Stanford Baseball

Stanford ace Quinn Mathews was living for the moment with his team facing a must-win situation Sunday.

The left-hander threw a complete game in the Cardinal's 8-3 victory over Texas in the NCAA super regionals. He struck out 16 batters on 156 pitches.

Not big time… LEGENDARY!
Quinn Mathews IS Stanford!

9IP | 16Ks | 156 Pitches#RoadToOmaha x @StanfordBSB pic.twitter.com/eS99T3ie6B

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 12, 2023

Mathews said after the win he had no intention of walking off the mound and handing things over to the bullpen.

“I told’em I was good to go, and they weren’t going to get the rock out of my hand”

- Quinn Mathews after throwing 156 pitches#RoadToOmaha x @StanfordBSB pic.twitter.com/KudzcWaCyc

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 12, 2023

Especially if Stanford advances to the College World Series, the senior will have written himself into program lore.

For neutral observers, however, his workload exemplified a persistent problem with the college game: Players and coaches are focused largely on winning and less concerned about the potential dangers of overly taxing a young, developing arm.

tl;dr

College baseball coaches have no investment in their pitchers' futures, and behave accordingly. MLB teams have considerable investment in their pitchers' futures, and behave accordingly.

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) June 5, 2023

https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/1668111276025757696

Per D1Baseball.com, Mathews has logged more innings (120) than any other Division I pitcher this season, though he sounds content to balance the long-term risk with the short-term benefits.

It's entirely possible Mathews moves on to the pros and doesn't encounter any major elbow trouble.

But there are countless examples of promising hurlers who saw their prime cut short due to injuries that stemmed from being pushed to the brink in college or early into their MLB career.

On Friday night, Stanford ace Mark Appel beat Utah in front of a contingent of eagle-eyed scouts who were closely watching Appel in preparation for the 2013 MLB draft.

Appel was also one of the top prospects in last year's draft. The Pittsburgh Pirates took him with the eighth pick of the draft and ultimately offered him a $3.8 million signing bonus, which was nearly one million dollars above the slot recommendation. Appel rejected the Pirates' offer and returned to Stanford for his senior season.

Appel recently explained his decision to George Dohrmann of Sports Illustrated by saying:

When I made that decision, people only looked at the money. I also factored in that I would get to be here at Stanford, which is like home, for another year, and I would get another chance to help my team get to [the College World Series], and I would get my degree.

ESPN draft analyst Keith Law currently ranks Appel has the top overall prospect (subscription required) in this year's June draft. Last year, many projected that the Houston Astros would take Appel with the top overall pick and award him the $7.2 million bonus that was recommended for that slot.

However, the Astros decided to select shortstop Carlos Correa and give him a below-slot bonus in order to spread out their allotted draft money on high-upside prospects during subsequent rounds. The rebuilding Astros have the top pick again this year, and they could once again pass on Appel to follow the same strategy they used last season. That would give the pitching-needy Chicago Cubs a chance to select Appel with the second pick.

On Friday night, Appel featured a three-pitch mix including a fastball that sat between 93-96 miles per hour, an 85-88 mile-per-hour slider and an 82-85 mile-per-hour changeup. He allowed six hits, two runs, one walk and one home run while striking out 11 of the 33 batters he faced over eight innings of work.

His slider was his main out pitch against Utah. It's definitely a plus pitch for him, but it actually looks more like a very hard curveball than a true slider because it has an earlier and wider break than the typical slider. His changeup is still a work in progress, but he can also miss bats with it—particularly against lefties.

His fastball has outstanding velocity that he is able to maintain deep into games and he can throw strikes with it to both sides of the plate. He also mixes in a two-seam fastball with movement to his armside to complement the four-seamer. He has outstanding control of his fastball and slider, but he has a harder time consistently controlling the changeup.

His fastball command is a little behind his control, as he'll have stretches in each start where he'll get the fastball up and out over the middle of the plate. Stanford pitching coach Rusty Filter told Dohrmann that he's been working with Appel to increase the downward angle of his fastball after a rough outing to open the season against Rice,

The opener against Rice was just a game where the ball was up...We made some adjustments, and he has kept the ball down. People will look at the strikeouts, but whenever he keeps the ball down he is pretty difficult to hit. 

Appel is now 3-2 with a 1.18 ERA over five starts this season. He's allowed only 23 hits, seven walks (1.65 walks per nine) and one home run while striking out 54 (12.78 K/9) in 38 innings of work.

