Doug Mirabelli

This week's Diamond Conversations welcomes 2004 and 2007 World Series Champion, Doug Mirabelli. During the Red Sox remarkable "Reverse the Curse" era of the mid 2000s, Doug Mirabelli became a vital part of the Boston team by taking on the task of catching knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield. It was there that we would see how important Doug's skills would become to the Red Sox infrastructure. We also get to hear in this interview exactly what Doug felt when he was taken out of the comfort of being a Red Sox player and his triumphant journey back and remarkable return to beantown.

Episode Transcript

(00:16):
All right, let's get back inhere on Diamond Conversations. Of course,
every single week on the Creative ControlNetwork, if you didn't know by now
by name Zine and every single weekwe have a Diamond Conversation with somebody from
the world baseball. This week,of course it is no different, as
we are taking a trip back tothe glory days of the Boston Red Sox,
the two thousand and four, twothousand and seven World Series champions.

(00:39):
As I welcome in one of thosechampions, the great Doug Mirabelli joining me
tonight. Doug, thanks for comingon. Hey, my pleasure. It's
a good bet game. It's greatto talk to you. You know,
it's always great to talk to somebodywith the pedigree like you have. And
these Boston championships, you know,as we get out there and we talk
to different players, you know somethingabout the city of Boston, h that

(01:02):
that really brings out the special natureof baseball. But before we get into
that, what's going on in theworld of Doug mira Belly. How are
you these days? Oh? Life'sgood. Um, you know, I'm
up here in Traverse City, Michiganand h enjoying my time, my family,

(01:22):
everybody's great. I have a coupleof daughters that are really um one
daughter's at uh school playing volleyball.Yeah, um I am My middle daughter
is also a volleyball player. Comshe's a senior in high school. And
then UM my son Joey, whois twelve, gonna be thirteen here shortly,

(01:45):
um is you know, he's kindof all over the place with sports.
He loves golf, Um, heloves baseball, loves basketball, loves
them all. So everything's good here. Yeah, having a great time,
very nice, very nice. Doeshe does? He like to put the
old path and the uh and thethe chess protector and get down there like
good old dad. You know.Uh, it's funny he does. And

(02:09):
he realizes that, you know,at ten and eleven isn't always the best
time to be a catcher because youknow, pitcher's gonna be wild. There's
a lot of balls in the dirtythat you know, those years, so
uh, he's taking his lumps forsure. You actually end up becoming like
a better track star because you're chasingthose balls to the backstop every couple of

(02:29):
pitches. So that age is definitelyit's a learning experience for sure. But
nonetheless a lost start. It's kindof where I wanted to move into before
we talk about some of the momentsfrom your career. You know, with
baseball and everything going on today,are you currently watching, you know,
the the Major League season twenty twentyone? Currently watching? I would say

(02:50):
I'm an occasional watcher. You know, I I catch games here and there,
but I don't watch a game everynight or you know, I hardly
ever get to see the Red Soxplay because we're out here in in tiger
Land really so I see a lotof Tigers play. But you know,
if there's a chance for me tocatch the socks on, then I definitely

(03:13):
watched that game. But um,you know, I don't make it a
point necessary every night to catch thegame. Well, there's a lot of
stuff going on in the world ofbaseball, but one thing I like to
talk about is the catching. AndI spoke with Danny Schaeffer a couple weeks
ago, Who's you know, he'sgot a big catching program, and talk
about catching as a lost art andthe way things have changed in terms of
play in the position. Have youbeen able to watch the catchers in the

(03:35):
recent years and see some of theposition changes that they've been making. So
yeah, you know, I I'veseen it. I was like, you
know, um, it's it's obviouslya lot different now than it was even
ten years ago or so when whenI was catching. Um, now,
probably fourteen years ago, but umman, those we got pretty athletic catch

(04:00):
back there. The way they receivedthe ball is a lot different than we
received the ball even you know,fifteen years ago. Um. The art
of trying to steal pitches is youknow, it seems like it's uh,
um, you know a part ofwhat they're trying to do on every pitch.
So um, it's different, youknow, but it's you know,

(04:24):
just where the game's going right now. I don't I don't know if it's
you know, better or worse thanwhat we did, but it's definitely different.
What was the most important thing thatyou thought going behind the plate for
every game? Muh, well,you know, going behind the play with
Wakefield was a little bit different.So um, you know, um,

