CRAWDADS CHRONICLES: Chris Mader 1993 Season

With each person comes a unique story of their time with the Crawdads and their lives since leaving Hickory. This is the first in a series of interviews with those who have worn the Crawdads uniform over the last 20 seasons. They recall memories of their time in Hickory and beyond.

When the Hickory Crawdads began play at L.P. Frans Stadium in 1993, there was an unmatched excitement about minor league baseball coming to the Hickory-Metro.

Arguably, the most popular players of that first season was third baseman Chris Mader, who joined the Crawdads two seasons after he was drafted in the 53rd round by the Chicago White Sox in 1991 out of Rollins College (FL).

Mader was the team's first South Atlantic League all-star representive in 1993, when he hit .270 with seven homers and 49 RBI in 120 games that season. He returned for a second season (.257, 8 HRs, 41 RBI in 74 games) before he was released. Mader played one more season in the minors, celebrating a Carolina League championship with Kinston before retiring.

He now lives in Pelham, NH with his wife Kristen and their three children. Mader works for Randstad Technologies where he is the director of the company's corporate accounts.

Twenty years removed from the excitement of that first season, Mader shares some of his memories about 1993: Magglio Ordonez and the "Waffly Hoo", the Crawdads first manager Fred Kendall, as well as his involvement in one of the biggest promotions in team history.

What are your memories of Hickory coming in here for the first time?

Mader:When I look back on it, some of the players on the team had been playing in the minors for a couple of years and some of us were still very new to it we hadn't yet been assigned to a team. So, we arrived with very little expectation.

We knew there was going to be new stadium. Of course we knew that this was the first year the team was going to be there, but I think we were extremely pleasantly surprised, and quite honestly overwhelmed with the response that we received from the community. From the minute we landed at the airport, at least what I can recall, there were at least 200-300 people there with signs cheering. None of us expected that.

I remember us landing (at Hickory Airport) and seeing the stadium and the first thing you noticed was that it didn't have a roof. We were like, "The stadium is not done yet."

The people were so excited. You could just see the excitement. We didn't know that it took a number of years for that team to get the funding it needed and everything that goes into starting a minor league ballclub. So, we were all very naïve to that. We were all in our high teens, early twenties. We really didn't know what we were getting involved with when we landed. We knew it was going to be a pretty cool season.

What are some of the things you remember about your fellow players? I know it wasn't a very good team that year, but what are some of the things you remember about the players and some of the things on the field?

Mader: Well, I remember Magglio Ordonez was there and I know he ended up being a big league all-star. It's funny, I remember Jason Evans. I remember Juan Thomas, who was a big fan favorite; he looked a lot like Frank Thomas. I remember one of the home runs he hit was over the scoreboard, which I don't know if anybody has done that since.

Chris Tremie was our catcher; he went to the big leagues. I remember some of the pitchers. Mike Bertotti was there that first year and Wayne Lindemann. I remember a lot of the guys that I played with that first season.

We weren't great, but that's probably because of the youth. We had so many young players. Tom Fordham was one of our ace pitchers; I remember he was a really good left-handed pitcher.

It was new to us. Fred Kendall was the new manager and we had all new players. Honestly, at that level, everybody has mixed feelings because you're trying to come together as a team, but you are also fighting for your own individual job. I think when you first sign your first season and you get an opportunity to play at the start, you feel like you've got to play great every day. I think a lot guys, including myself, probably put a little too much pressure on ourselves.

I also can recall that our record and my own personal batting average was lower at home than on the road, because I think we put so much pressure on ourselves to be great at home, and we struggled at home, which shouldn't have because we had a great crowd and a great field.

You mentioned Fred Kendall, a former major league catcher, what was he like to play for a couple of years?

Mader: Fred was a very good manager. He was a former big leaguer. He had his head screwed on straight. He was very direct. He was very clear about the expectations of the lineup and where guys would be playing and where they'd be playing. He was very fair. He was a fun guy once you got to know him. He would never really fraternize with the players, but after awhile when you'd get to know him, you might catch him for a beer and talk to him outside of the field. We probably spent 10-11 hours a day at the field together, so when we weren't at the field, usually we wanted to be apart.

I can tell you the funniest Fred Kendall story that I've taken with me to this day. We were playing poorly. We always did our team meeting the next day at like 2:30. He would never talk to us after a game. Win or lose, it didn't matter, he wouldn't say a word.

At 2:30 the next day, we'd go out to the outfield and take a knee and he would critique the game. I remember after a bad stretch of play, he was challenging us. He was like, "If you guys don't start playing better, you're going to be working for UPS next week." I'll just never forget that line. He was hysterically funny, but it was also very real. "You'll be getting your release and you'll be delivering boxes next week if you don't get your act together." So, I remember that line, which was pretty funny. He was a great manager and a really good guy to play for.

