← Snap Judgment
Snap Judgment
Rained Out Rook
00:15:16
A call from the Philadelphia Phillies brings a big league opportunity to a pitcher holding out hope.
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Snap Judgment Host
SNAP Studios.
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Narrator
I'm Earlonne Woods.
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Nigel Poor
I'm Nigel Poor. We're the hosts and creators of ear hustle from PRX's Radiotopia.
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Snap Judgment Host
When we met, I was doing time at San Quentin State Prison in California
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Nigel Poor
and I was coming in as a volunteer. The stories we tell are probably not what people expect from a prison podcast,
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Snap Judgment Host
like cooking meals in a prison cell,
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Nigel Poor
keeping little pets, prison nicknames, and trying to be a parent from inside.
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Narrator
Stories about life on the inside shared
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Snap Judgment Host
by those who live it.
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Nigel Poor
Find Ear Hustle wherever you get your podcasts.
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Snap Judgment Host
Snap Judgment is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
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Nigel Poor
Taking care of your eyes shouldn't be a hassle. That's why Warby Parker is a one stop shop for all your vision needs. Our prescription glasses and sunglasses are expertly crafted and unexpectedly affordable. Stop by a nearby store or use our app to virtually try on frames and get personalized recommendations. Did we mention we offer eye exams and take vision insurance too? For everything you need to see, head to your nearest Warby Parker store or visit warbyparker.com today. That's warbyparker.com.
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Snap Judgment Host
Snappers Sometimes when you go out to the old ball game, you gotta move a little careful because baseball's got rules, then it's got rules. The unwritten ones, right? Like do not step on the foul line. Don't say no hitter anywhere near a pitcher. And if your team is hot, best not wash them lucky draws. Because baseball is a game of skill. But it is also a game of luck. And sooner or later baseball will break your heart. It has to. It must. It will. But the folks who play it, they know the cost. They pay it anyway. Today, producer Bo Walsh takes us into the minors where one man pays his dues and then some, chasing that big league dream. Snap Judgment.
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Narrator
On a Monday night In September of 2006, Brian Mazone and his family were out to eat at a P F Chang's in Rochester, New York.
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Brian Mazzone
We were playing the Rochester Red Wings. I was in Triple A with the Philadelphia Phillies having a great year and randomly my wife and kids were actually there.
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Narrator
This was the only way Brian's family could see him. At a strip mall alongside a highway in between road games. And as a 30 year old pitcher, Brian had seen a lot of cities.
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Brian Mazzone
Zion pioneers in Utah, the Joliet jackhammers in Chicago. I went to Norwich again the following season, and I was in Lehigh valley and Scranton.
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Narrator
There were also stints in south Korea.
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Brian Mazzone
Everywhere, from Puerto Rico to Mexico to Venezuela, everywhere but the show.
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Narrator
For eight years, he had been trying to get to the big leagues. Now he was at that twilight age where, in his mind, making the major still felt reachable, but in reality, most players just don't have it anymore.
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Brian Mazzone
It was always on my mind. You know, you get to a certain age and you're not questioning yourself, but it's also, you know, how much longer am I going to do this? You start thinking about your wife and your kids and, you know, that part of your life, you know, constantly being away. And my wife starting to raise two boys on her own.
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Narrator
And that night, while they waited for their crab wonton at P F Chang's, Brian's phone started buzzing. It was his manager calling. So he got up and walked outside the restaurant.
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Brian Mazzone
They said, we need you back at the hotel. You're going to the big leagues. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think. I didn't see this coming at all. Even though you look forward to it, even though it's something that you dream about as a kid, this just complet broadsided me, which I think made it even more emotional.
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Narrator
He'd been having a great year, One of the top pitchers in triple A ball, but he'd had that before, and the call never came.
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Brian Mazzone
Even as well as I thought I was doing, you never expect the call. So I was just completely floor and obviously shocked, Tears coming from every direction. And, you know, at that point, I didn't even care. So I went back into the restaurant and told my wife, and she's going crazy and everything else. So we headed back to the hotel. And the best part about it is when I went up to John Russell's room, and in my pitching coach Rod Nichols was there, and me and my wife walk in and they're crying, too. They knew my past. They knew where I came from. They knew, quote, unquote, how much of an underdog story this was.