(04:45):
I think for me, uh andwhen I had you know, the Jason
Veritech there, I mean, justour game planning of how we were going
to attack hitters on a you know, on every abat every pitch how we
want to approach our defense. Imean that we may that UM our main
focus, and you know each picturewas a little bit different obviously with their
stuff. But UM, making surethat we were prepared for whoever came in

(05:11):
through the UM, you know,up to up to the plate and knowing
how we're going to pitch him,was, you know, our main focus.
Yeah. And obviously Wakefield with thatknuckleball. You know, there's there's
a lot of stuff that goes intohaving to catch a knuckleball or what was
that like the first time you satbehind the dish waiting for a Tim Wakefield
knuckleball? So the first time wasUm, I wasn't actually really sure what

(05:34):
I was about to get into.UM funny story. UM, A lot
of people don't know the story.But before I when I got traded from
UM from see it was San Diego, No, from Texas to Boston.
Um. Uh, I flew intoBoston that night. UM, I got

(05:58):
a call from I believe it wasJimmy Williams at the time, I'm managing.
I'm not sure if it was hiscall or not, but they told
me don't come to the ballpark himWakefields pitching tonight, and if you show
up to the ballpark, we're goingto have to designate Marcus Jensen, who

(06:21):
was the catcher at the time withScott Heddeberg. Well, Hatteberg had the
flu that night. So my firstnight into Boston, if I show up
to the ballpark, I'm gonna haveto catch Wakefield from flying. Never ever
catch a knuckle ball before, andthey just did not want that to happen

(06:43):
to me my first night there.So I appreciated them giving me the heads
up. Marcus did a good job. I know that. I played with
Marcus with the Giants, and sothe next day I showed up to the
ballpark and um, I got toskip Wakefield's first start. But moving moving

(07:04):
past that, I played catch withWakey. I remember in the outfield and
catching the ball, you know,off flat ground was a lot different than
when he was getting game ready,right, and so I I caught him
on the out in the outfield,I'm like, oh, this is not
too bad. You know, Ialways felt like very confident in my hands

(07:25):
and you know, we'll catch pitches. So my good I'm gonna be able
to use my um my normal catchersmid on with this not gonna be a
big deal. Well the first umand and Wakey used to kill carry his
own uh fast pitch catchers mint withhim. Okay, there's his own special
catchers mint and most of his catchersused it, so I sacond I'm good.

(07:48):
Um So he's warming up and Iswear I miss like man fe through
ten pitches. I missed eight ofthem, and I was like, but
and now I'm starting to get reallynervous because I'm like, what the heck
is this? Like, this isn'tnot the pitch I saw in the you
know, in the outfield when wewere playing catch. It was moving like

(08:09):
three feet, so I U Iwas like, I'm gonna go do a
little bit bigger catchers mint. Iwasn't really wanting to go to the big
you know, flappy softball mit yet. So I did a little bit better,
but I still didn't feel comfortable,and finally I broke down. I
was like, um, let mehave that. Mat. I was like

(08:31):
the third any we're in Toronto wherehis you know knowing now what I know
then like pitching in the dome ishis knuckleball moved a lot more at that
time, So I think I probablyhad three pass balls that night, and
I don't think I had three passballs in the years previous combined. So

(08:54):
that was like one of those thingswhere I was like, man, this
is you know. I got outof game and I was so mentally exhausted
from just the stress level of thethe heightened alertness that I had to have
with his knuckleball, that I wasjust like, I am so happy when

(09:16):
that game was over. So um. Pretty incredible. But obviously through a
lot of trial and error and experiencecatching him, UM, I became,
you know, very comfortable with it. And I was also comfortable with it.
You know, every once in awhile, I'm going to miss one,
you know, and so before ifyou missed the ball, it really
it's tough on you mentally because you'rejust not used to missing balls, and

(09:39):
you know, just by the thenature of the position, obviously you're a
catcher, you're supposed to catch theball. So UM, but I used
to. I figured out how torelax and um allowed the ball to kind
of come to me and it justseemed to work for me for years.
So m yeah, it was agood time. We had a great run

(10:01):
with Wakey and the Socks during thoseyears. So it was it was just
great teams to be a part ofit, for sure, and it's unbelievable.
And again, it's baseball, andit's the baseball God's aligning that when
you left Boston and then came back, you came back because they needed you
to catch Wakefield. And you know, even though you you managed to get
back to the Red Sox from thePadres, it's just kind of that ironic

(10:22):
thing. You had that issue withthat first start and then look you're on
the way back on the on theWhite Horse to catch Wakefield. I think
that to me, that's baseball ina nutshell right there. Yeah, yeah,
I think it was you know,getting getting and I wanted to be
back there too. So it wasone of those things where, um,
um, you know, I gottraded and I wasn't really wanting to be

(10:45):
traded. Obviously. I love beingwith the Red Sox. So when um,
you know, when they call youback and you're like, hey,
this is a low validation that Ishould never have left and they want me
back, it's it kind of feelsreally good. And you know, getting
back with a bunch of guys thatI've been with for a long time,
and won a World Series with itwas like, man, this is the
place where I'm supposed to be,so um, I love being there.

