My dad took me to Yankees Stadium all the time growing up and we always sat field level on the third base side. He always made sure I was there early for batting practice and it’s something I still do today.
It was always a show for me watching these guys effortlessly hit home runs and it looked automatic to them. I felt like they could do it on command. My dad would always buy me a ball at the team store and I would go down to the first row around 6:30 to get some autographs. I didn’t care who the player was, I just wanted the autograph. My autographs range from David Ortiz (when he was on the Twins in 1998) to the Orioles bullpen catcher. He even told me he was just the bullpen catcher and I said I didn’t care.
What always amazed me was how big these guys were. I felt like they towered over me and they all had broad shoulders and huge forearms. There would be guys off to the side throwing and I couldn’t believe how loud the pop of the glove was even when they weren’t throwing hard. I’m not even talking about the sluggers. I remember seeing Quinton McCracken of the Devil Rays and Tim Raines of the Yankees and how big they were. Of course, Raines had a great career and is a Hall of Famer, but is known more for stealing bases than hitting 30 homers.
This was the 90s and it was all about the home run. All of the Yankees biggest competition during the time came from teams with powerful lineups with the Mariners, Indians, Rangers, Red Sox and Orioles. Oh, and by the way, in the National League you had Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa battling for the home run record in 1998.
There were always a couple of guys with 50-plus homers and I remembered they’d always put the chase for 61 in the paper with the guys totals and how many homers they were projected to hit. As a huge Tino Martinez fan, I followed 1997 closely because it was the year he hit a career-high 44 homers and won the Home Run Derby.
Seeing all of these big ball players put it into my head that I needed to be big and strong if I was going to play baseball. It’s funny looking back because I was watching baseball during the height of the Steroid Era, but that news didn’t come out until years later.
At the time, I just wanted to figure out a way to put on some muscle.
THE REALIZATION I NEED TO TRAIN
I have a late birthday, so I was always the youngest player on my team. I was also one of the smallest, if not the smallest. This meant I played little league until seventh grade and had one year on the 60-90 field at Verrazano Babe Ruth before jumping into high school ball.
Most kids got to play two years on the big field before high school. Things were different back then. There was no reclassification and there was no transition year on a 50-70 field to make the jump more manageable.
I was essentially a slap hitter in little league. I never hit a home run and only hit two balls in my whole career off of the fence. I can only confirm the second one. On the first one, I put my head down and ran right after hitting it and my dad told me it hit the fence. I just know it went to left-center.
With that in mind, you can imagine the jump to the regulation field was huge. Pitching wasn’t too bad, but the infield looked enormous went I stepped up to the plate. A line drive single was the best you were getting out of me. Doubles were unheard of unless I hit it in the right spot.
I played outfield my whole life, but, since I was a lefty, I also decided to try out for first base my freshman year just to give myself better odds of making the team. I didn’t even have a first baseman’s glove. I didn’t know they existed until the coach told me.
I wound up having to buy a first base mitt because that’s the position I made the team as. During infield/outfield, they always had us make the throw to third base and it felt like such a far throw. I’d also have to take a couple of steps before making the throw. I hoped I’d never have to make that throw in a game.
It was a big adjustment physically and mentally. I really wasn’t ready for that level yet and it really made me think about training. I had to do something to get stronger because the JV and Varsity players just looked so much bigger than me. I couldn’t believe they were only a couple of years older.
DON’T TRY THIS ON YOUR OWN
I knew I had to do something to get stronger, but I didn’t know what. I remembered that a few of my friends in seventh and eighth grade had weight sets in their bedroom and they were pretty strong, so I figured the same thing would work for me.
I didn’t know better and neither did my mom. I told her I need a weight set and she took me to Sports Authority over the summer to pick one up. I believe it was a Joe Weider weight set. It came with a barbell, dumbbell handles, weight plates from 2.5 pounds to 25 pounds, an adjustable bench with a leg extension/leg curl attachment and a barbell stand. To keep the weights on it came with a red clip that had a screw you had to tighten and adjust — it was a real pain.
I did a couple of workouts with the new equipment, but wasn’t enjoying it much. I didn’t know what I was doing and it was aggravating loading and unloading the plates because of the red clips. I decided I needed to get a workout plan.
I only used the internet for fantasy sports, checking scored and chatting with friends. I never thought to find any programs on there. I decided the best thing to do was go to CVS and get a workout magazine that had an athlete on the cover. I got one with wide receiver David Boston on the cover. For those that don’t know, he was an absolute monster that was built like a Madden create-a-player.
In the magazine there was a chest workout from a pro body builder in there. The guy was huge in all pictures so I figured I should try it. This is the equivalent of the parents that tell me their untrained 10-year old needs the speed and agility workout they saw a pro do on Instagram.
I decided to do this workout the day before I had to pitch in a Babe Ruth playoff game. I wound up doing I believe 3-to-5 sets of 10-to-12 reps of barbell bench press, barbell incline bench press, dumbbell incline bench and dumbbell flat bench. Obviously, I wasn’t using a lot of weight, but that’s a lot of reps for someone who is trained, let alone a sophomore with zero experience.
This led to me waking up the next day with the worst soreness I’ve ever experience in my life. My shoulders were drawn in and I could not move them without being in agonizing pain. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to pitch that day. I couldn’t move my arms.
This was also before lacrosse balls and foam rollers became known, so I had no idea how to relieve this pain.
I lucked out, though.
The sunny skies turned dark and gray around 3 o’clock and the rain and thunder came with it. I was never so thankful for a rain out.
It wound up being the day that would change my baseball career.
My mom said no more home workouts for me. She said I’ll have to find you a trainer because you don’t know what the hell you are doing, and I don’t know how else to help you.