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Narrator
Brian was scheduled to be the Phillies starting pitcher the following night against the Houston Astros. The Phillies had a hotel room waiting for him in Philadelphia and needed Brian to fly out immediately. Brian knew he had one shot to pitch well if he had any chance to stay with the team.
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Brian Mazzone
I was just trying to get into the right Mindset of, yes, it's the big leagues. Yes, the lights are a little bit brighter, but, you know, obviously you want to enjoy it and embrace it because you don't know if and when it'll ever happen again. But priority one is to pitch well and, you know, hopefully perform the best I've ever performed.
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Narrator
The next morning, hours before he was set to make his major league baseball debut, Brian woke up at the hotel and opened the drapes to look outside.
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Brian Mazzone
It was already, you know, dumping rain and kind of a little bit of a shock. But, you know, playing out there for as long as I did, you know, things can change fast too. So it wasn't like I threw on the towel because things can change in a heartbeat. You just kind of want to go about your daily routine and get to the park and let nature do what nature does and hopefully it works out.
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Narrator
It was raining hard when Brian arrived at the stadium around 1.30pm, five and a half hours before the scheduled first pitch.
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Brian Mazzone
Walking into the clubhouse that day was, it was pretty epic. You know, when you open the door and you're finally there. And I think the biggest thing was actually walking around for a little bit and finding your locker and, you know, seeing your name tag above a major league locker.
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Narrator
Hanging up at Brian's locker was a jersey, red on White, number 49, with his last name Mazzone stitched on the back.
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Brian Mazzone
When you see it hanging up there and you can actually take it off the coat hanger and seeing your last name on a major league jersey, that is, you know, truly a major league jersey, not a major league spring training jersey. You unbutton it and you put your arms in and, you know, it feels different, it feels satisfying. This is that moment that makes everything worth it.
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Narrator
Word had spread amongst the Phillies that a 30 year old would be making his big league debut and taking the
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Brian Mazzone
mound for them that night, everybody in the clubhouse kind of knew what was going on and where I came from and, you know, being undrafted and they were so happy for me. They were so inviting in the clubhouse, so supportive. It really kind of puts your mind at ease and it kind of does give you a little bit of solace that, you know, you do belong there. I was never the flashy one. I was never the one that lit up the radar gun. I never, you know, came in throwing 95, 96. Who I was, was a control pitcher thrown in the upper 80s. I don't want to say I was crafty. It was just an ability to throw four pitches and keep the hitters guessing
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Narrator
Brian started to warm up, but he could hear the rain from down in the tunnel.
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Brian Mazzone
Obviously, everyone's, you know, talking about the weather and, you know, what we're gonna do and what the game plan may be. So other than the inner emotions and your heart going a thousand miles an hour and trying to control that, pretty much just was stretching and just trying to stay loose. Probably more out of nerves than anything else. By that time, I was, you know, fully dressed and kind of just getting ready and wanted to go, just put my mind at ease and kind of spend a few moments with myself. So I walked down the tunnel and out the dugout, and the dugout was just flooded with water. It was staying pretty heavy. It wasn't lightening up at all. So the field was tarped and puddles were on the grass, and the dugout had a few inches of water in it. At that point, I kind of just soaked it in, looked around the stadium for a little bit and kind of just spent a couple moments with myself. I always had a weird. A weird vision of standing on the mound and hearing the national anthem for the first time and then turning around and, you know, throwing your first warmup pitch and looking around. And that was the moment that you kind of always dream of, right? Walking out there and warming up in the bullpen and getting ready for a game and hearing your name being announced over that loudspeaker. And these are all things that I played in my head growing up, looking forward to this spot that I put myself into.
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Snap Judgment Host
It'll be time to play ball. Philadelphia.
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Narrator
Following this message, did you want to walk out to the pitcher's mound at all?