Last season, he went 10-2 with a 2.56 ERA over 16 starts. He allowed 97 hits, 30 walks (2.19 BB/9) and three home runs while striking out 130 (9.50 K/9) over 123 innings.

Whoever selects Appel in a few months will be getting a 6'5" workhorse who has the velocity, control and secondary pitches to succeed at the top of a rotation. He also has the experience to move quickly through any minor league system after spending the last four years at one of the best baseball programs in the country.

This time, the team that drafts Appel won't have to deal with the possibility of him staying at Stanford for another year. That should ensure that he goes within the top few picks of this year's draft to help rebuild the rotation of the Astros, Cubs or Rockies in the near future.

Resiliency, clutch hitting and a strong bullpen allowed No. 13 Stanford to overcome an early deficit to Pepperdine and sweep the opening Regional tournament at Sunken Diamond. The Cardinal put together an eight-run day to support Stephen Piscotty on the bump and staved off the Waves' late-game push in front of 2,361 loyal locals (pictured right).

Stanford will travel to Tallahassee to take on No. 3 Florida State University in the school's ninth-ever appearance in the NCAA Super Regionals. Another winning weekend will clinch a berth in the College World Series in Omaha.

Pepperdine's bats started off hot, putting a four spot on the board in the top of the first inning. Right fielder Tony Cooper first drew blood by following Austin Davidson's double with an RBI single to left. The Waves set the table once more for Floyd Given, who doubled in a pair of runs. DH Matt Forgatch, whose grand slam kept Pepperdine alive against Fresno State, stayed red hot as he capped the rally with an RBI single.

Stanford, down four runs to Pepperdine for the second consecutive day, began chipping away at the lead.

The big break came in the form of a five-run fourth inning. Right Fielder Austin Wilson singled in a pair of runs, followed up by Alex Blandino's monster three-run home run. The freshman third baseman had a game-high four RBI. Piscotty helped his own cause with a two-hit day, an RBI and a run scored.

In the hunt for his fourth straight win, Piscotty (5-2) ran into some trouble in the seventh inning. Joe Sever knocked in one with a double, and Cooper collected RBI 2 and 3, putting his team down one.

Sahil Bloom came in for relief with 2.2 shut-out innings and a Cardinal victory.

However, the game would not have been complete without some late-game dramatics.

Senior SS Zach Vincej hit a home run-sized blast to left in the ninth inning that tailed left for a loud strike rather than game-tying heroics.

Stanford Wins 5-4 over Pepperdine on Saturday

Down four early, sophomore Brian Rigera hit his fifth home run of the season to put Stanford on the board. The old adage of sometimes it's better to be lucky than good proved true, as Stanford closed a three-run gap on a disastrous three-run wild pitch.

Rigera came scrambling home from third on Pepperdine starter Scott Frazier's wild pitch. Catcher Miles Silverstein, who had retrieved the ball, tried to stop his throwing motion to catch the trailing runner and instead lost his grip on the ball. Eric Smith came in on the fumble, and as the ball squirted toward the left, it careened off an unaware Rigera and went out of play for a dead ball and a third unearned run.

Yikes!

Kenny Diekroeger made the Waves pay for the mishap, with his RBI double down the third base line in the eighth inning. Closer A.J. Vanegas (4-0) struck out the side to capture the win and get starter Brett Mooneyham, who only lasted 2.1 innings, off of the hook.

Stanford Delivers 9-1 Beating to Fresno State on Friday

College pitching sensation—and now Pittsburgh's first-round draft pick—Mark Appel (10-1) sought vengeance against the Bulldogs, who tagged him for his first loss and two of his remarkably low three HR allowed all season.

Appel shined, throwing a complete game with 11 Ks and only one earned run. Fresno State just couldn't keep up with his combination of fastballs and sliders, which had them mercilessly flailing either off their front foot or simply too late.

Fresno State manager Mike Batesole was wildly impressed by Stanford’s ace:

"I'm pretty sure he could have won a big league game today. That was fantastic the way he was able to pitch backwards when he wanted to. And then a couple times you got some young hitters out there who look for the breaking ball and he was right on time at 97 [mph]."

The offense came from two-run fifth, a three-run sixth and a four-run eighth. Austin Wilson had three RBI despite only having one hit. Diekroger also had a solid day, with a pair of hits and a pair of RBI. He got things done with the glove as well, stealing a hit up the middle from Jordan Luplow.

