PEORIA, Ariz. — Terry Mulholland was convinced somebody made a huge mistake.
Why would the San Francisco Giants waste a first-round draft pick on him, a pitcher from a tiny college in the Midwest?
Shouldn’t they have taken somebody from one of the big baseball schools instead? A player from Arizona State or Wichita State or Fullerton State?
Terry Mulholland? First-round draft choice?
"I was dumbfounded in what the Giants had exactly seen in me," he said.
They saw a left-handed pitcher who led Marietta College in Ohio to the NCAA Division III championship in 1983 and a second-place finish in 1984, a kid who finished with a 30-3 record and a 2.39 earned-run average in three years and became a Division III All-American.
The Giants took Mulholland with the 24th overall pick in the ‘84 draft and sent him on a 20-year baseball journey in which he pitched a no-hitter and won a World Series game. He has pitched for nine different major league teams, including the Seattle Mariners in 1996 and, if he continues to pitch well in spring training, again this year.
Wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Everything turned out right, beginning in 1984, when the Giants sent Mulholland to the Class A Everett Giants to begin the ride of his baseball life. He just didn’t know it at the time.
"I went to Everett thinking I’d really gotten myself in over my head," Mulholland said. "I figured I would just go out and play ball and see what I could do. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot."
As puzzling as it was to be drafted and assigned to Everett, getting there was just as daunting. Mulholland was a 21-year-old who’d never been west of Ohio, and he jumped on a plane with a little bit of money and a lot of anxiety.
"I wasn’t that worldly of a person at the time," he said. "I got off the plane at Sea-Tac and somebody was supposed to pick me up, but nobody showed. I had only 50 or 60 bucks in my pocket and I ended up spending a majority of that on cab fare getting to Everett."
He spent most of his remaining money on a late-afternoon Grand Slam Breakfast at Denny’s, then began walking more than a mile to Everett Memorial Stadium.
Once there, Mulholland ran into someone else who didn’t think he belonged in pro ball: a stadium gate attendant.
"He told me I couldn’t get into the park without buying a ticket, and I told him I couldn’t understand why I had to buy a ticket since I was one of the players," Mulholland said. "I know he was thinking, ‘Yeah right, if you’re a player why weren’t you here earlier?’ "
Before Mulholland had a chance to explain being a No. 1 draft pick, or signing late and arriving after the season had begun, or his travels to a place he’d never been, a welcome sight appeared.
Bob Bavasi, who owned the Giants, happened to be nearby and overheard Mulholland pleading his case.
"Hey, you’re Terry Mulholland," Bavasi said. "You need to get in here."
Bavasi welcomed his new pitcher into the ballpark with open arms, free admission and a reimbursement for the cab fare.
Mulholland spent just two weeks in Everett that summer, but they were days that created a lasting impression, made all the more memorable by the manager of the Giants.
Rocky Bridges was an unfinished, colorful baseball throwback.
"For him to be the guy who introduced all of us to professional baseball was kind of fun," Mulholland said. "He would stand at third base and instead of giving some intricate sign, he would say, ‘Just bunt the ball!’ If he wanted the guy to steal, he’d wave his hand and say, ‘Go!’"
Nothing was quite like Mulholland’s first road trip. Or, at least, the way it started.
"Everybody was at the field to get on the bus about 6 or 6:30 in the morning, except Rocky," Mulholland remembered. "Rocky was staying at this dumpy little motel on the north side of town, so we drove the bus over there."
Joe Strain, one of the coaches, hopped off the bus and pounded on the door to Bridges’ motel room.
"We could see him stick his head out the door to see who it was, then he closed the door and about five minutes later he came walking out," Mulholland said. "All he was wearing were his cowboy boots, a pair of boxers and an old tank-top T-shirt. He’s got his jeans and his shirt slung over his shoulder and he’s carrying a bedspread and pillow. That’s all he took on the road trip.
"That," Mulholland said, "was my introduction to professional baseball. It was something I wouldn’t trade for the world."
Unlike so many at the Class A level, Mulholland didn’t walk to the mound for his first professional start with the unbridled confidence of a first-round draft pick.
