-in-68 children is delayed speech. 

Brady received a gadget that contained Dan Dickerson’s famous radio call of Magglio’s blast. “Monroe edges off of second .. the one-oh, a swing and a fly ball, left field … it’s deep … it’s WAAAAAY BACK … THE TIGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!” My son would play this audio track repeatedly, while mimicking Ordonez’s triumph trot around the bases. He used this movement as a way to calm his brain, something he still does today. It did not take long, but Brady’s speech start catching up.

His love of the Tigers became an obsession. Like most boys, he wasn’t a fan of books, but we started catching him reading (unprompted) and memorizing the back of the Tigers’ baseball cards. The statitsics made sense. 

As he learned about the inner-workings of the Major Leagues — the Toledo Mud Hens became the focal point of his education. He got to witness up-and-coming players, rookies, and veterans on a rehab assignment, including non-Tigers like Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka. He would witness and interact with the Hens during one of their summer baseball camps, and proceed to see the very same players later take the field in Detroit. Every season, we would take his current team to a Mud Hens game. One of team nights, we were at Fifth Third Field, and watched on the Jumbotron as Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter.      

For his ninth birthday, Brady was given the chance to throw a first pitch before a Mud Hens game.  He had recently started pitching, was fascinated by the mound and the alleged advantage given to the pros.   During his little league games, the distance was 40 feet, and his accuracy was suspect. Imagine a smaller version of Charlie Sheen’s character from Major League — before he got the eyeglasses. With his teammates watching from the stands and two nervous parents watching from the infield. Brady took the ball, climbed the mound and delivered a 60 foot, 6 inch strike. The crowd was appreciative with his effort. As he left the circle, he acknowledged the cheers with a simple tip of the cap, like he’d been there a 1,000 times before. 

Over the last decade, the Mud Hens have been a part of our extended family. Going to a ballgame at the corner of Washington and Huron, has felt the same as car-ride to Grandma’s house.

The game of baseball has provided a running topic of conversation between a man and his son. It’s been a shared experience and a way for us to talk about many other things. This pastime has provided normalcy for my “1 in 68” child. Fifth Third Field has been the home of so many breakthroughs — I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Brady celebrated his fifteenth birthday on April 9th. The Mud Hens’ season had yet to reach the Glass City.  Five days prior, he pitched from another raised mound — the season opener for his freshmen team. While wearing the #30, Brady threw a complete-game, allowing one run, while striking out nine. It took 85 pitches and his teammates’ bats, to give him his first high school win.

I don’t know where it goes from here, but I am excited to find out what he does next.

Happy Birthday, Jackie! 

There is a saying in baseball: “Pitching wins championships.” That seems like simple enough logic, but behind every great pitching staff is a pitching coach. This year, the Mud Hens welcome a familiar face to fill that role in former Tiger and Mud Hens pitcher Mike Maroth.

Maroth played in Toledo during 2001 and 2002, while the team was transitioning from its previous location at the Ned Skelton field in Maumee to its new digs at Fifth Third in downtown Toledo.

“The fans were great,” Maroth recalled.

Maroth went on to pitch for the big league club in Detroit from 2002 to 2007 as a staple to the starting rotation through a few rough years and into the new age of Tiger domination in the American League Central.

Once his time as a player had come to an end, a new opportunity presented itself—one that he had never considered during his time on the mound.

“I never saw myself as a coach while playing,” Maroth said. “I didn’t even entertain the thought, which is crazy, because now it’s what I’m doing and I love it.”

In 2011, Maroth became a coach for Detroit’s class A affiliate, the Lakeland Flying Tigers.

“Once my career was over, I wanted to know some options about staying in professional baseball,” Maroth said. “The opportunity to coach in Lakeland came up. I was living in Orlando, so it was a good fit and opportunity for me to try it out while still living at home. It didn’t have an impact on my family as it would if I were leaving for the summer and not seeing them for extended periods of time. That was very appealing and it allowed me to give it a try and see if I liked it.”

“After I started, it was something I fell in love with doing.”

Despite his relatively short service time as a pitching coach, Maroth has begun to develop his own philosophy to the craft, and he especially emphasizes adaptability to different personalities.

“There are many approaches to coaching,” Maroth explained. “Everyone’s a little bit different. I try to cater to each player separately and evaluate all aspects of pitching, whether it is things like mechanics or their approach is to games. I try to evaluate each pitcher separately, because everyone’s got different strengths and weaknesses, and then I give them feedback.

