Like most players in the minor leagues, Ryan Morgan has to work at a part-time job over the winter to make extra money. One of Morgan's job is painting wrought iron fences.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
For the more than 40 minor-league baseball players from the St. Louis-area each year presents two cycles. The warmest six months of the year are passed on the road, in pursuit of a dream that began in childhood. For the other six months, life is mundane. Most simply try to stay afloat.
In a Clark Kent-type of transformation, area minor leaguers arrive home and attempt to enter the workforce. No longer playing in front of thousands of fans or signing autographs for kids, their lives dramatically change.
“I feel like we have two lives,” says Ryan Mantle, a 23-year-old Wildwood resident under contract with the San Francisco Giants. “We have our in-season life and our off-season life, and they’re very different.”
Mantle, who graduated from Eureka High School in 2005, is an outfielder who played at Fresno in the Pacific Coast League during the summer, and currently is working two jobs this winter. His most steady employment is at Club Fitness in Ballwin. He works Monday through Friday, arriving shortly before 6 a.m. and staying until noon. While he doesn’t enjoy getting up early, he’s happy to earn a salary. Minor leaguers are only paid while in-season, with total salaries often amounting to less than $10,000. For most, off-season work is a necessity.
“I started filling out applications as soon as I got home,” Mantle says. He scoured businesses in the fitness industry, applying to GNC, Gold’s Gym, and half a dozen others. Club Fitness was hiring, and he luckily landed a part-time job less than a month later.
Instead of a baseball uniform, Mantle now dons a black polo fitted around his wide chest. He tucks the shirt neatly into khaki pants, and dapperly spikes his short hair in the front.
“He’s an awesome worker,” states Tim Marshall, his manager at Club Fitness. “We’re just sad he has to leave for spring training, but we understand.”
After finishing work at the gym, Mantle goes home to his parents’ house, where he still lives in the off-season. He eats lunch and, after a short break, returns to the gym to work out.
“I needed a gym membership, so it’s great that I can use this gym for free,” he says. Mantle usually spends more than an hour a day lifting weights, stretching, doing cardio, and performing a variety of other exercises to strengthen his body as he prepares for the upcoming season.
Once Mantle’s workout is finished, he drives a few blocks down Manchester Road to Balls-n-Strikes in Ballwin. Here he spends another hour perfecting his swing on a daily basis. As an instructor at the facility, he’s allowed free usage and has begun giving lessons to children.
“Sometimes they’ll see me hitting on my own, come up to me, and ask, ‘Do you work here?’” Mantle said. “So I’ve gotten a couple of kids like that.”
In all, lessons have been slow. Mantle speculates that the tough economy has led to parents’ reluctance to pay for individual lessons. Despite this, he’s been able to build a modest clientele, and he also leads small groups of high school athletes preparing for their seasons. Some days he doesn’t finish work until 10 p.m.
At Balls-n-Strikes, Mantle’s hardly alone. Aaron Jaworowski, one of the co-owners of the company, played in the minors for both the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees. He can relate to the troubles that minor leaguers face in finding work, and states that at least 75 minor leaguers have been employed at one of the five area franchises since its founding.
These minor leaguers in turn educate a future generation of St. Louis baseball players. According to the company’s website, 121 former students of Balls-n-Strikes have been drafted—including high profile picks such as Jacob Turner and Max Scherzer. Instructors such as Mantle no doubt helped them tremendously, and it’s a process he greatly appreciates.
“Teaching and simply being around the kids, watching them truly enjoy every minute, makes me realize how fortunate I am to still be playing the same game today,” he says.
A little north of Ballwin, another minor leaguer toils in a different line of work. Ryan Morgan, a Saint Louis University High School graduate and current Kansas City Royals pitching prospect who spent his summer in Idaho Falls, Idaho in the Pioneer League, is spending his off-season in Creve Coeur. One of his jobs is painting wrought-iron fences.
“The guy who taught me was a teammate in high school,” he said. “I think I started helping him my senior year.”
Since then, the 22-year-old has begun looking for his own projects. Finding clients can be the toughest part.
“I get some referrals, but sometimes I just drive around until I see a fence that really needs painting.” Morgan said. He then rings the doorbell, explains who he is, and makes the owner an offer. Showing off a recent project in Ladue, Morgan speaks proudly of his work.
“This fence was covered in rust,” Morgan says as he stands next to a glossy iron gate. “(The owners) were just going to tear it down. I think it looks pretty good now.”
The project took him three full days. Using a wire brush and scraper, the tedious removal of the rust took the majority of his time. For his troubles, he earned the equivalent of his entire minor league paycheck.
As the weather turns colder, Morgan can no longer rehabilitate fences such as these. The glossy paint fails to dry in temperatures below 32 degrees. He now searches for other jobs and works for the St. Louis Pirates, an area select traveling team managed by Rick Strickland. Instructing the organization’s pitchers gives him a few hours of work, but he, like Mantle, wishes to also give private lessons. So far he hasn’t found any clients.
“I put up fliers everywhere,” Morgan says. “I even went to elementary schools and asked if I could advertise there, but so far—nothing.” He hopes that as baseball season approaches, more people will become interested.
While most minor leaguers in the area are working, a few are finishing college. Brock Bond, a 24-year-old Lindbergh High School alumnus, is currently taking 15 hours of classes through the University of Missouri-Columbia. It hasn’t been easy.
Playing the entire season for the Double A Connecticut Defenders, Bond led the Eastern League in batting in 2009 with a .333 average. One of the best young leadoff hitters in the San Francisco Giants’ farm system, he helped his team reach the finals of the playoffs. Unfortunately, this forced him to be absent from his classes.
“I missed the entire first month because of the season,” the minor leaguer says. “But (the professors) were surprisingly helpful with it. I think they were just happy an athlete was going back to school.”
While most of Bond’s classmates are currently suffering through finals, Bond is in Scottsdale, Ariz., for a conditioning camp. A three-week camp held at the Giants’ spring training facility, he was one of only 14 players selected to attend. Luckily, some of his classes are online. The others required end of semester term papers instead of finals. After discussions with his professors, Bond was allowed to participate in the camp.
To pay his off-season bills, Bond is relying on the small bonus he received for signing with the Giants in 2007. As a 24th round pick, his funds are very limited. In January, he plans to seek an off-season job for the weeks leading up to spring training. It won’t be easy finding work for that short of a time period, but Bond is optimistic.
“I’ll work at the mall or something. Maybe the Buckle’s hiring,” he said.
Like all minor leaguers, he might get a job, but his mind will already be preparing for next season, and the next cycle to begin.
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