"I wasn’t sure what I had gotten myself into," he said. "On my very first professional pitch I know I hit the guy in the foot."
He settled in quickly.
Mulholland made three starts for the Giants and didn’t allow an earned run in 19 innings. He remained unsure of himself the whole way.
"I just went out and tried to do what I knew how to do. I wasn’t going to try and be somebody I’m not," he said. "I figured what the heck, if I’m here, I might as well enjoy playing ball."
After Mulholland’s third game, Bridges called him into his office and greeted him with a stern expression.
"Kid, I hate to do this to you. I know you just got here, but I’ve got to send you out," Bridges told Mulholland.
"I told Rocky, ‘That’s fine. I understand,’" Mulholland said, figuring the Giants finally realized what he had known himself, that he was overmatched at that level.
"Yeah, I’ve got to send you out," Bridges said.
Then, before Mulholland could think about putting his sports medicine major to use, Bridges dropped a shocker.
"I’ve got to send you to Fresno," Bridges said.
Mulholland was stumped. Fresno was the Giants’ long-season Class A team, a promotion from Everett.
"Let me get this straight," he told Bridges. "You’re not sending me home?"
"Hell no," Bridges told him. "Look at your numbers. You’re going to Fresno, the A-ball team."
Mulholland couldn’t believe it.
"This was all new to me," he said. "I was under the impression when I signed that I was in way over my head and that it was just a matter of time before they found me out."
Mulholland was a baseball rarity, a first-round draft pick whose ego never overmatched his ability.
"I pretty much came from a humble baseball background," he said. "I felt that there were so many talented guys with so much more ability than me.
"Under that assumption, you’ve got to work twice as hard. You’ve got to hustle and do everything you can to do things right. Don’t give anybody an excuse to think otherwise, do it with hard work and determination and see where it gets you."
It has carried Mulholland into his 21st year of pro ball and given him some cherished moments.
He became the first Phillies pitcher in the 20th century to throw a no-hitter when he beat the San Francisco Giants 6-0 on Aug. 15, 1990.
"That was probably the turning point in my career," Mulholland said. "At that point, I realized that I do belong here, that I am the guy the Giants drafted in the first round. It was more a confirming point for me than anything else."
It wasn’t the best moment of his career, though.
That happened in 1993 when Mulholland beat Dave Stewart and the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the World Series.
"I was in the World Series playing for a great team with a great bunch of guys," he said. "We were all on the same page, there were no egos and it was all, ‘Beat the other guy.’ We had as much fun off the field as we did on the field. We knew how to work hard, we knew how to play hard and we knew how to enjoy ourselves."
Mulholland turned 41 this month, and he knows he won’t celebrate many more birthdays at spring training, at least as a player.
"When you get up there in years, there are other things in life that you realize need your attention," he said. "As far as leaving the game, I know that day will come. Maybe I’ll step away from it for a few years and get back in a coaching capacity. But right now I’m enjoying putting that uniform on and going out on the field and seeing what I’ve got left to offer."
At this stage of his career, Mulholland is prepared to fit the role that best suits the team, not the other way around.
The Mariners need a second left-hander in their bullpen, and Mulholland was one of three veterans they brought to spring training to compete for the job, along with Mike Myers and Ron Villone.
Mulholland doesn’t consider himself a starter, long reliever or left-handed specialist, but he can do all of those jobs. If it turns out the Mariners aren’t interested, he’s confident another team will be.
"I just want to show them that I can contribute in some way that’s going to help them win," he said. "In the last five or six years, I’ve assumed my role to be a pitcher. Whether that’s a starter, long reliever, setup guy, short guy or closer if a guy is hurt or he’s been used quite a bit. I just take the approach, ‘Give me the ball. I’m going to give you everything I’ve got every day of the season.’
"There are guys you’ll come across who’ll say, ‘I don’t know if I can do this role.’ If you start questioning whether you can do it or not, you’re allowing that negative aspect to creep into the whole scenario. I say, ‘Yeah, I can do this.’ I may fail, but I’m not going to allow my attitude to cause me to fail."
Mulholland succeeded despite his negative thoughts 20 years ago.
Who’s to doubt him now?
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