Maroth said that one of his primary roles as a coach is to provide his pitchers with information and encouragement.

“This game is very much about failure. There’s enough failure that happens in the game, and I want to be someone who is always encouraging to them.”

Maroth said that confidence can sometimes be an issue when working with so many young pitchers trying to work their way up to the majors, but not every case is the same.

“There are guys who are young and very mentally mature and can handle those situations, and there are players who are older and still struggle with handling the mental aspect, the adversity and the pressure. If a pitcher doesn’t have confidence in himself, then it is going to be very difficult for him to do his job. They’ve got to believe in themselves.”

Maroth is excited and optimistic with the roster of players he is working with now that he is back in a Toledo uniform.

“We’ve got a good mix of pitchers,” Maroth said. “We’ve got some junk pitchers, and we’ve got some guys that have been around, and some hard throwers. It’s a real good mix and balance of different styles. That’s always good, because it gives opposing teams some different looks.”

Maroth explained that the Hens pitching staff got an unexpected boost on the other side of the plate when Tigers catcher Bryan Holaday was recently assigned to Toledo to help with handling the Hens staff.

“It’s going to be very valuable having him around,” Maroth said. “He’s a great guy and great catcher. He is going to bring a lot to our staff, because he’s going to know how to work with these guys.”

“Obviously, you like to see him in the big leagues, but to have a guy like that is very valuable. It will really be helpful to these guys, especially those who are at AAA for the first time.”

Maroth also described some of the things he expects from his pitching staff come Opening Day, and he expressed confidence in their ability to perform what is asked of them.

“The most important thing to do as a pitcher is to throw strikes. We’ve got some guys here at spring training who are doing that and are not afraid to attack the plate. I expect them to come out of the pen ready to get hitters out. We’ll have some hard throwers coming into to the game throwing strikes.”

Maroth is also looking forward to seeing some Hens players move up to baseball’s highest level in Detroit.

“I want to help these guys,” Maroth said. “I’m looking forward to watching these guys succeed and move up, and watching them chase their dreams, as I once did, and to help them any way I can.”
“It’s exciting to see their reactions and watch them pursue something they love to do. It was the same thing [for me] when I was at Lakeland, only now when these guys move up, they are going to the big leagues. That’s pretty exciting, because that’s their dream.”

Let’s face it: the hot dog will never be too far from the baseball fan’s heart — or stomach.

However, the Mud Hens believe fans can save a bit of stomach real estate for some more adventurous fare.

The team is introducing 14 new items this season, including a couple with significant head-turning appeal.

Inspiration for ballpark food is not hard to come by in today’s foodie culture, according to Dusten Brown, executive chef for A Cut Above Catering, the official catering group of Fifth Third Field.

“A lot of it comes from looking around the country, finding what are the popular things coming out,” he said. “We also have a lot of help from our purveyors, letting us know what items we could mix together.”

One thing Brown mixed together was pork — three different types of pork are present in one of his favorite new dishes: The Triple Play Nacho is available at the stadium’s El Burrito Misterio stand.

“It’s one of my little pet projects,” Brown said. “I am a big fan of pork, and being able to put as many pork products as I can on one item is great.”

The nachos feature “We Be Ribs” pulled pork, bacon, nacho cheese, tomatoes, jalapeño peppers and sour cream. Because two pork products are hardly enough for a plate of pig-centered nachos, pork skins replace the typical tortilla chips here.

Last year, the Mud Hens debuted their Mac & Cheese Dog. This year, the team is trotting out the Mac & Cheese Burger, served at Gilhooley’s.

The pretzel bun makes its debut at the stadium with the Cheddar Peppercorn Sausage, sold at Suds & Wieners. It’s a smoked sausage filled with cheddar cheese and peppercorn, topped with sauerkraut and housed in a pretzel sausage bun.

The Mud Hens didn’t forget dessert.

“I think guests are really going to love the Oreo churros,” said Corey Pleasant, casual dining manager for A Cut Above. “They’re an Oreo pastry, almost with a brownie-like texture to it, but it’s deep fried so it’s got a little crust on the outside and chewy on the inside. The creme [packaged in a separate dipping container] is the same creme that’s on the inside of an Oreo.”

Sure to raise some eyebrows, the Pineapple Habañero Sundae is available at Farr Out Funnels. Featuring fried pieces of pineapple on Toft’s ice cream covered with a habañero glaze and whipped cream, the dessert isn’t what one might assume from the name, Pleasant said.