In 1992, the Houston Astros selected Phil Nevin, a third baseman from Cal State Fullerton with the No. 1 overall pick—ahead of a certain high school shortstop named Derek Jeter, who was picked sixth overall by the New York Yankees. Nevin wound up playing just 18 games for the Astros, while Jeter has over 3,000 career hits for the Yankees and is a lock for the Hall of Fame when he retires.

Two decades later, the Astros have the No. 1 pick in the MLB draft once again, and they will attempt not to make the same mistake again.

Stanford pitcher Mark Appel has been projected to be the first pick for most of the season, and ESPN’s Jim Bowden tweeted the following on Sunday afternoon, citing an unnamed source:

According to source the Houston Astros are expected to select Stanford RHP Mark Appel with the first over all selection in tomorrows draft.

— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) June 3, 2012

If these rumors hold true, and the Astros do indeed select Appel first overall, the Cardinal would have the distinction of producing No. 1 selections in three professional sports this year (Andrew Luck to the NFL and Nneka Ogwumike to the WNBA are the other two).

But success didn’t come without hard work and struggles for Appel, who coincidentally was an Astros’ fan growing up in Houston, Texas, before moving to the Bay Area when he was 12.

He played baseball for Monta Vista High School in San Ramon, where he was relegated to a bullpen role during his senior year, as other pitchers who were perceived to have more talent were in the starting rotation. He was selected in the 15th round (450th overall) in 2009 by the Detroit Tigers, but instead chose to attend Stanford on a scholarship.

Appel continued to pitch out of the bullpen in his freshmen year at Stanford, finishing with just 26 strikeouts in 38 innings and a 5.92 ERA.

Stanford pitching coach Rusty Filter cited Appel’s lack of an arsenal of pitches for his mediocre freshman season, telling Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game USA:

[T]his guy didn’t even start for his high school team. In my system, we’re always pitching to contact, and you have to throw strikes to be effective. He didn’t have good command on his breaking ball and changeup as a freshman and that cost him dearly. Mark was a one-pitch guy as a freshman, and it’s something we talked a lot about.

So Appel worked hard during the summer, and set a goal to be in the starting rotation in his sophomore campaign. He spent some time in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, working on developing his pitches.

“I went into the summer focusing on getting a lot of innings and creating a starter’s mentality,” Appel said. “Everything I was doing all summer and winter, I was preparing to be a starter. I wanted to be the Friday night guy for this team.”

He finished the summer going 6-1 with a 1.43 ERA in 43 innings in the NECBL, and was named to the starting rotation in his sophomore year at Stanford. His performance was much improved, as he finished the sophomore campaign with a 6-7 record and a 3.07 ERA, and eventually did become the Friday night starter.

In an interview with Jessica Quiroli in March of 2011, Appel acknowledged that his success as a starter was largely because of his much improved repertoire.

 

The offspeed stuff is coming along just fine. The slider has been one of my better pitches throughout high school and college and right now I’m working on location and setting hitters up with the fastball to punch them out with the slider. My changeup has improved greatly from last year. I threw it a lot this summer in the NECBL, and I now feel comfortable throwing it in any count. Having three pitches has allowed me to be efficient to let me go deep into games and keep the hitters off balance.

However, the journey to success was just starting for Appel, who had a career year as a junior. This season, he went 9-1 with a 2.37 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 116/24 K/BB ratio over 110 innings this season. Toss out his two starts against Fresno State and Arizona, in which he gave up a combined 13 runs over 16 innings, and he would have a 1.21 ERA over his other 97 innings. He had seven games with at least 10 strikeouts, and averaged 7.9 innings per start.

Scouts are salivating about his potential, and were impressed with his arsenal of pitches this year. Wes Yee of Project Prospect noted Appel’s outstanding fastball, devastating curveball, and above-average changeup in this report.

And that’s where Mark Appel’s incredible journey has led him. But what might be the most incredible moment of all could be tonight, when the Houston Astros, his hometown team, selects Appel with the first pick of the 2012 MLB Draft.

This article first appeared on baysportsnet.com.

Yesterday, I wrote about the potential number-one pick in this year's MLB draft, Stanford ace Mark Appel.  Earlier this season, I also scouted Stanford's number two starter, left-hander Brett Mooneyham. 

Mooneyham, a red-shirt junior who missed all of last season due to injury, is not going to go as high as Appel in the draft, but he could be a late first-round draft pick. 