(11:07):
It seems like, you know,that team seems to be very tight.
You know, you see other reunions, everybody's very happy. It's a very
jovial scene. But you know,obviously the story the Curse of the Bambino
and what your two thousand and fourvictory was. When you go back and
think about that victory and the wayyou guys won and and how you did
it, I mean, is itstill is it kind of surreal to look

(11:28):
back seventeen years ago that you guysbroke that curse and you know, ended
up having a pretty damn good runover about a five year period. Oh,
it was an incredible run. Um. Yeah, from the situation where
we came we came from, whichdefinitely, I mean, obviously it had

(11:50):
never done been done before. Sofor us to come back from the Yankees
and take four straight from them androll through the World Series and obviously we
know all the history of that nowand it's just it's just it's just great.
I mean, it's one of thosethings where you look back in this
project, you know, and andas amazing as the victory was, it's

(12:11):
almost like, you know, whenI grew up in the New York area,
I watched that two thousand and threeplayoffs and obviously the Aaron Boone game,
was it validation that you guys justswept away those Yankees after that heartbreaking
loss the previous season. Was thatalmost as like as great as the championship
itself, to know how you guysslayed that dragon, Yeah, it was.

(12:33):
And it was like, I mean, I think we all felt the
same way, like our two thousandand three team was, you know,
as good as that two thousand andfour team was. We were felt very
you know, our our team wasstacked and we you know, I mean
it was a great job by theYankees that I guess to obviously come back
in that situation, but man,we just felt like we were the better

(12:54):
team at the time. And um, you know, looking back on it,
it's like, man, I can'tbelieve he didn't win a World Series
in two thousand and three, sobut to come back in two thousand and
four, and you know, wewent on a roll. I think we
won plost to twenty straight. Afterthe All Star break, at some point

(13:15):
or it was a big number.I know, there was a lot of
games in a row and it wasjust like, man, that's really when
we started to come together and realize, hey, we got a really good
team and we need to start doingsomething with it. Who was like the
heart and soul of those teams?The Oh four and the Oh seven.
I know there's a little bit ofa change in the cast, and even
from two thousand and three to twothousand and four, it's slight differences,

(13:37):
But who's like, who's the heartand soul of that that championship dynasty.
Oh, you know, it's hardnot to say that Tech wasn't like the
you know, the leader of thatteam from a business like, hey,
we're going to get this stuff done. And you know, he was always
prepared for for every game and sowhat you know, for sure, the

(14:00):
captain was our heart and our soul. But there was just a lot of
good, good guys on the team, you know, Big Poppy and uh,
you know, I always say afterwards, like your best players need to
be your best leaders, and ourbest players were our best leaders. You
know, Big Poppy was an incredibleleader. Tech at the time was a
great leader. Um, you know, when manny just being a manny,

(14:24):
not necessarily a leader like in thewords, but he went out when he
went when he went out to playlike he you wanted him in that lineup.
And from a pitching staff staff standpoint, we had horses guys that when
you went on the mound you expectedthem to win every time. And so
our big guys were were studs.Shilling was a stud and um Pedro was

(14:52):
stud. So I mean you lookback on it, you're like, hey,
yeah, we want to world serious, and we had, we had
talent, we had we had greatplayers. It's great great players, I
mean classic classic baseball teams that beforewe kind of head to the to the
wrap up here, I just wouldlove to get the story because it is
amazing when you did get traded backto the Red Sox from the Padres and

(15:13):
you got there just in time tocatch Wakefield start. Can you kind of
retell the story of the uh,the police escort from Logan to Fenway and
getting in the box, you know, basically ten minutes after you arrived.
Can you just kind of relive thatstory for us? Yeah, I mean
obviously it needs a lot more tome because, like I experienced it and

(15:37):
and it worked out for us,and you know, we didn't win a
World Series that year, but thenext year we come out and we win
another World Series in seven. Butit's just a story that for me personally,
it's just kind of a cool storythat I have from my experience with
baseball because you know, after thegame's over, um, you know you're

