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It remains
a common dream in this country for little boys to grow into ballplayers.
Once a ballplayer, it’s a dream to have a son who loves the game as much
as you do. Baseball has been blessed by these dreamers and their offspring.
The more obvious father-son combos are Ken Griffey, Sr. and Ken
Griffey, Jr., Jose Cruz, Sr. and Jose Cruz, Jr.; Buddy Bell
and Dave Bell and Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds. There are plenty more,
but perhaps the most poignant is the relationship between Mel Stottlemyre,
pitching coach of the New York Yankees, and his son Todd, one of the aces
on the staff of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Mel
 The
patriarch of the Stottlemyre clan, Mel (born November 13, 1941, in Hazelton,
Missouri), began with the New York Yankees in 1964, a year in which he
pitched in the World Series, with victorious Jupiter crossing masterful
Saturn in his birth chart. Now, under his watchful, fatherly eye (coming
from his obsessing Scorpio Sun and Virgo Moon), Yankees pitchers receive
the support of his knowledge and experience. When you look at the Yankee
record over the last years and the strength of their pitching, it appears
that he’s a good dad, even to those who are not actually his children.
Mel’s
career has not been free of tragedy. In 1981 he lost an eleven-year-old
son to leukemia. And this year it was announced that he now conducts
his own pitching duel with cancer. However,
Saturn recently opposed Mel’s Sun and is currently conjunct his Saturn
(this is called a Saturn return), and hopefully it will lend its contracting
properties to fight against his tumor.
Todd
Todd
(born May 20, 1965, in Yakima, Washington), with the second best record
on the Diamondbacks after Randy what’s-his-name, truly “works” his chart.
Blessed with the planets Jupiter and Venus in Gemini mixed in with the
lunar node, you can never be sure what he’ll offer as his next pitch.
The situation might call for a slider, but he’s confident of the change.
Guess what you’ll get and you’ll guess wrong. The multiple duplicity of
this alignment serves him well.
Add
to this tricky Gemini combination the mixture of three planets (Uranus,
Pluto and Mars) in Virgo, also a mental, logic-based sign. With the
contrary and unpredictable Uranus, there’s nothing more fun than defying
logic. Toss in the strength of the intense Pluto, and a powerful fastball
perfectly spotted in a batter cold zone, and he polishes them off.
Mars, the energy lord, provides intelligence about the use of energy.
Mars aligns exactly with Pluto in the chart, and the competitiveness
and determination of this alignment has no comparison. And it’s a
good thing. It is here we see where he inherited his father’s determination
and obsessiveness. He currently is working out with extreme diligence
to ensure complete healing of a torn rotator cuff, and a more recently
strained tendon.
Pluto,
the planet of personal growth and challenge, currently activates all
these Gemini-Virgo planets in Todd’s chart. With the lingering memory
of the loss of his brother, he has donated a million dollars (big
money comes from Pluto) to cancer research
(also a Pluto activity). Early in this season, Todd heard the news
of his father’s illness. He told his dad he’d fly to meet him to be
with him in the critical time of treatment.
Get
in There and Pitch
What
did Dad say? Don’t worry about me. You’ve got a game to pitch. And
pitch he did. He won a convincing victory, pitching with Stottlemyre
mastery.
What
could be more inspiring to fathers and sons? The son serves the father
proud in a time of crisis, with life-altering resolve.
Mel
is back coaching. Todd takes the mound regularly and quite convincingly.
You gotta wonder how it would have been to play catch in that family.
This
Fathers’ Day, dust off your gloves and play some ball with Dad or the
boy with the radio tuned to the game. Or pull out your credit card and
pop for some tickets. What could be better than baseball on day like today?
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