Pam Carey is the author of "Minor League Mom: A Mother's Journey Through The Red Sox Farm Teams". The Mitten State Sports Report is truly honored to have Pam Carey's contribution to this website. Both of Pam Carey's sons played Minor League Baseball, and "Minor League Mom" highlights the good times, and the bad times of Pam Carey's journey. Scroll down to read a synopsis from "Minor League Mom: A Mother's Journey Through The Red Sox Farm Teams". Click on the links below for more information about Pam Carey, and her books!
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Minor League Mom: A Mother's Journey Through The Red Sox Farm Teams
by
Pam Carey
On June 1, 1992, the day of the amateur baseball draft, I was home alone. Having completed his junior year at Brown University, our younger son, Todd, had a temporary job there before leaving to play ball in the prestigious Cape Cod League. Our older son, Tim, was still at Dartmouth College in final exams.
By late afternoon, the only phone calls had been from anxious relatives inquiring whether Tim, or Todd had been drafted. Finally at 6 p.m., with my husband Charley still tied up in a meeting, Red Sox scout Bill Enos called to inform me that Todd had been drafted by the Red Sox in the ninth round. Since the Sox had traded away their right in the eighth round, Todd was, in fact, the eighth player from around the world that the Sox selected that June. Enos suggested that he would meet with Todd and Charlie to negotiate the details of the deal within the week.
The Sox were willing to pay Todd a bonus of $42,500 to sign in '92 - standard for his position as a ninth-round draftee. There would be standard incentives offered to all minor leaguers for achieving higher levels of pay. He would start on the rookie team and work his way up the five levels under the major league level.
Within a week, Tim graduated from Dartmouth College, and Bill Enos was on the phone again, asking Tim to sign as a free agent with the Red Sox. He and his wife again entered our home, this time with a contract for our older son. Tim signed for a straight salary of $850/month, the same as Todd's. The Sox gave him a $1,000 bonus as an undrafted free agent in '92. Asked for his reaction to signing with the Sox just days after his brother, Tim replied, "It's like a dream. I grew up watching them in Fenway."
Fast forward almost seven years to Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. Todd, by then our only son still playing pro ball, was in spring training there for the Dodgers, his third team. He called to tell us, "There was a message light on my phone this afternoon, and when I went back into the office, the manager said they were letting me go. Some of the major leaguers decided to go to our team (AAA - the highest minor league level) instead of being released. I need to get out of here! Can you pick me up?"
With finality, by the side of a curb on a warm Florida day, my role as the ultimate cheerleader, and baseball fan ended. I'd consoled, prodded, theorized, and boosted egos, while two sons had ridden the wave of professional baseball through triumphs, and despair. We all knew that day at Dodgertown that a family dream had died there, too.
There was no place for mothers in the machine of pro ball. It was purely a business and players were property, to be bought or sold. Naive and awestruck, Charlie and I became "regulars" at the Sox minor league fields. We mingled with other parents and talked to coaches, former major leaguers, and park owners. Mostly, we listened and cheered. The dream had become an obsession.
My sons moved on to graduate schools, careers, and families. I moved on by writing my memoir. It was a catharsis.
For info about Pam Carey's Minor League Mom click on
www.minorleaguemom.net
For more information about Pam Carey click on
http://www.minorleaguemom.blogspot.com
For info about Pam Carey's other book click on
http://www.parentswithmarbles.com
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