What was Magglio like to play with for the two years you were with him? I know he struggled here the first year, but put a lot together the second year. What was it like to see him develop at an early age?

Mader: I give Magglio a lot of credit. He was from Venezuela and his English wasn't perfect and he had to take English classes during the day with a tutor that the team had hired. Not only did he work at that, he worked very hard on the field... He would work hard in the batting cage, work out in the field. I mean, he would work at the mechanics of the game. You could see he had the talent. He could run fast. He had a great arm and he hadn't really grown into his body yet. He was like 19 years old.

His favorite restaurant was the Waffle House, if you can believe that. He used to call it the "Waffly Hoo". He would be like, "Mader, Mader, take me to the Waffy Hoo." I'm like, "Sure buddy, Let's go to the Waffle House." That used to crack me up. So now, that's my nickname for the Waffle House. Whenever I go south of Virginia, because we don't have a Waffle House in New England, I always go to a Waffle House. That reminds me of Magglio every time I go there.

There is a story you told last year at the (2012) Hot Stove Banquet about a Domino's promotion where if the team scored ten runs everyone got a free pizza, or something like that.

Mader: So, if I remember, it was very early in the season and the promotion was a Domino's pizza promotion that if the Hickory Crawdads scored ten runs everybody would get a small cheese pizza.

We were winning the game pretty handily, like 8-2. But it was the bottom of the eighth, which meant when the ninth inning came around, we weren't going to hit again because we were so far ahead. We had runners on first and second and I remember coming to the plate, but I really don't honestly being aware of the promotion until the 4,000-6,000 people in the stands start shouting, "PIZ-ZA! PIZ-ZA!" I had never heard a crowd like that and I'm like, "If we get ten runs they're going to get a free pizza; they're pretty amped up about this."

Usually, when you're up 8-2 with two runners on, you're not really nervous. I remember being extremely nervous at the plate because I was like, "Don't strike out, just hit ball, do something." Thankfully, I hit a line drive into right-centerfield and the guys were rounding from first and second, and I had a stand-up double.

And I remember turning, when I was at second base, watching home plate, because there was a play at the plate because the guy made the throw. The guys from second scored easily and the guy from first was trying to leg it out and score. It was really close play at the plate and he slid and he was safe. The place just exploded and I was thought we had just won a World Series or something. I get chills thinking about it. I stood there on second base and the place was going crazy and I'm thinking, "This is pretty cool; that was a lot of fun."

The guys from the paper came out to the game, it was a lot of fun and that was great. The next morning, my roommate goes out and we get the paper and on the front page of the paper, it said "The Pizza Man Delivers". And there was a big picture of me with a smile on my face standing on second base. Of course, the guys on my team started giving me a hard time about that. I think that's was what probably started to spawn some of the popularity that I had. I was very lucky to garner the support that I got. That was the start of it that I recall.

Of the two years that you were here, what was the biggest memory that you take with you?

Mader: There's a lot. It's hard to just say one thing. I remember the pizza night. I remember making the all-star team. I was really proud to represent Hickory as the lone player that first year at the all-star game. I remember hitting back-to-back homers with Harold Williams for the first time that had happened. I remember how much I struggled playing third base. I was a catcher by trade growing up and how hard it was for to me to have all those fans there and not play great those first couple of months. But, I obviously worked hard at it to get better.

I remember the people, to be honest with you. When I traveled, I got to play in South Bend, Birmingham, AL, Binghamton, NY, Sarasota, FL, Port St. Lucie, FL, Kinston, NC and literally everywhere, I've never experienced the genuineness of the people in Hickory that year. I've never experienced the passion that the fans had for the team and the undying support, win or lose. We never got booed, even though we weren't very good that first season. So, that's probably the thing I remember most are the people. I created some friendships there with some people that I still talk to from time to time. I just remember how great the people were to us.

You played here for two years. Did you get released during the 1994 season here?

Mader: Yeah, I'll tell the story about getting released. Here's what happened.

Halfway through that season, somebody from the paper asked, "You know, Chris, you were an all-star your first season and you're still here in Hickory, why aren't you being called up?" My response, and I was probably a young kid and maybe a little cocky, or something, but I made a comment in the paper about, "I don't know why I'm still here." I think that made its way up to White Sox brass and I don't think they were too happy with it.

Fred Kendall pulled me into a room after a trip; I'll never forget it twenty years later. We were coming back on a bus from Augusta, GA. It was like two o'clock in the morning and Fred goes, "Chris, can you come to see me a little bit early tomorrow and I'll work you with on something?" I go, "OK, sure. We'll get here at 1:00." Honestly, I didn't think anything of it. I went to the field the next day at 1:00 and there was nobody in the building except me and Fred, which felt strange right off the bat. I walked into his office and he gave me what I call now to my friends the "Bull Durham" speech.

