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Willow Glen's own Mike Wright heads for the big show
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
For Love of the Game
Mike Wright was picked up by his dream team, the San Francisco Giants, to play on one of its minor league teams
By Kara Chalmers
On a warm Friday evening last June, while returning to their Willow Glen home from a party, Michael and Janet Wright encountered the unexpected sight of their son Mike standing outside at his car. Puzzled, Janet Wright asked her son what he was doing. "I'm getting ready to go to Candlestick tomorrow," he said.
"Mike, I'm tired," Janet said. "No more jokes."
To that, Mike answered, "No, Mom, they called me at 7:15 and said, 'Would you like to be a catcher?'"
He left on Father's Day to spend the season in Salem, Ore., playing ball for one of the San Francisco Giants' minor league teams, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. His father reported that it was a nice present.
In the Wrights' sunny living room, Mike Wright, 23, relaxes on his couch. He is wearing a blue T-shirt emblazoned with the motto "Baseball America."
It was his mother, Janet, who called the Willow Glen Resident with the news about her son, which isn't surprising, since Mike Wright is modest almost to a fault. He never brags about his accomplishments. In fact, he neglects to mention any of them unless he is directly asked.
I would have missed the framed San Jose State awards leaning against the wall in the corner of the room if Wright's parents had not pointed them out the second time I visited their Westgate Avenue home. There are three in all: "Most Inspirational," "Outstanding Captain" and the Coaches Award.
Wright is sweet, and at first he seems quiet and reserved. But when he begins to speak about baseball, I can hear the passion in his voice. "It's the best game in the world. Everything about it I just love," he says. "You couldn't ask for a better game in the world. It's awesome. There's not much else I can say."
Wright may not have much more to say, especially about himself, but he has a roster of fans who don't hesitate to sing his praises.
His former coaches, his parents and his teammates describe him with superlatives like "tenacious competitor," "perfect team member" and "intense, focused player."
Wright's high school coach, Bellarmine's Gary Cunningham, puts it more simply: "The kid just loves to play baseball."
Wright signed as a free agent with the Giants this past spring after a stellar college catching career at both Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State. He played baseball (and football) at Bellarmine College Preparatory and played in the Lincoln Glen Little League program from age 6 to 16.
Despite the gypsy nature of a baseball player's life, Wright has managed to keep his roots firmly planted in the Bay Area, where his bonds are strongest. Twice now he has made decisions that have kept him close to home, where his family and friends could watch him mature into a great ballplayer. Wright left Cal State Fullerton when San Jose State offered to make him their No. 1 catcher as a junior. Later that year, he decided to remain at San Jose State when he was picked up by the Florida Marlins in the 1998 draft.
At the time, the Marlins couldn't offer a financially acceptable package to Wright, who thought it best anyway to continue his education. Wright felt that turning down the Marlins was the right decision, although it was probably the most difficult one he has ever made. "But I never had any regrets about it," he says.
Now Wright is playing with an affiliate of his dream team, the San Francisco Giants.
"I've grown up a Giants fan my whole life, so it was pretty sweet that I could play for them," he says, smiling.
Playing with the Volcanoes, a short-season Class A team, is a starting point, according to Wright.
Volcanoes players can move up to the San Jose Giants (who play at Municipal Stadium at Senter Road and Alma Avenue) or the Bakersfield Blaze in the single-A California League; to the double-A team in Shreveport, La.; or to the triple-A team in Fresno.
"And then from Fresno you go to the Big Leagues," says Wright.
Although Wright is a solid hitter who has averaged between .275 and .310 in his last few years, he says that during this past season with the Volcanoes, "I caught really well, which is basically what I really wanted to do."
"Mike'll do great," says Todd Duncan, who was co-captain with Wright at San Jose State and who now plays on the San Jose Clash major league soccer team. "His kind of work ethic just pays off."
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
In his trophy-filled office at San Jose State, head baseball coach Sam Piraro points to the worn couch against the wall. "I can remember him sitting there and he told me his goal was to be drafted and play professional baseball since he was a little kid.
"If he's given a chance to play on a consistent basis I think that people will be very pleased with what he can do," says Piraro. "He is a very strong and durable player. He can take a lot of nicks and bumps and bruises and play through those. When you're a catcher, that's critical."
But there are other qualities Wright possesses that the average young baseball player may not.
"He was his toughest critic," says Piraro. "We didn't necessarily have to say anything to him because he was very demanding of himself. Coaches love that."
One of Wright's unique traits is that he likes to win so much that he is genuinely offended and saddened by losing.
"With Mike, you knew when we won and you knew when we lost, you didn't have to check the board," says Piraro. "He was a team player in the sense that he wanted the team to win.
"He had a respect for the game," he adds. "And a lot of kids have no idea what you're talking about when you say that. He knows that you go to war for three hours and you battle and you play to win and you do everything you can to win and if you don't, you're spending your time trying to figure out what you can do for that next chance."
Still, Wright understands that there's more to life than baseball. He took challenging business management classes in college, and likes to surf and play golf when he gets the chance. He spends time with friends, but admits he doesn't have much to spare.
"He's got a pretty down-to-earth perspective on how difficult this path is," says Mike Wright Sr.
Wright has a strong support network made up of his parents, his brother, his girlfriend, relatives and friends from every school he ever attended and every team he ever played for. Clearly, he comes from a home that is 100 percent behind him.
"They didn't miss many ballgames, let me put it that way," coach Piraro says of the Wright family.
His mom tells me stories of her son's quiet generosity--stories I'm sure I would never hear from Wright himself. A couple of years ago, she says, there was a prayer service for a younger boy who had gone to Bellarmine with Wright. The boy was very ill with cancer, and Janet Wright wanted Mike to go attend the service. Unfortunately, there was a study group at college that Wright couldn't miss.
"So all he said to me was, 'I take care of business,' " says Janet Wright. "So I went to talk to the boy at the service and was going to make an excuse for Mike not being there. And he said, 'Oh, Mike came over to my house and spent two hours with me and gave me his college World Series shirt.'
People familiar with baseball know that the baseball life is tough. It is neither glamorous nor easy, as it may sometimes seem to outsiders.
"It's a very difficult job," says Mike Sr. "When you're a college athlete like Mike was for five years, you give up your college life."
Besides the physical difficulties, the injuries and the exhaustion, there are emotional disappointments: playing and not playing, starting and not starting.
"It's really humbling," says Wright. "I guess you can say it's a game of failure. If you succeed three out of 10 times, you're a success."
Wright, who has played ball since the age of 5, has become practiced at being humble.
On Sept. 11, Mike Wright left for Scottsdale, Ariz., to play ball in an instructional league until mid-October. After that, he says, "Who knows?" But he thinks he will likely be part of one of the single-A teams next year.
Bellarmine Coach Cunningham is more certain. "He's got a chance to maybe go all the way to the big show."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
