PEORIA, Ariz. — There’s a veteran ballplayer who reports to the Mariners’ spring-training complex each morning and takes his usual place in the outfield grass on Practice Field 1. No place he’d rather be.
The guy’s a bit of a mystery, but he does look the part: Mariners shirt, Mariners cap, gray baseball pants, black belt, black spikes, well-worn Rawlings glove.
On a field with a number of nonroster invitees, he stands apart. Call him a nonroster interloper.
No one seems to mind, though. He looks like he belongs, at least, even if you’d be hard-pressed to unearth any sort of scouting report on him (we tried).
Best shape of his life?
Mark Merkley laughs.
No, not exactly. At 71 years old, Merkley is past his peak playing days, and two years removed from surgery to treat bone cancer in his left forearm.
That doesn’t stop him from volunteering each morning to shag fly balls during Mariners batting practice. Most days, it’s the best part of his day. Some days, it’s even more than that.
“I tell ya, coming out here every day is the highlight of my life,” Merkley said.
The Mariners offer a Shaggers Program to anyone interested in stepping on the field during spring training. Shaggers are required to have at least played high school baseball or softball, and they must sign a waiver releasing the Mariners (and the city of Peoria) from any injury liability.
A handful of other regulars join Merkley in the outfield most mornings, and they’ve become their own little community, these silver-tipped shaggers sharing a field with big league ballplayers.
“We’re all just kids out here. All of us,” Merkley said. “It’s like we’re 8 years old again.”
As Mariners hitters spray batting-practice balls all over the field, Merkley usually sets up in shallow center field, behind a large net. As other shaggers field the balls in various parts of the outfield, they’ll throw them back in toward Merkley, who gathers the balls and piles them in a bucket.
Once the bucket is full, he’ll carry it to the pitcher’s mound for assistant coach Carson Vitale, the regular batting-practice pitcher.
Merkley played shortstop and third base in college at BYU. In retirement, he moved from Salt Lake City to nearby Sun City, Ariz., three years ago — largely because of the pull of baseball. He joined a year-round men’s senior league baseball team, and he plays on a coed softball team, too. He just wants to play, for anyone who’ll let him.
Once he discovered the Mariners’ shaggers program, he committed to showing up as often as he could. The cancer diagnosis was a setback. In surgery, healthy muscle and skin tissue from Merkley’s leg was used to rebuild his left arm, and recovery kept him off the field for several months. He still doesn’t have complete range of motion in his left hand.
“Every once in awhile, I notice when a ball comes into me, it’ll hit the front of my glove because I just can’t get my hand all the way back. But, hell, I’m 71 years old, what am I going to do?” he said with a laugh.
He’s still confident in his glovework, though. He’s had a few close calls with 100-mph line drives flying by, but he’s also had his share of highlights.
“Last year I caught one right here,” he said, clenching his fist and slamming his right hand into his glove, “and, man, it was a screamer. I went down to one knee and caught it. Man, it shook my glove, and all the guys around the [batting] cage were cheering.”
The ultimate highlight?
Without a doubt, he says, it’s getting to “play” next to Ichiro every morning.
The Mariners Hall of Famer still reports to camp daily, and even at 50 years old, Ichiro still looks like he could play a Gold Glove right field. Part of Ichiro’s morning workout routine at spring training is to shag fly balls during batting practice, alongside Merkley and the other volunteers.
“The first time I came out here, it was so fun. I was in the outfield and here comes Ichiro trotting out,” Merkley said. “And I thought, ‘My gosh, I’m sharing the outfield with a Hall of Famer — with the greatest hitter who’s ever played the game.’ ”
The volunteer shaggers are asked not to engage with Mariners players while they’re on the field, and that generally applies to Ichiro, too. Merkley couldn’t help himself one time when he looked on in wonder as Ichiro made a nifty behind-the-back catch on a high fly ball (something he loved to do during BP in his playing days too).
Merkley says he’s spent some time in Japan, and knows a little bit of Japanese, and he just couldn’t resist — he had to say something after that behind-the-back catch. So he hollered across the field to Ichiro: Subarashii, masuta sensei.
Which loosely translates as: Well done (or wonderful), master teacher.
In return, Ichiro turned toward Merkley and offered a deliberate head nod.
“What a thrill,” Merkley said.
Just a couple of kids playing a kids game, no end in sight.
