El Profe: Learning the routine with Carlos Martínez

He could have yelled at me, told me to get the heck away from his space. That is what other major league pitchers would have done for a journalist having the audacity of approaching them on the day they are taking the mound as the starting pitcher. Roger Clemens even extended his no-media interviews to the day before he pitched.

But St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martínez was chill. He smiled and simply replied back to me in Spanish at my request to talk to him. “Despues del juego” (After the game).

That was it. No f-bombs. No “how dare you?” glares.

Just come back later.

Working the Beat

This was a few years back. I hadn’t worked a game at Busch Stadium before. The stadium’s inner-working was unfamiliar territory. I had previously worked games in Chicago, Detroit and New York as credentialed media. In my excitement to work Jackie Robinson Day in St. Louis, I had forgotten a simple practice for media on game day.

Always check the day’s posted lineup card when you enter a team’s clubhouse.

This lets you know who is in the starting lineup, and that helps determine how to work the clubhouse. Specifically, it shapes your decision on who to approach for an interview and when, and also who to possibly avoid.

Smartly maneuvering a major league clubhouse not only gets you time with players and coaches for the story you’re working, but it can also earn you the respect of team personnel and players.

Time to Work

Clubhouse access is prime time for getting work done for media covering baseball. In the clubhouse, players tend to be more relaxed, better focused on your questions, and able to be more reflective in their answers.

Securing clubhouse access is much more desirable than field access—and why teams guard the access to the clubhouse more carefully. Once players get on the field, it’s time for them to concentrate on their work, whether it’s taking their cuts in the cage, fielding practice, or running sprints or the bases. Getting an interview on the field is usually a “quick hit” where you just ask a couple of questions as players are stepping out of or into the dugout.

As you step into the clubhouse, you definitely can feel a vibe, whether it is from the music blaring, the chatter going on, or what languages players are speaking. The noise level can be a sign of whether or not a team is on a hot streak. The louder and more festive the clubhouse usually means the hotter the team. Or, if there is no boombox blaring merengue, salsa, or reggaeton, then you probably just learned that the team’s manager has a no clubhouse music policy. Everyone just listens to their music on their headsets.

The good thing about working the clubhouse before a game is that players are more relaxed. They have more time that they control. Players have their routines and rituals to prepare prior to the game while in the clubhouse, whether or not they are in the starting lineup. Some hang out chatting and playing cards. A few play a cat-and-mouse type game of hiding from the media by staying in the dining area or in the trainer’s room during media availability. A few players enjoy talking with the media, on or off the record, about baseball or any topic.

Approaching Carlos

Martínez was just hanging out in front of his locker when I first entered the Cardinals’ clubhouse. He greeted teammates who walked by his stall, chatted with a few of them and seemed in a generally good mood.

Martínez was coming off his first full season as a starter in 2015, when he went 14-7 with a 3.01 ERA and averaged about a strikeout per inning. Many St. Louis fans were hopeful that the Dominican native was the next ace pitcher for the Cardinals, stepping into the vacuum left by John Lackey’s free agent departure.

My hope was to talk with Martínez and a few of his Latino teammates about what Jackie Robinson Day meant to them.

After all, Jackie Robinson’s impact extended to those throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. The majority of Latinos were deemed too dark by Major League Baseball team officials to play while its color line stood. That was the reason why Cuban greats such as Martin Dihigo and Orestes Miñoso participated in the Negro Leagues before 1947. That was also the reason talented Dominicans such as Horacio Martínez and Juan “Tetelo” Vargas and Puerto Ricans Francisco “Pancho” Coímbre and Emilio “Millito” Navarro also performed in the Negro Leagues and not the majors. Indeed, legendary manager Felipe Alou often talks about how inspirational Jackie Robinson’s 1948 visit to the Dominican Republic was for him as a young black Dominican. Alou said Robinson’s story helped him dream of one day becoming a major leaguer.

Alas, I didn’t get to talk with Martínez that April 15. The Cardinals dominated the Reds 14-3 and Martinez picked up the win with seven strong innings. But the game ran long and I had more than a three-hour drive back to Champaign from St. Louis with a stack of papers waiting on me to grade before classes resumed.

But I did return home with a useful reminder of a key practice. Always check the posted lineup when entering the clubhouse because, while Martínez may be cool, not every starting pitcher is as chill as Martinez when it comes to approaching them on game day.

Featured Image: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images Sport