He sat me down and said, "Chris, this is the hardest thing that a manger has to do. But the organization has decided to release you from your contract."

And I sat there and I looked at him for a second and I said, "You're kidding, right?" He goes, "No."

I just sat there and I wasn't thinking and I go, "Fred, I'm batting third in the lineup. I'm leading the team in hitting, doubles, on base pct. and RBIs and I'm being released?" He was like, "Chris, this wasn't my decision and I don't agree with it at all."

And I just kind of sat there and I was like, "How did this go wrong? What happened?" I couldn't even fathom it. I was a good teammate. I was a good player. I later found out that the story I told you previously that the White Sox brass weren't happy with something I had said in the paper.

I looked back at that article, and all I had said was, "I don't why I'm still here." It wasn't like I didn't want to be in Hickory. It was great, but my goal was to make it to the big leagues. Your goal isn't to be a career "A" ball player as a professional baseball player. You want to try to continue to drive your way up the organization.

You have to remember, too, in '93 after the year I had, I get called up to Comiskey Park at the end of '93 to accept the award for the "Single-A Player of the Year". I stood there with Olmedo Saenz and Jimmy Hurst, and I met Bo Jackson, and I felt like I was on a fast-track. I felt like I had a great year. I was a good guy. I worked hard, so I kind of felt like, "Geez I'm going to move my way up."

The problem was in 1994 was I sprained my ankle in spring training. So instead of getting sent up to the Sarasota club or the South Bend club, they had to send 25 guys up to start the baseball season and I was still in a cast in spring training. So, by the time I was out of the cast, the only place for me to go was Hickory. So while I loved going back that second year and it was fun in some ways, in a professional way I wanted to progress forward.

I also remember that second year that Pete Rose, Jr. was my roommate. He said something then that was very meaningful that I still carry today. When I came back there, Pete was starting at third, I was the starting DH. They really didn't know where to put me. They already had starters at first base, catcher, and third. They would spot me in defensively; I really was more the DH that year.

Pete said to me after about six weeks, "Chris, you have a lot of class. You've taken the high road in this whole thing." I started to go, "Pete, I'm just happy to be here and I'm happy to play and happy to have you as a teammate and hopefully I'll have a chance to move up. What am I going to do? I can get really mad about it, or I can just play hard. All I can do is just play hard." I still had a great year. If you go back and look at the numbers I was doing just fine.

That was a weird thing. I was a (53rd round) pick. The club had no equity in me. They had no money invested. So I think you look back on it, at third base the White Sox had Robin Ventura, Olmedo Saenz, Chris Snopek, Greg Norton, and Pete Rose, Jr. and then me. Most of those guys made it to the big league, so that was a tough draw. If I was in a different organization maybe things would've worked out differently, but that's the way it worked out.

You spend another year with Kinston in the Cleveland Indians organization and then out of baseball after that. At what point do you get to where you say, 'Hey, this isn't going to work out like I had hoped' and decide to go elsewhere?

Mader: That's a fantastic question and I can give you a pretty good answer.

After being released by the White Sox, I actually had a short stint with the Lakeland Tigers in '95 and I got released. I had a short stint with the Port St. Lucie Mets and got released. That was a strike year, so guys are coming back from the strike. I had filled up some roster spots and I was playing really well, but I didn't stick because again, the clubs had no money invested in me.

In May 1995, John Hart, the general manager of the Indians had called me and he had asked me if I had still been working out, and I said, "Yeah." He said, "well we need a catcher at Kinston to catch tonight. Can you be there?" I got there and I caught the game. They had Einar Diaz, who ended up being a big leaguer and was hurt. I was there for about ten days and I was doing pretty well. Then Einar was no longer injured, but they said, "Chris, you can swing the bat and you can play a bunch of positions and you're a good guy, do you want to stick around?" I said, "Yeah, sure."

We ended up being one of the best minor league teams in minor league baseball that year in Kinston (81-54 record). We were stacked lineup wise. We had Richie Sexson, Enrique Wilson, Bartolo Colon, Danny Graves, Bruce Aven and Einar Diaz and we were loaded, all big league guys.

What happened was that we swept the Wilmington Blue Rocks in the first round of the (Carolina League) playoff series and the swept the Durham Bulls for the championship. We were at home in Kinston and I remember celebrating on the pitcher's mound with my team, going crazy because we won the Carolina League. I remember celebrating in the clubhouse.