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Brian Mazzone
No, I actually didn't. That never even crossed my mind to take a walk out there. I wanted that to be a special moment, not just something that I forced upon or, you know, took it upon myself to do. So it was never even a thought, never even wanted to, unless it was, you know, really time to go.
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Narrator
Finally, he walked off the field drenched and headed back to his locker.
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Brian Mazzone
People start, you know, saying different things, but the emotions of, you know, this may not happen. Start. Start to creep in, but you gotta be ready to go when it's time to go. So pretty much tried to stay in my routine, and that was the advice that I was given. Don't do anything different. Don't. Don't prepare anything different. You've been doing this for a long time. So I really took that advice to heart, and I tried to stick with that the best that I could.
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Narrator
And then just two Hours before the first pitch, the manager, Charlie Manuel, called him into his office.
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Brian Mazzone
It wasn't really a surprise what was going on. We sat down and talked, and, you know, unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, obviously, and, you know, we're going to send you back down to the Lehigh Valley team and finish the season out there.
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Narrator
With the rain still falling, the game was called off. The Phillies told Brian he was needed back in the minors for the playoffs.
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Brian Mazzone
They have the ability to call you up for one day and send you back down and not make any roster moves. There's, you know, there's no harm, there's no foul of you coming up and down. It's going to be based upon, you know, what they need and for how long. And that's just the unfortunate business part of the game. It comes with the job. As I packed up my locker and stuff, all the players came up to me, and they were very apologetic, and they knew how awesome that moment was going to be and how cool it was going to be, and they were so proud of me and, you know, where I had even gotten then, and it was hard. I mean, you're obviously disappointed. I'm not going to say that you're not heartbroken. I'm not going to say that you're not disappointed. The clubhouse guys came up to me and they were awesome and said, hey, you're more than welcome to keep the jerseys if you want it. And I did. You know, I felt like that was one thing I had earned. I had earned that jersey, and I'm keeping it.
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Narrator
When Brian walked out of the clubhouse in Philadelphia that evening, he fully expected to be back in a matter of days. He had 13 wins that year, a sort of season that should have earned a promotion to the majors, but he never did. Three years later, at the age of 34, Brian Mazzone hung it up and retired from baseball.
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Brian Mazzone
I had run my family through the ringer. They did everything they could and supported me and traveled and, you know, at 34 years old, even though, you know, you were close, that was, you know, let's put it in perspective. It was still four years ago, and the opportunity hadn't come back yet. It was time to be a dad. It was time to take care of my kids and be there for them. You always go through the emotions of, you know, you're no longer a baseball player. Through the years, it kind of becomes your identity and who you are. You don't realize that until you don't have it anymore. You're, quote, unquote, just A normal person again. The baseball cards and the news articles and everything are all, all gone.
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Narrator
What he will always have are the jerseys that hung in his locker that day he walked into the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse.
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Brian Mazzone
For a few years I had him in frames. And then when my older son, he went to wash U in St. Louis for four years, he just graduated. He played baseball there too. He's a catcher. He came up to me and asked me, hey, do you mind if I take, you know, one of your jerseys and hang them up on my wall in my apartment at school? And I said, absolutely. The point blank story of baseball is the game of failure, right? So no matter how hard you work and no matter what you do, the game is set up for you to fail. And you know, there's a bunch of cliches that go with it, but it's honestly true. That day could have gone two different directions, right? I mean, who knows? I could have gone out there and throw seven scoreless or I could have gone out there and given up nine runs in the first inning. And whether you get another opportunity after that first one, again is not up to you. But, you know, I got the call. You know, in that moment, I was a big leaguer. I was given the opportunity to be a big leaguer. It may not be on paper, it may not be in the book, but Mother Nature got the best of me that day.
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Snap Judgment Host
A huge thank you to Brian Lazone for sharing his story of the Snap. After retiring from baseball in 2010, Brian started a new career in medical supplies sales in the San Diego area. You can read more about Brian's journey. Check out the article from the Washington Post by Dave Shainan which inspired this story. Find a link to it on our website, snapjudgment.org this piece was edited by Anna Sussman of the original score was by Dirk Schwarzoff. It was produced by Bo Walsh.