“See, Stottlemyre’s so good even Brayton can’t catch him.” That’s how one fan summed up the experience when a very young Mel Stottlemyre was playing high school baseball, and legendary coach Bobo Brayton was catching for him – just to check out the boy wonder. Well, Bobo did have trouble catching Stottlemyre’s hot fast ball, and at the same time, he knew that someone who could make his pitch roar at that intensity toward home plate was bound to have quite a career. After graduating high school, Stottlemyre attended Yakima Valley Community College where Brayton was the coach. The star-to-be wanted to learn from Brayton – especially a particular pitch that worked so well for Brayton. The coach showed Stottlemyre how to throw his famous “sinker,” and it turned out to be Stottlemyre’s pitch of choice as he wound up and delivered for decades in the major leagues. Mel Stottlemyre was a true major leaguer, on the field and off. And when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1999, he still aimed for the strike zone. Brayton described Stottlemyre’s hands as being as strong as concrete – his heart was just as solid.

I first met Stottlemyre in 2001, at a dinner which honored him and his courage pursuing treatment for myeloma. The “Rocket,” Roger Clemens gave the main address, but this big guy with an even bigger reputation, just could not finish his remarks. He was so sad about Stottlemyre’s disease that his voice cracked, tears filled his eyes, and he was forced to stop speaking. The reaction Clemens showed goes a long way in describing the depth of feeling which existed for Stottlemyer among nearly everyone who surrounded him – his teammates, fans, and certainly his family, as well. It was that intense concern and respect which made every difference in the world for Stottlemyre when he first went public with his disease in 2000, although it was diagnosed a year earlier in 1999.

Strangely, but not uniquely, Stottlemyre had no symptoms of the disease when he was diagnosed. He had no idea that anything was wrong – he had no back problems, kidney involvement, and in 1999, as pitching coach for the NY Yankees, he was going strong. So, after a team physical during that spring, the entire diagnosis was a complete surprise. Stottlemyre said to me, “I just had none of the symptoms.” So, the doctors, at first, took a slow approach to treatment, and Stottlemyre kept his diagnosis a deep, deep secret. Even his friend and former coach Bobo Brayton didn’t find out until a year later when everyone else did. Stottlemyer is a tough and quiet person. He does keep personal matters very personal, but in 2000, the cancer was showing signs of progressing. His secret now was to become public knowledge. Stottlemyre was going to require treatment, and it would be next to impossible to hide that from public view. So, he broke the news that he had multiple myeloma and was planning to have a stem cell procedure at Sloan-Kettering in New York. But even then, Stottlemyre was feeling as well as ever, and other than the typical abnormalities in his blood counts, he was moving along with no outward symptoms of the disease. As an athlete, he certainly was in top physical shape before going into the high-dose chemo procedure. At the time, Stottlemyre did give thought to retiring from baseball, but then, an enormous outpouring of care, concern, cards, letters and phone calls convinced him that he was going to work during as much of the procedure as possible, and after taking some time off from his coaching, he would try to return and perform the job that he always had done.

He says, “I received such a huge response. They convinced me that I should continue.” Stottlemyre’s career was far from over, and what a career it had been!