GaryMrMets
06-16-2002, 01:05 PM
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/ana/news/ana_news.jsp?ymd=20020611&content_id=50605&vkey=news_ana&fext=.jsp
06/11/2002 10:26 pm ET
Father's Day: Spiezio follows Dad
By Doug Miller / MLB.com
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Angels first baseman Scott Spiezio knows a thing or two about fatherhood and baseball.
His father, Ed Spiezio, played nine seasons in the Major Leagues with St. Louis, San Diego and the Chicago White Sox.
Scott, 29, is in his sixth full season in the big leagues and third with Anaheim. After two years of bench duty, he serves as the Angels' primary first baseman and has established himself as one of the American League's elite defensive players at his position.
On May 23, Spiezio became a father for the second time when his wife, Amy, gave birth to their second son, Cody. Their older son, Tyler, is 2½.
In honor of Father's Day, Spiezio sat down with MLB.com to talk about how the grand old game and dear old Dad go hand in hand.
MLB.com: What did your dad do to teach you the game?
Scott Spiezio: He owned a shop, so he'd leave work early and come home and throw hundreds and hundreds of balls to me. He built two pitching mounds in my backyard (in suburban Chicago). Then we'd go to a high school and I'd take ground balls, and then we'd go to a gym and play basketball. In the winter, we'd take it into the basement. He had different stations set up. I'd hit balls off a tee into a blanket and field ground balls off the wall.
MLB.com: Was he one of those dads that pushed you into baseball?
Spiezio: No, not at all. I just always wanted to do it. He said, "You're gonna be good at something, so let's figure out what it will be," and I just wanted it to be baseball. He didn't even enroll me into Atom League until I begged him to do it.
MLB.com: Is Tyler old enough to understand baseball or like baseball yet?
Spiezio: He's baseball-crazy already. For three or four months, all he would wear was Angels gear. He's over that now, but he's still convinced that the Anaheim Angels symbol is actually the symbol for Scott Spiezio. But he knows about home runs and running the bases and he understands that he sits up high and watches Daddy down on the field. He also likes the Friday night fireworks (at Edison Field). He calls them the "boom-booms."
MLB.com: If your kids show promise, would you get your house custom-built for baseball workouts like your dad did for you?
Spiezio: Yeah. If I can find some land, I'll have a big building with a cage in it. As far as me pushing him, I don't think I'll have to. Already, Tyler likes to hit and it looks like he might be a switch-hitter like me. I'm not going to demand of him to do this or that. I'll try to be lower-key with him.
MLB.com: It must be tough to have young sons and be at the park all the time and on the road all the time.
Spiezio: It is, but there are great moments. After a game, if I'm lucky enough that they're still awake when I get home, it's just awesome to see them. And if you had a bad game, it's all forgotten instantly when you see those faces. The next morning, they're so happy that Daddy's home. And when we go on trips, they come and say goodbye when we get on the bus, which is really cute.
MLB.com: You've said your dad was overly involved in your development as a player. Explain just how much.
Spiezio: I didn't see my dad play -- he basically retired the day I was born. So he had a lot of time to oversee my development. And that included having me report to him on every at-bat, pitch by pitch, after games in high school and to some extent in college. I would take notes on each at-bat in a journal and then report to him on it. He still tries to do it. I had some college buddies with me the other day and he was trying to convince them to pitch to me so I could hit changeups and offspeed stuff. He believes very strongly in the mental side of the game.
Doug Miller covers the Angels for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/images/2002/04/25/Z9YyAwGZ.jpg
Spiezio has established himself as a top defender at first base. (Elaine Thompson/AP)
06/11/2002 10:26 pm ET
Father's Day: Spiezio follows Dad
By Doug Miller / MLB.com
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Angels first baseman Scott Spiezio knows a thing or two about fatherhood and baseball.
His father, Ed Spiezio, played nine seasons in the Major Leagues with St. Louis, San Diego and the Chicago White Sox.
Scott, 29, is in his sixth full season in the big leagues and third with Anaheim. After two years of bench duty, he serves as the Angels' primary first baseman and has established himself as one of the American League's elite defensive players at his position.
On May 23, Spiezio became a father for the second time when his wife, Amy, gave birth to their second son, Cody. Their older son, Tyler, is 2½.
In honor of Father's Day, Spiezio sat down with MLB.com to talk about how the grand old game and dear old Dad go hand in hand.
MLB.com: What did your dad do to teach you the game?
Scott Spiezio: He owned a shop, so he'd leave work early and come home and throw hundreds and hundreds of balls to me. He built two pitching mounds in my backyard (in suburban Chicago). Then we'd go to a high school and I'd take ground balls, and then we'd go to a gym and play basketball. In the winter, we'd take it into the basement. He had different stations set up. I'd hit balls off a tee into a blanket and field ground balls off the wall.
MLB.com: Was he one of those dads that pushed you into baseball?
Spiezio: No, not at all. I just always wanted to do it. He said, "You're gonna be good at something, so let's figure out what it will be," and I just wanted it to be baseball. He didn't even enroll me into Atom League until I begged him to do it.
MLB.com: Is Tyler old enough to understand baseball or like baseball yet?
Spiezio: He's baseball-crazy already. For three or four months, all he would wear was Angels gear. He's over that now, but he's still convinced that the Anaheim Angels symbol is actually the symbol for Scott Spiezio. But he knows about home runs and running the bases and he understands that he sits up high and watches Daddy down on the field. He also likes the Friday night fireworks (at Edison Field). He calls them the "boom-booms."
MLB.com: If your kids show promise, would you get your house custom-built for baseball workouts like your dad did for you?
Spiezio: Yeah. If I can find some land, I'll have a big building with a cage in it. As far as me pushing him, I don't think I'll have to. Already, Tyler likes to hit and it looks like he might be a switch-hitter like me. I'm not going to demand of him to do this or that. I'll try to be lower-key with him.
MLB.com: It must be tough to have young sons and be at the park all the time and on the road all the time.
Spiezio: It is, but there are great moments. After a game, if I'm lucky enough that they're still awake when I get home, it's just awesome to see them. And if you had a bad game, it's all forgotten instantly when you see those faces. The next morning, they're so happy that Daddy's home. And when we go on trips, they come and say goodbye when we get on the bus, which is really cute.
MLB.com: You've said your dad was overly involved in your development as a player. Explain just how much.
Spiezio: I didn't see my dad play -- he basically retired the day I was born. So he had a lot of time to oversee my development. And that included having me report to him on every at-bat, pitch by pitch, after games in high school and to some extent in college. I would take notes on each at-bat in a journal and then report to him on it. He still tries to do it. I had some college buddies with me the other day and he was trying to convince them to pitch to me so I could hit changeups and offspeed stuff. He believes very strongly in the mental side of the game.
Doug Miller covers the Angels for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/images/2002/04/25/Z9YyAwGZ.jpg
Spiezio has established himself as a top defender at first base. (Elaine Thompson/AP)