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Mark Grudzielanek laughs at the notion that he played in the Midwest League half a lifetime before he’ll manage in it.
The Cougars were in their second season in Geneva when Grudzielanek manned shortstop for the 1992 Rockford Expos. On April 9, he'll preside over the first game of Kane County's 25th anniversary campaign in his first managing job of any kind.
Grudzielanek realizes baseball has endured its share of changes since his 15-year Major League career ended in 2010.
He acclimated himself to many of them while networking at the recent winter meetings in his hometown of San Diego, and the Cougars’ new parent club, the Arizona Diamondbacks, liked what it heard.
“It’s kind of hard to get your name out there and say you’re serious unless you personally get out there and go face-to-face,” Grudzielanek said. “I think that’s the best way to do any kind of business. Reconnected with quite a few guys and worked it out a little bit.”
Grudzielanek admitted he “totally needed a break” after his playing career ended. He didn’t want to miss more moments with sons Brody, 8, and Bryce, 12.
But as the boys grew older, Grudzielanek, 44, felt an itch to return to organized ball – not that his sons’ travel teams he helped coach were in disarray.
He endeared himself to the D'backs organization through multiple channels. Grudzielanek played under then-St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, now Arizona's chief baseball officer, in 2005, a year after leaving the Cubs.
Current D’backs first base coach Dave McKay served the Cardinals in the same capacity.
In 2006, Grudzielanek won a Gold Glove as the Kansas City Royals’ second baseman with D’backs farm director Mike Bell’s father, Buddy, as his manager.
Several other staff members brought ties with “Grudzie,” whose overall baseball acumen – namely for the game’s coveted, gritty little things – quickly eased concern about his lack of coaching or managing experience.
“They rave about him. His work ethic, his baseball knowledge,” Mike Bell said. “To get a guy like Mark Grudzielanek, with his playing resume, his work ethic and passion for the game, you don’t get that very often anymore. So we were very fortunate.”
Said Grudzielanek: “It was a chain reaction that was awesome. Very humbling.”
Grudzielanek played under several Hall of Fame or otherwise well-regarded managers during his career, including Felipe Alou, Davey Johnson, Jim Tracy, Dusty Baker and La Russa.
He’s spent much of the past few days pondering his style.
Much of that, he figures, will be dictated by the makeup of the club, which won’t be determined until late in spring training but should include several members of the 2014 Hillsboro (Oregon) Hops, champions of the Short-A Northwest League, based on the natural progression of the organizational pipeline.
Cougars pitching coach Doug Bochtler, a one-time Grudzielanek opponent in their playing days and an occasional golf partner since, has seen first-year managers excel in the D’backs system. There are four this season. Bochtler worked with managerial rookie Robby Hammock at Rookie League Missoula (Montana) in 2013. Two years later, Hammock is preparing to manage at Double-A Mobile (Alabama).
“In many respects, I think the baseball will be the easiest part for Grud,” Bochtler said. “I think the hardest part will be, ‘What time does the bus leave?’ and, ‘When is batting practice?’ and, ‘What happens when a guy breaks curfew?’ … That’s going to be the kind of stuff there’ll be a learning curve with.”
Again, Grudzielanek recalls his own MWL playing career with good humor, a helpful tool considering he batted .246 in 128 games.
He’s eager to relive the day-to-day grind of early bus departures and half a summer spent on the road.
“As a kid, when you’re 20 or 21 or whatever you are, it’s just so much fun to be in that mix, playing baseball every day,” Grudzielanek said. “And to have that and play from the heart and play hard is kind of what you miss a little bit when you get to the big leagues. Because a lot of guys kind of do their thing.
“I always kid around out here. I tell the guys that are like, ‘Oh, congratulations,’ I say, ‘The only difference between the big leagues and where I’m going to coach is that my guy’s going to run hard to first.’ So we’ll keep it going. We’ll see what happens.”
The Cougars ended a two-year player-development contract with the Cubs in September but retain a connection to the North Siders in Grudzielanek, who batted .312 in 202 games with the Cubs from 2003-04.
Grudzielanek was 33 and playing second base for the Cubs during Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field, a night that’s difficult to discuss without mentioning the Steve Bartman incident.
With the Cubs leading, 3-0, and five outs away from their first World Series appearance since 1945, Bartman, a fan seated down the left field line, deflected a foul ball that left fielder Moises Alou appeared ready to catch.
The Florida Marlins rallied for eight runs in the eighth inning to take control of the game. They won the series a night later and captured the World Series shortly thereafter. It’s been 11-plus years, and only one thing has changed for Grudzielanek.
“I can sleep better,” he said, “but it’s a situation I’ll never forget. Obviously, it was history, it was a big part of what happened. Whether or not it affected winning or losing, we still had Game 7 to come back and win. And it’s tough to swallow, again. I mean, my biggest memory is Moises out there in left field and how frustrated and angry he was because he had it dialed in, and not to get an opportunity to see if that would have been a catch or not is where your thought goes.
“I mean, God, that was such a huge play. … In my mind, I think if he makes that play, I think we win it … win it in 6, but again, we had Game 7 to get it done, too.”
For the moment, there’s much better postseason juju at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. The Cougars didn’t lose a playoff game there in September, and are primed to welcome a few returning Northwest League champions to their ranks in 2015.
That leaves Grudzielanek ready to take the reins and return to the clubhouse culture for the first time since his final game for the Cleveland Indians in 2010.
“For somebody who played the game like Mark – who was a good baseball player, good hitter, good defender … who could do a lot of little things as well as impact the game himself, I think anyone who could do those things has a natural edge,” Bell said. “Now it’s just up to him to develop the way he wants to as a manager.”