Spring Training

The darkness of the night is interrupted by the bank of lights that stand at attention atop poles 50 feet into the air and serve as an invitation to see a game of bat and ball on a field of dirt, sand and grass. 

The youth baseball field in your mind’s eye right now is only a major league home run or two away from the shores of Lake Erie in Avon Lake.  It’s a beautiful setting. 

The man behind home plate is wearing gray pants kept up by a black belt.  He has a black watch on his left wrist and a plastic device held in the palm of his left hand to keep the count of balls, strikes and outs.   His navy colored shirt trimmed in red and white makes him look like a body builder because underneath it is the padded armor of an umpire.  A ball bag is on his right hip.  His left leg is back and slightly bent as he leans and peers in the direction of the 12-year-old pitcher in his delivery to the plate. 

“Strike,” he said as he raises his right hand, forearm protected by black pads.  “No balls and two strikes,” he said for everyone to hear and then he leans into the young hitter and says, “That’s alright JT, you’ve got one left and you’re a hitter.” 

The name of the umpire is Mike Mannino.   

Mike seems to know the names of every kid playing in every game he umpires.  “When I umpire, I try to help the kids,” he said.   “I know that sounds crazy and I’m careful not to interfere with the coaches but I want to instill confidence in the kids.  Anytime I can help someone, I will.” 

Mannino is umpiring a youth baseball Championship game in the moment I describe. 

“I love the game,” Mike Mannino said, “and, I love the connection to the kids just as much.”  

***

Mannino is 68 years old.  This spring will mark his 47th season of involvement in youth baseball in the town he has called home for 48 years.  “I got here in June of 1977,” he said.  Mannino was 22 years old.  He was fresh out of college with a double major in chemistry and psychology from The University of Dayton.   He interviewed and was hired by B.F. Goodrich in Avon Lake as a raw materials chemist. 

That winter, as the calendar turned to 1978, Mannino attended an Avon Lake Youth Baseball Federation meeting.  “I told them if they needed any coaches, I’d love to have a team.” 

In the spring of 1978, Mannino was coaching a team of 9 and 10 year olds, the minor league Red Sox.  “Do you remember that team?” I asked.  “Oh, absolutely,” was his quick answer and he proceeded to name player after player.   “Gosh, those guys might be 50 years old now” he said.  “No, goodness, they’re over 50,” he said as he did the math in his head.  Fifty-five and six to be exact.   

“I coached the team all by myself.  I was fortunate to have a great group of kids and terrific parents,” he said.  “Some of the parents adopted me,” he said as he laughed referring to his youthful age.  I asked, “Did you know how to cook when you were 22?”   “Heck no,” Mannino said.  “I’m not sure I know how to cook now!” 

“I practically lived at the Zeigler house,” he said highlighting the nurturing of Barb and Dave Zeigler and grateful for it, still to this day. 

That first team of Mike Mannino’s played on the sandlot diamonds behind Eastview and Westview Elementary Schools and at Bleser Field #2.  There was no fence at Bleser 2 (today known as Vergei Field) and deep in the outfield was a tree.   It was, according to lore, the kissing tree. 

***

Mike Mannino’s mother gives him a kiss as he heads outside to play.  The time period is early 1960s in Brooklyn, New York.  Mike is his mother’s youngest of three boys and he is spoiled.  “My mother would still butter my toast when I was an adult,” he said with a hearty laugh. 

Mike was born in Queens in 1955 but grew up in Brooklyn, in a Brownstone, built in 1886.  His home is on the Fifth Street, near Fifth Avenue in a neighborhood mixed with Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants.  “It was a great place to grow up,” Mike said.  “There was so much to experience.” 

Stickball in the middle of the street was his game of choice.    Mike laughs.  “We spent a LOT of time outside,” he said.  “Some of the older boys could hit the ball so far, the centerfielder had to play out on Fifth Avenue.  We spent so much time outside, it was ridiculous.”    

Fifth Street was lined with cars, not trees, cars parked in front of the three story homes inhabited by blue-collar people.  Mike’s father was a police officer in Harlem.  He was also a World War II veteran.  Both of Mike’s parents were World War II Veterans.  His father Frank, served in the Army and so did his mother, Frances.  Frank and Frances met and fell in love in North Africa and got married in Italy. 

In the 1960s, Mike Mannino fell in love with the game of baseball.   

“Early on, I loved Mickey Mantle,” he said.  In the summer of 1961, New York Yankee sluggers Mantle and Roger Maris chased Babe Ruth’s unbreakable record of 60 home runs in a single season.   Mike Mannino was six years old.   “Then later,” Mike added, “it was Tom Seaver who had my attention.”   In 1967, Tom Seaver was a rookie pitcher for the New York Mets.  The Mets were awful and finished dead last in the ten team National League with 101 losses.  Despite that, Seaver won the National League’s Rookie of the Year Award.  

In 1969, the “Miracle Mets” won the World Series and Seaver won the Cy Young Award.  Mike was 13 years old.  “I was in my prime of lovin’ baseball,” he said.  “We’d take the subway to Shea Stadium,” he said as he relived his childhood.  Mike would pick up the subway at Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street in Brooklyn, ride into Manhattan and then take the 7 train to Shea. 

The Mets didn’t win another World Series until the fall of 1986. 

***

In 1986, Mike Mannino was living in a 1,200 square foot home on Brookfield Road in Avon Lake.   

