Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. remembers growing up in Yankees clubhouse

Less than a year after Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. was born, his father Mel Stottlemyre Sr. made his big league debut in the pinstripes. For the next 11 years – the length of his father’s big league career – Stottlemyre would see baseball from a viewpoint that few ever have the chance to.

“Growing up in Yankee Stadium as a kid was a dream for my brothers and I,” said Stottlemyre. “Out in the outfield shagging and hanging out with Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson, who was an idol of mine, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, all the great names. It wasn’t until later in life when I really reflected back and pinched myself a little bit and realized what a very fortunate, lucky life that I had growing up here.”

Audio: Mel Stottlemyre Jr. on growing up with the Yankees

Kid in the clubhouse with the likes of Mantle and Munson surely trumps kid in the candy store.

“Back in the day the guys were, they were regular people,” he said. “They loved to play cards, they had fun, they smiled, they jacked around a lot. They had fun. It was a very close knit ball club.”

To this day, Stottlemyre is still appreciative of the fact that the Yankee greats took the time to take him and his brothers fishing.

“In my brothers’ and my eyes we had a a lot of fathers. A lot of dads around, and they treated us like their own kids,” he said.

As for the baseball side of growing up in a big league clubhouse, much was learned by keeping their eyes and ears open. From their father, who along with holding a 2.97 ERA and recording three 20-win seasons in his 11-year career threw 152 complete games, they learned a mentality.

“I remember Dad always talking to Todd and I about starting and finishing games, something that has kind of been lost in this day and age,” said Stottlemyre. “I know with the importance of bullpens and the amount we pay our guys it’s a different ballgame. But you look back at the amount of starts and complete games and innings that guys like my dad pitched back then.

“They prepared a little differently too, not only physical, but their mindset. My dad was very calm demeanor and laid-back guy off the field, and in between the lines he was very tenacious and he loved to compete and he loved to win.”

The qualities he saw in his dad and those around him when he was growing up are among the ones he hopes to see in his own pitchers. While acknowledging it is a different time and a different game in many respects, Stottlemyre’s roots go back to old school.

“I talk to guys sometimes about that,” he said. “For the ones that really know me, you get guys like Wade Miley and Felix (Hernandez), who was around my dad. We share those moments. The game is still the game but things have changed it. I want to make sure that these guys really enjoy it and have that passion for competing and enjoy doing what they do and realize how fortunate they are, and I think that gets lost sometimes. I look back at the old time players and they played for the love of the game.”

Coming back to Yankee Stadium, even though it is not the same Yankee Stadium he grew up in, is special for Stottlemyre Jr. I saw him approached numerous times by staff and media members who put a hand on his shoulder and asked about his dad, who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1999. It has been an up-and-down battle for Stottlemyre Sr.

“He’s doing OK,” said Stottlemyre Jr. “It’s very overwhelming. The Yankee family, what they have meant to us and provided our family with a great lifestyle and how they have embraced and taken care of my dad and our family, it gives you chill bumps. But he’s doing OK. It was a big moment when he came back for Old Timers Day and they put his plaque out in Monumental Park. It’s pretty special.”

The trip to Old Timers Day last year was in question until the end because of Stottlemyre Sr.’s health. The trip turned out to be more than well worth it as the Yankees surprised Stottlemyre Sr., who also coached for the team for 10 years, with a plaque in Monument Park. Stottlemyre Jr. planned to take some time to visit Monument Park in center field by himself. There he will see the plaques of the men who as he said helped make him the person he is today.

“I’ve been very blessed to be exposed to a lot of great players and been around the game for a long time,” he said. “I hope that I can pass some of that on to some of these young players and have maybe some little part mean something to them.”