Young baseball players from Liberty, Dacusville, Walhalla, and Greer loved the opportunity to meet Leo Mazzone, longtime pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves, thanks to Central Town Council member Robert Griffin, who invited his friend to the Diamond Youth Baseball District 1 AA Tournament, held at Nettles Park in Clemson on Saturday, June 15, 2024. Mazzone spoke to the players, coaches, and fans at 9:30 a.m., before the start of the tournament, and signed autographs.

“To have someone of this caliber here to speak with these kids, these players, this ought to be a treat,” said Tom Cloer, Central Parks and Recreation Director and Assistant Town Administrator. “I want to introduce our special guest today,” Cloer told the crowd, “Leo David Mazzone, who served 16 seasons as the Atlanta Braves pitching coach, spent 27 years with the organization. During his tenure, Braves catchers won six NL Cy Young Awards, 10 different pitchers were named to the All-Star game, and his staff led the National League in ERA 10 times. Leo was the pitching coach for all 14 consecutive division titles, five pennants, and one World Series. Rated by ESPN.com as the top assistant coach of all time in any sport, he was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in 2020. Folks, let’s give a big round of applause and a big thank you to Leo Mazzone.”

“Thank you, thank you,” said Mazzone. “I want to thank Robert for getting me out here. I do a lot of this. I was just in Atlanta yesterday at the stadium and talking to a bunch of kids in youth baseball. And what the Braves are trying to do is to create a Rec League organization to counteract the travel ball for the guys who can’t afford to play in that travel ball, where they don’t get the opportunity to play the game of baseball, because a lot of kids get neglected if they don’t get certain priorities for travel ball.”

Mazzone told the young players that, when he was their age, he had a dream that he was going to make it in the Big Leagues. He asked them if they had that dream, and he told them that, in order to do that, they have to work at what they do, they have to practice.

He shared with them how he used to practice. “We would go down to the park every night. I was a left-handed pitcher, and we practiced every night. We started our Little League season, and I’ll never forget this. The first year, we played a 20-game schedule. We were 0 and 20. The next year, we were 5 and 15. The following year, we were 15 and 5. The last year, we were undefeated, 20 and 0. So, we made the full circle. How did we do that? We were at the park every day.

“And, even at the Big League level, with all of the gadgets that they have now, in order to make you feel like you could hit a ball further or throw it harder, we never let that enter into our equation as far as developing young players. What we did was we tried to get guys in baseball shape. What’s baseball shape? It’s very simple. Baseball shape is, if you’re a pitcher, you’re throwing. You’re practicing your craft at whatever distance you start, when you start pitching. If you’re hitting, you’re taking batting practice. If you’re fielding, you’re catching ground balls.

“By the way, you saw my 18 years in the Big Leagues, right? But nobody knows that I spent 24 years in the Minor Leagues first. I signed out of high school with the San Francisco Giants, and then I was assigned to the Northwest League Class A to pitch. I pitched 10 years, got sent down by the World Champions Oakland A’s with two weeks to go, and that’s as close as I got. But then I was offered a coaching position, and I took the coaching position, and that led to me joining the Atlanta Braves. So, in other words, you hear about the 18 years and this and that, but there were 24 years in the Minor Leagues first. So, you pay your dues. But I loved the Minor Leagues, too. I loved every bit of it.

“Anyway, what’s going on in the game today? The game has changed. I understand that. But remember one thing, if you kids are watching the game. ‘Oh, he’s throwing 100 miles an hour.’ You’ve heard that, right? ‘Oh, he’s throwing 100.’ Well, I’m going to tell you what. I want you to subtract five. For example, the Hall of Fame pitchers that I had, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux. Glavine and Maddux threw anywhere from 86 to 88. In today’s game, that’s 93. Because now they time the pitch coming out of the pitcher’s hand. When we were there in the Big Leagues, they timed it coming across home plate. Also, they’ve changed the hitting style. Everybody wants a launch angle. Well, a launch angle is what we used to call an upper cutter. It’s the same thing. So, now, if you saw a guy with an upper cut swing, you’d want to pitch him more north and south instead of east and west.

“Here’s a very important thing. We never had sore arms. We went 530 something starts without a pitcher breaking down. How did we do that? We didn’t care how hard you threw. I could have cared less how hard somebody threw. What I did care about was the control of your fastball, or a hitter having control of his swing because we taught gap hitting, left center, right center.

“The game is simple. You go out and you want to be able to enjoy yourself. But there’s no quick fix. There’s no quick fix in the actual development of your body. In other words, you parents, if you have these places that say, ‘We can improve your kid’s velocity by five miles an hour in two weeks,’ they’re full of it. ‘We can have him hitting a ball further than a normal distance would be in a week or two,’ they’re full of it. You mature into your velocity. You mature into your hitting. You mature into your fielding. The reason I say that in a strong way is because 21 percent of Tommy John surgeries now are 21 years of age and younger. And it kind of insults my intelligence when I hear what goes on with how somebody teaches pitchers how to pitch or teaches a youngster how to play the game.

“The other thing is you play all sports. You don’t get narrowed down to one. You don’t get narrowed down to one sport. You play all sports.

“There is nothing wrong with throwing a baseball or practicing baseball year round but not competitively year round. Your bodies aren’t ready for that yet. Now, when I was pitching, you could go to winter ball in Mexico or the Dominican Republic, which I loved going, so you could pitch year round. But, by then, I was 21. I wasn’t 14 or 15. And your age here, you want to go out and have fun and try to have the coaches teach you right, but you have to be your natural self. Your bodies don’t allow you, at certain times, yet, in order to understand a particular mechanic that you have to execute. So, you keep the game very simple.

“So, anyway, that’s how my career happened. There were no secrets. I just went out and played ball and had a good time.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a dream, having a passion and going after it. It ain’t just going to appear, though. You’re going to have to earn every bit of it. One out of every 400 guys that signs a professional contract makes it to the Big Leagues. One out of 400. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be one of them. Look at me. I was 5’ 10”, a left-handed pitcher. I got up to AAA and then ended up with 18 years in the Big Leagues. I had all the dreams that you guys have. The difference is my childhood dreams have come true. Now, we’ll see if yours does.”

Prior to the playing of the national anthem, Cloer prayed to begin the tournament, thanking God for the beautiful day and for sparing anyone injury so far in the tournament. “Lord, we give thanks for role models, like Leo Mazzone, who spent time to come and talk to these kids,” he said, adding, “and, Lord, let us be reminded that we are all role models for these kids and that our actions should reflect such. Again, Lord, we ask for your guidance, we ask for your protection, and we ask that you keep each person safe as they travel home, and for those that might be coming back tomorrow, to keep them safe, as well. For all these things, we ask in your name.”

Mazzone sat at a table as many young people lined up to meet him, and he graciously signed all of their baseballs and baseballs caps.

When asked how he enjoyed being at the tournament, Mazzone told The Pickens County Chronicle, “Oh, absolutely. It’s been a wonderful time. And to see this facility and see how nice the people are and how receptive they were — it’s just wonderful. It’s what real baseball is all about. And it’s so nice to see the kids come to the ballpark and enjoy themselves with no pressure, just go out and enjoy themselves and play.”