The 6'5" lefty struggled with his command and control in the first start that I scouted, back on March 10 against Rice.  He continually missed up in the zone, which led to two home runs and two other deep flyouts.  He walked four and had 10 three-ball counts in his six innings of work. 

He finally settled down in the fifth inning, locating his fastball around the knees more and getting command of his changeup, which had been ineffective through four innings.  Once he got his fastball down, he started inducing more ground balls.

Mooneyham's fastball sat at 89-91 Miles Per Hour (MPH), touching a high of 94 MPH in the first inning.  He appeared to feature a four-seam fastball and did not throw many two-seamers.

His curveball was his best pitch, sitting at 74-76 MPH, and leading to most of his nine strikeouts.  His changeup, which was between 75-78 MPH, was erratic in the early going but started getting a late downward bite that tailed away from right-handed batters as the game progressed. 

In the second start that I scouted two weeks later against USC, Mooneyham flashed the same stuff but was a little sharper with his command.  He again struck out nine while walking three in his seven innings of work.  He pitched up in the zone with his fastball, which led to eight flyball outs against just three ground-ball outs. 

Mooneyham finished the regular season with a 4.05 Earned Run Average in 80 innings of work.  He recorded 88 strikeouts, but he also walked 35 and plunked an additional 14. 

For Mooneyham to develop into a mid-rotation starter in the major leagues, he will need to improve his control significantly.  He also needs to improve his fastball command within the strike zone to get the ball down around the knees more often.  He only allowed five home runs all season, but that has more to do with his excellent stuff than his suspect command. If he continues to pitch up in the zone consistently in professional baseball, his home run totals will likely go way up. 

As he moves up the professional ladder and the competition stiffens, he will not be able to get by on stuff alone.  Therefore, he needs to improve his control and fastball command to avoid walks, hit batsmen and high pitch counts. 

There are not many lefties in professional baseball with better stuff than Mooneyham.  The team that drafts him is getting a big arm—but one that also needs some refinement. 

While many of us count down the days to the start of the MLB season, college baseball is already two weeks underway and, as usual, loaded with future major league talent that every baseball fan should be keeping their eyes on.

The Florida Gators, led by future first-round draft pick and catcher, Mike Zunino (.440, 2 HR, 6 RBI), and insanely hot senior and former Colorado Rockies draft pick Preston Tucker (.387, 5 HR, 8 RBI) have come out of the gate strong, being the preseason No. 1 team in the country, but did suffer a loss to a strong Cal State Fullerton team in their opening series.

While a very strong argument can still be made that the Gators are the No. 1 team in the country (They also feature Brian Johnson, a potential first-round pick at the top of their rotation), a team on the West coast would like to challenge their position at the top of the national rankings.

The Stanford Cardinal recently finished an incredibly impressive three-game sweep in Palo Alto against the No. 9 team in the country, the Texas Longhorns (2-5). While the Gators may have more proven talent at the college level, there may be even more big league talent on the Cardinal, which was on full display this weekend.

The Cardinal are led by the guy who is featured as the potential No. 1 pick on just about every draft board in starting pitcher Mark Appel.

Appel is a 6'5" power arm who has been absolutely dominant so far this year, winning both his starts while only allowing two runs in 14 innings pitched. He also struck out 15 batters at a rate of more than one per inning. With one of the top pitchers in the country atop of their rotation, the Cardinal will always be in a position to win on Fridays.

That being said, the rest of the rotation isn't too shabby either.

Brett Mooneyham (2-0, 2.57 ERA), son of former big leaguer Bill Mooneyham, looks to be returning strong as a weekend starter this year after a finger injury kept him out last season.

Freshman John Hochstatter seems to have emerged as the  No. 3 starter, but will be pushed by A.J. Vanegas despite Vanegas struggling thus far this season. Freshman David Schmidt, drafted by the Cardinals last year, looks to be a key member of the bullpen.

While Stanford may have one of the best pitching staffs in the country behind Appel and Mooneyham, their offense may be what sets them over the top. Just about every member of the Stanford lineup has big league potential, led by future high draft picks in Kenny Diekroeger and Brian Ragira, among others.

The shortstop, Diekroeger (.400, 0 HR, 5 RBI) was a second-round pick by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009, but his success at Stanford should have worked him into a potential first-round pick this spring.

Ragira (.419, 0 HR, 7 RBI), though, who can play multiple positions but has seemed to settle in at first base, may be the biggest pro prospect in their lineup.