I remember packing my bag and I remember walking outside and looking at the field one more time and started basically crying and saying, "You know what? I think this is going to be my last game." Because, what I didn't want my last experience to be in baseball was a 15-hour ride back to Tewksbury, Mass. after being released. So, I pretty much decided then and there that I wouldn't play again.

I did get offers from Cleveland to keep playing. Houston called, they wanted to sign me. But, I just thought at the time and came to realize that it's really, really hard to make it to the major leagues, even though I was a pretty good player. I couldn't run; I had an okay arm. I was okay on defense, but I could hit. Having two or three tools, you really have to be under the right conditions in the right organization to get to the big leagues and mathematically, I didn't want to take the chance.

I had a good job opportunity in front of me and the "where are they now" irony of all this is that the job that I took when I left baseball is the job that I still have today. So, my career has actually worked very well. But there's always going to be that small part of me wondering, "gee, if I had kept playing would I have made it?" But, I don't think so.

My college roommate name was Carmine Cappucio. We played together in college (Rollins College, FL) and with the White Sox. I think he was a better player than I was and he made it to AAA and never made it to the big leagues. So, I look back on it and think, "You know what, I might have had an opportunity, but the reality is that I probably wasn't going to make it."

What have you been doing since you left baseball?

Mader: I work at Randstad Technologies. We are an IT talent and services organization. We sell our recruiting, outsourcing, consulting and projects for information technology services. At the end of the day, we are an employment company. We help find people jobs and we help companies find people for those jobs. I now manage what's called a national accounts practice. So, I help manage our major accounts: clients like Verizon, Accenture, customers like that, major, large Fortune 500 clients for our business.

To be honest, there's a lot of parallel with what I do in sports. I enjoy the team that I work with. I think there's a ton of parallels between sports and business. I can you tell that in spring training that I played with Michael Jordan and guys like Bo Jackson. I played in the all-star game with guys like Derek Jeter. When you're lucky enough at that age to be exposed to people like that, when you get into the business world, it's really not very intimidating. After watching Michael Jordan, it's hard to let somebody else intimidate you.

So, I never walk into a board meeting feeling really nervous or intimated by anybody because at the end of the day, Derek Jeter puts his pants on like just like anybody else. They're all great guys and I really am thankful to have had the experience that I have had, because by no means was I a physical specimen. I was as in good a shape as I could be and I worked out as hard as I could, but I wasn't a natural athlete. I was nowhere near the level of a lot of these big league guys are nowadays.

Have you done anything in baseball since leaving as a player?

Mader: I dropped it completely. I said to myself, "I've competed at the level I wanted to compete at, I had no desire to go back into a men's league and dominate and be that guy that was felt like he was just hanging on too long."

I respect it, because I still play men's league ice hockey, because I think it's fun and challenging, I'm not very good at it, but I like it. I took to competitive golf, tournament golf. I play in a lot of USGA amateur events.

The best thing I did in baseball, and I enjoy it tremendously, is I've been coaching and I'm on the board of my little league in my town for the past ten years. So, two of my three children play baseball- one of my boys and one of my girls.

I don't think they love it as much as I did, but being able to coach them has been a lot of fun for me and I really enjoy being back on the field with kids. I mean coaching Little League, there's nothing better, honestly. I really enjoy that.

But, I see down the road, once my primary career here at Randstad finishes, I can look out 10, 15, or 20 years and say I'd love to be a college coach. I love to coach; I love the game. So, we'll see. You never know what happens.

Do you take anything from your experience in baseball to your Little League, or do you pretty much let that play out itself and try not to bring back the "when dad was in baseball" stories?

Mader: Actually, I'm very sensitive to it. Here's what I do. I tell the parents and kids right off the bat, "Let me throw this out there so it doesn't drag out; I had the opportunity to play AA baseball." And then I go into a quick story about my background.

Then I'll say, "I tell you that because I'm not trying to tell you that I am better than anybody else; I tell you that because I'm probably the most qualified person on this field to help your child get better." And I tell them that because I really try to keep parents further away from their kids for those two hours that they are out on the field, because I want them to really enjoy themselves and have a good time.

As much as I can tell that I give really good instruction, I am the most light-hearted guy on the baseball field. I've had parents tell me, "Geez, I thought you'd be more competitive." Or, "I thought you'd be a lot tougher on the kids." I'm like, "I'm going to give them the instruction that they need, but I'm a big believer that if the kids are having fun, they're going to play hard and they're going to get better." I think society puts way too much pressure on kids under the age of 12 to really specialize in a sport that early in life. I was the kind of kid that played all the sports. I played hockey, football, basketball, baseball, golf and tennis. I didn't start really specializing in baseball until I was about 13, 14, or 15. I try to bring that culture to my Little League program and I think it's worked out pretty well.