Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Mazza was watching a special 20 years ago on New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio when his older brother let him in on a little secret.
“I was 9 years old and we were watching ESPN Classic and they were talking about the 56-game hitting streak and all of the sudden my brother goes, ‘You know that’s our cousin, right?’” Mazza recalled. “And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he told me he was our grandmother’s cousin and then after that, I started learning more about Dom and Vince (Joe’s brothers, who both were big-league outfielders as well). I mean Dom played (with the Red Sox) for 14 years (1940-42, 1946-53), and I didn’t realize that. He had a really good career as well.”
Mazza said he met DiMaggio once at a family reunion when he was 6, back before he even knew who Joltin’ Joe was.
“Honestly, I don’t really remember it,” he said. “And I definitely didn’t understand who he was at the time.”
Mazza hails from the San Francisco area, where all three of the DiMaggio brothers began their professional careers with the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League. Mazza grew up in a large family, saying he was constantly meeting cousins he never knew were related to him.
“Our family is so big in the Bay Area,” he said. “I’ve got cousins everywhere. I went to high school with cousins who I didn’t even know were my cousins. All of the sudden, I’d see them at a family reunion and I’d be like, ‘What are you doing here?’ and they’d say, ‘This is my family reunion.’ My dad was one of five and his mom and dad were one of five, you know those big Italian Roman Catholic families. You grow up in a family with lots of kids and then you get married and you have a lot of kids. The DiMaggios and Mazzas were big in that area. There were so many of us, it’s hard to be close with everyone, especially ones that live on the other coast (like Joe DiMaggio did).”
Mazza was claimed by the Red Sox off waivers in December from the New York Mets after the Mets signed pitcher Michael Wacha. The 30-year-old Mazza made his big-league debut with the Mets last season after eight years in the minor leagues – which included stints in the Twins and Marlins organizations and a short foray into independent baseball.
Mazza said he grew up a diehard Yankees fan. In the last two years, he’s now suited up for the two organizations Yankees fans hate the most, a fact not lost on the 6-foot-4, 180-pound right-hander.
“All of us here grew up fans of another team and probably weren’t Red Sox fans growing up,” he said. “Once you get here, you’re just a baseball fan. You can always still like certain organizations but the main thing is whatever team you’re playing for, that’s the team you root for. Whoever wants to give me a uniform, that’s my favorite team.”
Shortly after he was picked up by the Red Sox, he visited Fenway Park for the first time.
“The field was frozen and everything but just looking at (the Green Monster), it really hits you and you almost become speechless,” Mazza said. “I’ve always thought it would be really cool to be part of that history, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, all that. I’ve had family members who were a big part of that history and hopefully I get my chance, too.”
Mazza finally got his chance in the big leagues last year when he was called up by the Mets on June 26. He didn’t make an appearance in either of his first two games, but finally got the call from the bullpen in a June 29 game against the Braves in New York.
On a day the Mets were celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the Miracle Mets championship team of 1969, Mazza was called into action after a 70-minute delay forced starter Steven Matz from the game after two innings. Mazza promptly allowed a single to Ronald Acuna and an RBI double to Dansby Swanson in his first three pitches, but settled down after that to pitch four strong innings. He was in line for the victory before Nick Markakis and Austin Riley touched up reliever Seth Lugo for back-to-back homers in the eighth inning of a 5-4 Mets loss.
Still, entering that game and taking a big-league mound for the first time is something forever etched in his memory.
“I had a (minor-league) coach Storm Davis (a 13-year MLB veteran) tell me, ‘When you finally get up there, before you make that first pitch, take a step back and take it all in – look around, you’re here,’” Mazza recalled. “So that was one of the first things I did when I got out on the mound and it kind of helped me slow the game down a little bit.
“Freddie Freeman, a really tough hitter, was my first strikeout,” he said. “That’s one I’ll never forget. After giving up a run in three pitches, I needed that. So, you have to take the good with the bad.”
Overall, Mazza went 1-1 with a 5.51 earned run average in nine appearances with the Mets. In 16⅓ innings, he allowed 21 hits with five walks and 11 strikeouts. The sinkerball pitcher was able to keep the ball in the yard, allowing no home runs in a year where longballs were flying out at an alarming rate. He allowed just six homers in 99⅔ minor-league innings, split between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse.
Mazza has spent his offseasons in California working for his dad’s brick mason company, R Mazza Masonry, Inc. A 27th-round draft pick out of Division III Menlo (Calif.) College by the Twins in 2011, Mazza said he never came close to giving up his dream.
“From when I started, my goal was obviously to get to the big leagues as quickly as possible,” Mazza said. “I always said I’d play until I was 30 and if it didn’t happen, it didn’t happen. I set that number after my first season because, in reality, I’ve got my whole life to get a real job. I figured, what’s eight years of trying to chase a dream? It’s hard to hang up on your dreams when you know how close you are.”
Now that he’s been to the major leagues, he says he’s got a new goal.
“Getting there was incredible, something you dream of as a little kid,” Mazza said. “To grind it out for eight years and finally get that phone call, it was just an overwhelming feeling. And then getting there, making my debut, it’s all kind of a blur. It’s great to finally get there and now the job is to try and make a club out of spring training and staying there.”
The original article written by Andrew Sodergren can be found here:
https://www.news-press.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/02/23/red-sox-chris-mazza-has-family-ties-dimaggio-brothers-joe-and-dom/4794413002/