(16:00):
here wherever you are. It's justit's like, man, your memories is
what you have, and your experiencesand your friends, and it's just it's
really cool. So uh, Iremember getting to call it. Like eight
thirty in the morning. Kevin TowersGM for the Padres called me and said,
hey, you've been traded to theRed sox um CEO will be calling

(16:25):
you let you know you know yourschedule, but um, you've been traded.
Thank you. And so I waslike, okay, great, this
is awesome. This is exactly whatI really wanted to happen. And so
CEO was like, Okay, wehave you a plane waiting for you,
um at the at the airport,at the private airport part of the airport,

(16:48):
and so they're gonna fly you umback at the Boston. It takes
off at ten thirty okay, AndI'm doing the math, and I'm like,
it's a six and a half hour, six and a half hour flight
from San Diego to Boston. Imean, we really couldn't have been further
away. And um, and we'rewe're West Coast time, so it's really

(17:11):
ten thirty is one thirty six anda half hours. I mean, heck,
I'm showing up at like eight o'clockright, so the whole flight,
Um, we take off, He'slike, I'm not sure if we can
make it all the way, butwe'll try. From from a gas standpoint,
we had a mid size you know, kind of Chetum. I guess

(17:33):
they can do it the whole time. But he's like, we might have
to stop in Kansas somewhere. I'mlike, well, we're never making it
if you have to stop for gas, I mean gas up an airplanet the
half hour, forty five minute deal, we're I mean, they're gonna be
in the fourth any by the timewe get there, right. So he's
like, we'll do the best wecan. We're going. Um, he's

(17:55):
like, well, we're doing prettygood at gas. And you know,
I've been We've been in a playabout three hours I'm really just kind of
chilling out and relaxing because in mymind, I'm like, there's just no
way I'm making it to the game. And time the seven I think it's
a seven ten start time ESPN versusthe Yankees, Johnny Damon's first game back

(18:17):
from signing over there with the Yankees. I mean, it was, it
was. It was a big deal. So we get over Cleveland and he's
like, hey, we just gotclear to go through Cleveland. We don't
have to, you know, goaround their airspace. So we're flying over
Cleveland. We started heading to NewYork and he's like, um, pilot

(18:41):
comes back. It's just me thepilot co pilot. He's like, I
have no idea who you are,but I've carried hearts and lungs and never
had this much clearance. And he'slike, we just cleared. We just
got cleared to go straight over NewYork. I'm like, you gotta kidding.
I was like, don't tell himI'm on this plane because I'll probably

(19:03):
make you go around. And sohere it is. We're coming into into
Logan and I look out the windowand I swear there's like fifty planes lined
up from Logan to Providence and wecome in and cut everybody off. They

(19:26):
clear us the land. He comesin like perpendicular to the line and just
takes a hard left, puts iton the floor, doing probably, you
know, five hundred miles an hour. I don't know. It felt like
it doesn't even slow down. Ilook out the window. There's a police
officer with his uh, there's hisexplorer. He starts running a bag to

(19:48):
me with all my uniform and stuffin it, and I'm like, oh,
we don't have funds to this.We touched down at like six forty
seven, six forty eight something likethat. So the math is that that
plane was hauling but to get usthere, so now we're now we had
to, you know, try toget the Fenway Park a seven o'clock in
Boston from Logan and he's thrown thesirens on. I know he took a

(20:12):
lot of heat after this. Iknow there's a lot of heat on the
police harbor Opolis. So but Imean cars were parting. We got through
this traffic. I I think Ipulled into Fenway a like seven h three.
UM borrowed some cleats. William o'painiahas some cleats I got grabbed those,

(20:33):
I put them on, put techsuh catcher's gear on, and um
had my glove with me. That'sall I brought with me, just my
glove. So I threw like maybesix or seven balls in the in the
in the dugout, in the bulletlike in the in our batting cage underneath,

(20:56):
and ran out to the field.I mean it was that quick.
And I remember all so as Ihad out of the you know, head
out of the dugout, It's like, oh man, this is real.
Now I haven't I haven't caught Wakisince you know, uh oh five right,
I mean I haven't. I haven'tseen them another year. Um so,

(21:18):
oh my god. They just gotrid of a guy because he couldn't
catch knuckball to bringing in me.Because I'm supposed to be able to catch
the ball, I better be ableto do it. I remember getting back
there, he threw a couple offastball caught him. People are cheering,
oh I got him one. I'mthinking that was a fast and then then
he throw he throws his first knuckof ball. It hits my glove,

