| Dr. Mike Marshall's Pitching Coach Services | ||
1967 Toledo BladeBy Tom Loomis Toledo Blade May 23, 1967 Mike Marshall is a refreshingly different type of baseball player. He is the Toledo Mud Hens relief pitcher who has given up but one earned run in 14 2/3 innings while winning two games, losing none and compiling an 0.61 earned-run average. Mike, sidelined for a couple of days by a pulled groin muscle, sat in the whirlpool bath the other night and talked about his objectives. “It really isn’t money I’m playing for,” Marshall said, matter of factly. I have my master’s degree and my doctor’s is coming up soon. I don’t have to play ball. Oh, I’ll take the money. It’ll take some of the pressure off my family. “But I play this game for pride. I don’t want that to sound like I mean vanity or selfishness. But you have to have pride in what you like to do.” Mike Marshall likes to play baseball. Talk to this young man a few minutes and you are brainwashed. He makes you want to hurry back to school and pick up another degree. ,br> The Toledo manager, Jack Tighe, feels that way. “When I have something to say to Mike,” Tighe said, “I start off by saying, ‘All I want you to do is listen.’ The thing is I don’t want him to talk because he’s 10 times as smart as I am.” Mike is married and has two children. The wife is expecting another child. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William (Hal) Marshall, Jr., of Adrian, Mich., where he lived and played ball until he was 17 years old. Hal Marshall is the proprietor of Little League Lanes in Adrian. Mike signed to attend Michigan State, but before he ever got there, he signed with the Philadelphia Phils. The thing is, he went to MSU anyway. They treated young Marshall well at MSU and are still treating him well. He’ll talk about it forever. Mike’s field, in the department of physical eduction, is child growth and development. He goes to school two terms a year and teaches at MSU under a grant that is not affected by the fact he is sometimes late and sometimes has to leave early. Mike talks more about educators who have helped him than about baseball men who have aided his career. A Dr. Vernal Seefeldt, who spent almost as much time helping him with his thesis as he did writing it, is his foremost hero. Marshall was a pitcher at Adrian High and in semipro play. When he entered pro ball, he went as an infielder because, “I like to play and I wanted to play every day.” Wayne Blackburn was Marshall’s manager at Montgomery last year when Mike, after having been obtained by the Tigers from the Phils, went to him and said he’d like to be a pitcher. “I’d been pitching some batting practice,” Mike said, “and I asked him to let me try it. He said play shortstop for me for a month and I’ll let you pitch a month and we’ll see. “Well, we were in Nashville and I’d gone eight for 13. The next day was the day I was supposed to change to pitching. Blackie is a man of his word. He put me in the bullpen and I came in and won the game. I’ve been pitching ever since.” Going in cold, Marshall was 11-7 with Montgomery last year, with a 2.33 earned-run average. Now the Tigers are watching him closely. Would he like to go up to the majors or is he too concerned with his education and teaching? “I definitely want to play with the best,” Mike said. “The Tiger organization has shown a lot of consideration for me. I’d like nothing better than to go to the Tigers and save 15 games and maybe win a couple--and help them win a pennant.” |
||