Ragira, who is from Houston and the son of Kenyan immigrants, was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year last season and shows an incredible raw gift for the game, especially offensively. 

Junior outfielder Jake Stewart (.400, 1 HR, 6 RBI), who was a 14th-round pick by the Phillies out of high school, serves as the leadoff hitter and has started off the year very hot offensively. He, too, could be working himself into the first round this June.

Sophomore infielder Lonnie Kauppila (.360, 0 HR, 4 RBI), junior outfielder Tyler Gaffney (.346, 0 HR, 6 RBI) and sophomore outfielder Austin Wilson (.316, 1 HR, 6 RBI) are also incredible talents the Cardinal spread throughout the lineup.

The glue holding the whole offense together is junior infielder and team leader Stephen Piscotty, a first team All-Pac-10 selection in 2011. Piscotty has already hit three home runs and drove in 16 runs this season from the middle of the order. He also looks to be a high-round draft pick.

While Florida and South Carolina are going to duke it out on the East coast all season, the team to watch on the West coast is for sure the Stanford Cardinal.

Look for this team to dominate all season, as their sweep over Texas showed, and look for players like Appel, Diekroeger, Stewart and Piscotty to hear their names called quite early this June in the MLB draft.

For those of you who have followed my exploits on the Bleacher Report over the last several months, I hope you've learned this about me.

For one, my family and friends mean more to me than the very breath I breathe.

If I were in a boat with any of my family or friends and some one had to go overboard so that the others can survive, it's me.

Not because I'm a hero, but because my friends and family are.

Second, I love the game more than I love the final score. Wins fade away. The players and the memories are timeless.

Third, I'm angry about steroids, skyrocketing salaries, players who don't give it there all or make use of the God-given talent they have been blessed with. See Rules No. 1 and 2 above if anything seems out of whack here.

So when life circumstances allow me to bump into a fellow human being who seems to be a mirror of these sentiments and beliefs, I get all weak-kneed and fuzzy inside. Not because I had a brush with a star, but because I had a brush with a human that my kids and your kids can still look up to.

So when I had the opportunity to spend some time with former Major League utility man David McCarty, I got (see above)...all weak-kneed and fuzzy inside.

No, I didn't truly meet Dave in the flesh. I cannot tell a lie. But, while living this fantasy we call Sports Writer, I mustered up enough Khutzpah (see Todd's Yiddish Dictionary) to ask Dave to do a cross country interview.

Right in line with his character, he was open and gracious and giving.

The following is the first in a series I will be doing called "Through the Eyes Of....".

In each segment, I will present interviews with or stories about those that I view to be the "Good Guys". It is my personal crusade to present baseball in all it's beauty and splendor instead of hashing and rehashing all that is broken with our National treasure.

So, I present to you, the first in the series..Through the Eyes of ..David McCarty, World Champion Human Being:

TC: How many MLB teams did you play for?

DM: I played for nine different organizations, and was in the major leagues with seven of them.

TC:  What was it like playing ball at Stanford?

DM: It was a great experience. I am a strong believer in going to college before turning pro. It gives a young man the chance to get his education paid for while allowing him time to mature as a person and a player.

By signing out of high school players are going to have to hit all the stops on the way up and there is some pretty brutal travel and very little pay in the low minor leagues.

The one exception to this is if a player is such a high-round pick that he will get several million dollars and be financially set for life. Otherwise the money will still be there when a player signs out of college. 

TC:  If you could have won a WS, an MVP, or gone to an All Star game which would you do?

DM: No brainer—win the World Series. It was incredible.

TC:  Tell me who would present you if you got in the HOF?

DM:  The guy I just bought the ticket from because that is the only way I’ll get in.

TC:  What was your favorite on the road city?

DM: Seattle was always great because you could get up in the morning and just walk around. It is so compact that you can leave the hotel and see so much of it just by walking around. I also liked going to Texas or Houston so I could see family.

TC:  Who had the crummiest MLB locker rooms?

DM: The old Cleveland stadium was the worst followed closely by Tiger Stadium and Fenway before the renovations.

TC:  What is your favorite on-the-road meal?

DM: I enjoyed having barbecue in Texas and KC.

TC:  Who was the greatest coach you played for?

DM:  I most enjoyed playing for Tito (Boston's Terry Francona). He does such a great job of deflecting so much of the media heat away from his players. It really makes it easier for guys to relax in the pressure cooker that is Boston.