He was 31 years old, single and the foster father to three boys in the house with two bedrooms and a dormer.  “That’s how we survived,” said Mannino, referring to the space the dormer provided.  A dormer is a small room with a window. 

If you look through the window, you can see the journey Mike made to get to that point. 

“My last two years of school at the University of Dayton, I worked at The St. Joseph Home for Children in Dayton as a child care worker,” said Mannino.  St. Joseph’s was an orphanage.   Originally, Mike was a tutor at the orphanage.  “The need for care was there, I could see it,” he said of his early impressions.  “I liked it so much, I applied for a full time job and got it.  I enjoyed the heck out of it.” Mike was in charge of 12 boys.  “I basically lived there for two years.” 

Upon graduation, he got his career starting job as a raw materials chemist at B.F. Goodrich Company in Avon Lake. 

“Two of the boys I had been in charge of at St. Joseph had gone to foster homes that didn’t work out and I asked if I could foster them in Avon Lake.”  Montgomery County and Lorain County agencies had to both agree to turn the supervision of two early teen boys over to the 23-year-old Mannino.  They started with one in October of 1978 and then, a few months later, allowed the second to come and live with him.  Mike would foster five other boys over the next few years for a total of seven.  At his peak as a foster father, he had four boys in the house ages 13 to 17. 

“You told me you couldn’t cook,” I reminded Mike as we talked.  “How did you raise all those boys and not know how to cook?”  I asked.  Silence.  He stammered.  “Mmmm. Ahhhh.”  Then, he repeated my question to himself.  “How did I raise the boys not knowing how to cook?”  He laughs.  “A lot of frozen stuff,” was his answer.  “My mother, when she would come to visit, would make lasagna and pasta and meatballs and she would make a lot of it, to last a LONG time and it did last a long time in the freezer.” 

“I could cook some things,” he said.  “I made Kraft macaroni and cheese and I could always cook hot dogs and hopefully, they ate good at school when they were there.”  We both laughed. 

***

When Mike Mannino laughs, his eyes brighten.  It’s noticeable.  His eyes have kid qualities that contrast the reality of his white hair.  The white hair, framing his face tanned by the summer’s sun is highlighted by the ballfield lights as he pulls off his umpire mask to wipe the sweat from his forehead.   

We are back at Bleser Park on a field that bears his name and he is behind the plate, umpiring the end of the season championship game.    

As each batter comes to the plate, he greets them with a fist bump and a smile.  “It is very important for me to learn their names,” he said.  “To give them a familiarity.  They go, wow, he knows my name.  This umpire knows my name.  That’s a plus.  It gives them confidence, I hope.” 

A boy named Dimitri is pitching and he throws a wild one that sailed over the batter’s head.  Both the batter and the pitcher look unsettled.  Mannino comes out from behind the plate and says to both players, “That’s ok.  That’s only one pitch and Daniel (the batter) got out of the way, which is good.  He’s ok, Meech,” he said to the pitcher.  He turns to head back behind the plate but looks back at the pitcher and says, “Meech, I love that name.”  

Did you play baseball?  I asked.  “I know I’m short,” is how he started his answer, “but yes I played and I played 1st base.  I was not tall enough, let me tell you, and I was right handed.  So, what’s wrong here?”  He chuckled. 

Mike coached teams for 25 years in the ALYBF and he’s umpired for 21.  He served as the director for the boy’s majors and minors and he was ALYBF President too.   He’s done it all and everyone knows him. 

In between innings of the game, a grown man walks up to the backstop and calls out to Mike.  Mannino turns and through the chain link fence recognizes the guy.  “Frank,” he says.  “How are you?”  Frank tells Mike he’s 42 years old.  “Forty two,” says Mannino in surprise.  “How can you be that old?” 

The game continues and a batter swings and misses.  Mike says to the boy, “that’s a good cut.  A good cut.  That’s what you want to do. C’mon Nick, you’ve got one left buddy!” 

Later in the game a pitcher gives up a three run home run and Mike walks out to the mound and offers encouragement. 

When another pitcher throws a wild pitch behind the batter standing in the right hand batter’s box, Mike looks at the batter and wonders, “Matt, was that pitch inside or outside?  I can never tell?”  

On the occasion of a foul ball that spins and stops at Mike’s feet, he bends down to pick it up and groans.  “I am getting old,” he says to no one in particular. 

***

Today, Mike is retired from 40 years at B.F. Goodrich, Lubrizol, and Novein. He is a substitute teacher in the Avon Lake City Schools.  “I’m having a fantastic time,” he said about being a substitute teacher.  For 20 years, he served on the Avon Lake Board of Education.  As a matter of fact, he met his wife at a board meeting.  She was an angry parent.  Mike was never married until he met Kathy.  This summer, they’ll celebrate 35 years as husband and wife.  Between Mike’s seven foster boys and Kathy’s two daughters, they have nine kids, 16 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren.  

“I remember all of the kid’s names (baseball players included) but sometimes I forget hers,” he said.  I can hear Kathy laughing in the background. 

Why do you still do it?  I ask, referring to umpiring.  “I love it,” he said in a serious voice.  “I enjoy the heck out of it.  It keeps me involved with the game and the kids and that,” he said, “that is so important.” 

Mike estimates that he has coached over 1,000 kids.   He’s made a huge difference in our town.   

Thank you, Mike. 

We are a better community because of you.