(21:38):
bounces straight down in front of me, and they're like, oh, like
the whole crowd. I'm like,you gotta be it's gonna go on all
night. You gotta be kidding me. Next pitch he throws that I catch
it, they cheer. Oh itwas. It was hilarious. I mean
I heard everything at night. Butfortunately for me, Um, I really

(22:00):
felt like I mean, they cameup and the Yankees were swinging so much
early in account it just got mecomfortable and relaxed during the game. And
I think we end up winning thegame like four one, maybe four two,
something like that, and uh,you know, it just worked.
It couldn't have worked out any moreperfect, that's for sure. What's the

(22:22):
what's the first thing you go outand say to Wakefield when you get to
the field, You know what?I think. I just gave him big
hug and said I'm back and umand he's like you're ready. I'm like,
yeah, I'm ready, let's doit. And there we go.
And yeah, because check was Keechwas having to like, you know,
prepared to catch him. He hadn'tcaught him in like, you know,

(22:45):
four or five years, so hSo luckily I got there in time.
And you know, it all worked. Like you said, it's it's all
history. It's kind of funny thewell the Athletic did a piece on it
earlier in the year and they actuallytalked to Sergeant Dave v Leery the cruiser
that you sat in on the wayto the to the game, and you
know, he relives basically, youknow, the the drive from Logan to

(23:07):
um Uh to to Fenway, andit's just you just you built the anticipation
just as much as it felt readingthe article. So it was what a
what a story. It was incredible. It was incredible story. The best
not the best part, but oneof the parts out there is they forgot
I didn't find my cup inside thebag that they brought form here, okay,

(23:32):
And I'm like, all right,well I get there and I don't
really have time to like change input on all the stuff I need to
put on there. So I justwent out in the first inning, no
cup on. I caught the firstinning, ran back to the dugout,
ran up to the clubhouse. Butall my protection I needed and from there,
well, Doug, if there's anythingthey can say about you, you're

(23:55):
very ballsy. Yeah, they didfind my I dropped it off. It
dropped in um in the cruiser.So in the middle of all that stuff,
it could fall in off he wasin the floor board. Hey,
there's a lot of sports memorabilia collectorsout there that would pay a high premium
for a Doug Mirabelly cup left ina in a police car in Fenway.

(24:17):
So yeah, good thing you recovered. Good times, Good times. Yeah,
all right, Well, let's let'shead to the wrap up here.
We appreciate the time we got tospend this evening on Diamond Conversations before we
say goodbye. Is there anything youknow you'd like to say to the to
the listeners of Diamond Conversations before wepart? Yeah, I mean, uh,

(24:41):
that was a big part of myplaying career there in Boston. It
was some of my family's favorite memoriesthat we still get a chance and I'm
just glad that I was able toexperience it with all the fans there.
They're listening to you guys now,and UM, it really is a special
place. All the players realize it. Um, the fans are so passionate

(25:04):
about their team, and it reallydoes trickled down to our team. We
really um as a as an athleteand uh and a team really appreciated what
they brought every night for us,especially during those um that heyday of you
know, two thousand and three totwo thousand and seven. It was incredible,

(25:26):
selling out every night, and um, it really does help us as
as players. And I'm just gladthat I was a part of it and
I had such good fans to rootme on. That's that's wonderful, and
it was a great career. Iloved. Anytime we can talk to a
catcher is great because I love watchingcatchers and that's a beautiful thing. So
we'll say goodbye for this week.If you want to follow me, it's

(25:48):
at Chad emb on Twitter, mywebsite as i'd be exclusives dot com and
we will see you next week hereon Diamond Conversation. So for Doug me
Rebelli, this is your old palIan. We will catch you on the
Hey, it's your old buddy.The chats are from is up here with
Francine, the TMPC Empire and thebrands. With a special announcement about my
company, IB Exclusives. IB Exclusivesis a collector based sports memorabilia company giving

(26:12):
buyers the opportunity to get personal itemssigned through our exclusive private autograph signing to
bet with over twenty years experience inthe sports memorabilia industry. With IB Exclusives,
it's a whole new fault creative controllisteners. You can now get twenty
percent off any purchase throughout the monthof July by using the promo code CCN

(26:33):
twenty. Again, head over toIbexclusives dot com, make a purchase,
enter the promo code CCN twenty andtake twenty percent off anything in the IB
Shop, any of the private signingand including our brand new sports car page.
It's all available to you at IBexclusive dot com. And don't forget.
While you're on ibexclusives dot com checkout the entire list of upcoming signings,

(26:55):
join our mailing list, and asalways, as I'd like to say,
we will catch you on the flipSi