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Tuesday, September 29, 1998
Family matter: Stottlemyre vs. Stottlemyre
By HAL BOCK
Associated Press
NEW YORK - If baseball is designed to break hearts, it gets
a first-rate opportunity with the Stottlemyre family tonight at
Yankee Stadium.
Todd Stottlemyre pitches the first-round playoff opener for
the Texas Rangers while his father, Yankees pitching coach Mel
Stottlemyre, devises ways to beat him from the other dugout.
"I get chill bumps even thinking about it," Texas
manager Johnny Oates said Monday. "We always want to do well
for our dads. I thought about sitting there, rooting against your
son. I don't know if you can do that."
Mel Stottlemyre tried hard to walk a thin line Monday as the
Yankees and Rangers prepared for the their best-of-5 series.
"I'm hiding my feelings," he said. "I'm keeping
them to myself. I'm keeping my family and my feelings out of this."
That's a difficult thing to do in his circumstance.
"He's been totally professional about this," said
Yankees manager Joe Torre, who understands how tough this situation
is for his pitching coach. "Whatever he knows, his job is
to let us know."
And take it from Todd Stottlemyre, his father knows plenty.
"He probably knows me as well or better than anybody,"
the pitcher said. "From an emotional standpoint, he understands
me better than anybody. There are no secrets."
Todd Stottlemyre remembers growing up around Yankee Stadium,
playing make-believe tapeball games in the clubhouse on family
days, going on the fishing trips with Thurman Munson and Bobby
Murcer. "This was a playground," he said. "I have
a lot of fond memories. They were just great times."
Mel Stottlemyre pitched for the Yankees from 1964-75. Todd
learned the craft from him and became good enough to become a
professional. There were stops in Toronto, Oakland and St. Louis
but until he was traded to Texas this season, he had never confronted
his father, a longtime pitching coach first with the New York
Mets and Houston Astros and now with the Yankees.
Their first meeting on Aug. 15 was an emotional reunion. Oates
remembered father and son talking behind the batting cage.
"I saw them having a conversation," he said. "I
tried to visualize what that might be like for me. I asked Todd
was it was like and he said it was unbelievable."
Stottlemyre was the winning pitcher that day as the Rangers
overcame a 4-0 deficit and won 16-5. He recalled the meeting with
his father.
"It was an emotional day," he said. "It was
the first time we were able to share the same field professionally.
It was emotional for my mother, my wife and my dad in the dugout.
It was a special moment and I will cherish it forever. I'm glad
it's over and now we can move on. I'm glad we jumped that hurdle."
The next hurdle comes tonight with Stottlemyre, 5-4 since being
traded, up against David Wells (18-4), whose perfect game May
17 was the season's pitching centerpiece for the Yankees.
By then, the Yankees were breaking apart the AL East race,
something Texas did not manage in the West until sweeping five
games in the final two weeks against Anaheim. Stottlemyre won
the opener in each of those crucial series. The Yankees pitching
coach noticed.
"Damn right, I'm proud," Mel Stottlemyre said. "I
can't tell you how proud."
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