Moon native has own field of dreams
Baseball lifer Mariano hopes for homecoming
With one phone call, and perhaps a successful job interview, Bob “Mazz” Mariano’s career could come full circle.
If it does, a dilapidated baseball field in Moon Township’s Mooncrest neighborhood could benefit.
Now 62 and living in Fountain Hills, Ariz. — about 20 miles outside of Scottsdale — Mariano, a Moon Township native and baseball lifer, has been forced to re-assess his career after he recently found out that his contract as a pro scout with the San Francisco Giants will not be renewed. His plans for the future?
“It would be nice to get back to Pittsburgh, to tell you the truth,” Mariano said.
Even though he recently sent Pirates general manager Neal Huntington his resume, Mariano’s return home to finish a charmed career in baseball would involve much more than work.
As a kid, Mariano spent countless summer days playing pickup baseball on that sandlot-style field, located at the intersection of Mooncrest Drive and Old Thorn Run Road.
But over the years, there haven’t been many improvements made. Weeds are everywhere. The backstop is (even more) rusty.
“You can’t even tell there’s a field there,” Mariano said.
Soon, if Mariano has his way, that could change.
Mariano has been working with Faith Community Christian Church, which purchased the land where the field sits a few years ago, to raise enough money to transform the field into a multi-use facility, for softball and Little League games but also a mentorship program run through the Felician Sisters.
While it would be extremely tough to build a baseball complex from scratch on a scout’s salary, Mariano hopes to work with Major League Baseball and the Pirates to potentially procure grant money and nudge the project along.
The next step will be a trip to Pittsburgh in late November, when Mariano will meet with a few Moon Township supervisors and Pastor Thomas Bracken, who resisted the urge to sell the land because he thought someone like Mariano might come along.
As for Mariano’s career, he has such a diverse background that he could do almost anything to help a major league club.
After college, Mariano played six seasons in the minor leagues and bounced around at a couple positions, though mostly played third base, in the New York Yankees’ and Baltimore Orioles’ systems.
From there, he wore a few more hats, from minor league coach to manager to roving hitting instructor, including a couple of stints in the majors. The most notable for run for Mariano was with the Giants, when he helped develop some of the young talent that won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
“If someone said you’re going to spend 15 years with the Giants and win three World Series, I would have said you’re dreaming,” Mariano said.
“I don’t think it’ll ever be done again, doing what we did. We kept a lot of core guys together. Today, you just don’t see that.”
The first seven of those years were spent as a hitting coordinator, working with Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Pablo Sandoval, Joe Panik and others throughout the Giants’ minorleague system.
Mariano also managed four years in Class AAA and spent the past four as a pro scout.
“I’ve done pretty much everything,”
Mariano said.
“I still have the passion to teach. Hitting is my forte, but I love managing, too. Whatever options are available, I’m looking at ‘em.”
Throughout his 38-year career in pro baseball, Mariano also spent time with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers. One of his previous bigleague stints came in 2003, when Mariano remembered driving from the airport to PNC Park on the same Moon Township roads where he used to take the bus to school.
“We went to PNC Park, played the Pirates for a three-game series, and I was one of the hitting coaches,” Mariano said. “That was a big thrill.”
But with the Giants going in another direction with their scouting staff and Mariano looking ahead to what’s next, he has been thinking more about another Pirates-related memory: All the times when he and his friends would skip school and attend games at Forbes Field instead.
“I’ve always been a Pirates fan at heart,” Mariano said.
“I’d still like to keep doing this for a couple more years, which is why it would be nice to get back. I’d like to do this with the Pirates.
“I’m still in good shape for my age. A lot of guys let themselves go. I’ve been in player development. The players keep you young.”
Young enough to rebuild his childhood field?
Mariano thinks so.
“I’d really like to see this come to fruition if I could,” he said. “This isn’t just about me.
“When we get this done, everybody is going to have their fingerprints on it.”