“I think a lot of people will be shocked with the sundae,” he said. “You have the habañero name in there, so you probably think it’s spicy, but it’s not. It’s more of a sweet glaze.”

Ever wished your s’more around the campfire could be held together by something a bit softer, more delicious and … well, calorie-laden? Try the S’More Donut, which is precisely what it sounds like. The dish is made possible by the Tom+Chee kiosk located in section 113 on the main concourse. The chain restaurant will also feature the Grilled Cheese Donut.

Other new offerings at Fifth Third Field include: Fried Green Tomato Burger (Gilhooley’s); Nutella Poppers (Hen & Hound); Holy Toledo Chicken Sandwich (one-pound grilled chicken breast on a submarine roll with Italian dressing, lettuce, tomato and onion), Red Velvet Cake, House Sirloin, Chili Mac and Chicken Kabobs, all sold at the BirdCage Bar and Grill, a sit-down restaurant on the club level at the stadium.

The Hens are hosting the inaugural Taste of Fifth Third Field on May 8. During the tour, fans will sample eight featured dishes, as well as take home a complimentary souvenir from the Swamp Shop. Tickets are $42 and must be purchased in advance at mudhens. com or by calling the box office at (419) 725-HENS.

As the song says, “Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack.” Oh, and don’t forget the habañero glaze.

It’s a process that has only been done two other times since Fifth Third Field opened in 2002.

Last month, close to a dozen workers spent two days laying new sod onto the field in preparation for the Mud Hens’ April 16 Opening Day doubleheader. Sod started coming in March 15 and by the next day, crews had unloaded 26 flatbed trucks and laid 550 rolls of Kentucky bluegrass onto the field.

“Our main goal is to have [the field]consistent every day the guys play on it,” said Jake Tyler, sports turf manager at Fifth Third Field. “The main job of the minor leagues is player development, and you want the guys to have a nice surface to play on so they can hone in on their skills and get themselves to the next level in their career.”

Tyler said he subcontracted the work to Medina, Ohio based company Agricultural Design.

“Between their crew and my crew, we had 10-12 guys working about 16 hours a day,” he said. “We got the job done in two days.”

According to Tyler, each roll of new sod — measuring 4 feet wide by 50 feet long — was unloaded and transported to the field one by one by a fleet of forklifts, and then fed into a machine that rolled it out into the correct spot. Workers then used pitch- forks to pull the seams together.

Once the sod was down, Tyler said he and the crew placed woven plastic sheets atop the grass to raise the field’s temperature and promote healthy growth in time for Opening Day.

“It kind of acts like a greenhouse on the field,” he said. “Even though it was 30 degrees and sunny outside, the soil temperatures were in the mid-60s. That’s what allowed it to really green up, root down and take hold out there.”

Tyler said the new grass is more tolerant to disease, stress and foot traffic.

“I think the field is kind of like the 10th man on the team,” he said. “The better the surface they play on, the better they’re going to play.”

The new green came from Graff’s Turf Farm in Fort Morgan, Colorado, a choice Tyler said was easy given our region’s climate and the supplier’s reputation of providing sod to the Mud Hens’ Major League Baseball affiliate, the Detroit Tigers.

“When we’re sodding a field this time of year, if we try to get sod from anywhere local the fields are really wet, muddy and soft, and it would be really difficult for anybody in this area to harvest the sod,” he said.

The players will not be the only ones benefiting from the new turf. Tyler said fans can expect more aesthetically pleasing grass and much shorter rain delays.

“We don’t rain out here very often,” he said. “But once the rain stops, the field needs to be in immaculate condition so the guys can get out and play, and so the fans can have that experience and enjoy their time.”

While the field normally undergoes renovations every five to six years, Tyler said he and his crew held off until the turf was roughly nine years old so they could replace it in conjunction with December’s Winterfest.

“Building a hockey rink on the field, we would have had to replace the turf anyways,” he said.

Work started back in October as the groundskeeping crew installed a new irrigation system, stripped out the old turf and covered the field with a blanket so there wouldn’t be any exposed grass during Fifth Third Field’s ice-cold festivities.

The crew spent two days in early March plowing snow off the field to prepare for the project. Tyler said he expects the new sod to last up to six seasons.

“I love the attention to detail that is required to maintain the field,” he said. “It’s 2½ acres that we have to look at every square foot of. You get instant gratification at the end of the day when the job is done, the field looks its best and you hear the people say, ‘Oh man, the grass looks good.’ That’s instant gratification every single day.”