TC:  Should baseball have a salary cap?

DM: Not unless there is a salary floor to go with it. I find it hard to consider when some of the teams receiving revenue sharing money have taken the proceeds and putting it in their pockets rather than spending on talent to put a better product on the field.

TC:  What do we do about the spending of the Yankees?

DM:  Keep having them spend foolishly. They continue to have the highest payroll in the game, but that hasn’t gotten them a WS title this century.

I think many teams need to do a better job of attracting fans and creating revenue. Step one in that process is putting a decent product on the field and it can be done on a modest budget.

Look at the Twins and the A’s. They continue to develop homegrown players so they can compete without breaking the bank. It takes smarts and effort, but can be done.

Let’s not forget that the Yankees were a joke of an organization when Steinbrenner bought them. All the money in the world doesn’t matter if an organization has poor leadership. The Orioles have spent money for quite some time, but are still in a shambles.

TC:  If you were starting your own baseball team, who would be the one player you would have to sign?

DM:Not an easy question. A couple years ago I would have said Pujols. Now there isn’t a no-brainer pick. There are guys like Pedroia or Longoria that you want to see more of a track record out of before making an absolute commitment to having him be THE cornerstone your team is built around.

There are also guys like Teixeira or Howard that could be considered. I can tell you that I wouldn’t build my team around a pitcher, because they can’t affect enough games and there is too big a chance of injury.

TC:  What are your favorite baseball movies?

DM: Bull Durham and Major League. I have to throw in Fever Pitch because you can see the back of my jersey in a dugout scene.

TC:  Meeting which MLB player was the most amazing?

DM: Meeting and playing against Nolan Ryan was very special for me, because he was a boyhood idol of mine.

TC: Did you ever think you would be held in the position of awe that all boys, young and old hold you in?

DM: I remember what it was like to see or meet a professional athlete when I was a child so I can understand the fascination with seeing professional athletes.

TC:  What should be done to clean the egg on baseball's face?

DM: A world-class testing program for steroids and HGH.

TC:  If you had to do it all over again, what would change?

DM: I might have tried being a pitcher. I pinch hit against most of the lefty relievers in the game and I can say that there are quite a few that are in the big leagues because they are left handed and breathing.

That is why I tried my hand at pitching with the Sox. I told Tito and Theo that I could do better than a lot of guys who were in the league.

To their credit, they gave me a shot. I’m 6’5" and with little practice was able to hit 89 mph. I could also spot my fastball very well, so I think I could have had a pretty good career as a pitcher.

WRITER'S NOTE: Mccarty appeared in three games as a reliever for the Sox in their World Championship 2004 season. He was 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA and had 4 Ks in 3.2 innings of work.

TC:  What do you do being retired at under 40 years old?

DM: I knew I would want and need to do something when I retired from baseball so I started talking to people while I was still playing ball about different careers I was considering. I settled on commercial real estate because of the flexible schedule and ability to get into the property-ownership side of the business.

TC: What are you doing now?

DM: I have been working in commercial real estate for Lee & Associates in Oakland for about three years now. We handle office, industrial, and investment deals. If any readers have questions or need help with commercial real estate please feel free to contact me.

TC:  Are you involved in any charitable endeavors?

DM: Our son, Reid, has Tourette Syndrome so we support the Tourette Syndrome Association. I have also done a little with the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland.

TC: Is your wife and family glad to have you at home?

DM: I think so. Most days. My wife, Monica, is a successful Scottish historical romance novelist. She has hit both the NY Times and USA Today best seller lists.

WRITER'S NOTE: Her book Highland Scoundrel hit book stores on March 24th and is already doing quite well. It is the story of Duncan Campbell. He possesses all the attributes for a Highland chieftain except for one—legitimacy.

He was forced from the clan for a crime he didn’t commit, and has earned a reputation as the fiercest, most skilled mercenary on the continent. When their attempt to prove Duncan’s innocence uncovers a deadly secret, not only their lost love, but their lives hang in the balance.

My wife, Katie, bought it the day it hit stores and has not put it down.

And so is the life of David McCarty. Some how I think the world of sports would be on more solid footing if there were a few more of him around. It is reassuirng and gratifying to know, however, that when God assembles that "All-Star" team in the sky, David McCarty will be at the end of the bench willing to play first, the outfield or even throw a few innings of shutout ball. TC.