'Catching Up' is a monthly feature by NOVA Baseball Magazine where we connect with a player or former player with Northern Virginia roots for a question and answer session. This month's player is Shawn Camp, who is a 1994 graduate of Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax and was a 1997 16th round draft pick in the Major League amateur draft by the San Diego Padres out of George Mason University.
Camp recently retired from the game after an 18-year professional career that saw him pitch for five Major League clubs, totaling nearly 600 innings of work in 541 appearances as a reliever. Camp, 39, has returned to the area with his wife, Heidi, and their children and has started a pitching academy. For more information on Camp’s academy, check out www.shawncamppitching.com.
Shawn, as you transition from playing to coaching, what will you miss most about playing in the big leagues? And what are you looking forward to most as a coach and instructor?
Playing in the Major Leagues was an experience I wish every player could feel. Without a doubt, I will miss showing up to the ballpark every day and preparing to compete at the highest level. Having that burning desire to be out there on the field when your team needs you is something that will never go away. Being able to pitch in front of 50,000 people and being able to block out the sound is an incredible feeling for a player. I was a reliever who pitched in a lot of situations and most of the time it was the messy ones where you were the hero or the villain. I will miss those moments but have a lot of fond memories to take away from playing for so long.
As I transition into coaching, the most important thing for me to remember is that I am not the player anymore. For me in starting a pitching academy, it’s now all about teaching. I want to share my experiences with the players I coach and teach them not just the physical side of the game, but the mental side. In this game you fail more than you succeed. Pretty funny to think about so.
The late Don Zimmer once told me when i was a player for the Tampa Bay Rays, “Shawn, in all the years I’ve coached or managed, I’ve never judged a player’s character when he is succeeding, but how a player deals with his failures”. That has always stuck out to me because it taught me to not only be successful with things are going good, but to be successful in my failures as well.
You pitched professionally for 18 seasons with nine different organizations after being drafted by San Diego in 1997. What was the toughest adjustment you had to make when trading uniforms and having a new city, coaching staff and group of teammates to get familiar with?
Great question! The Major Leagues is actually a small fraternity. Players are constantly interacting on the field in some capacity, whether it be during BP or in the weight room, so there is a familiarity there with faces. When you first walk into a clubhouse, it’s a little odd because everyone will look at you like, “who is the new guy?” Once you get out on the field, you become real close to the guys very quickly. Especially bullpen guys, because we are all a little different. We are the most outspoken.
Coaches are a different story, as they have experience with players “within” the organization, so it takes a little longer to get them to warm up to you and vice versa. I feel fortunate to have played for some great managers such as [former Tampa Bay manager and current Chicago Cubs manager] Joe Maddon, [former Toronto manager] Cito Gaston and [former Cubs manager] Dale Sveum. All three of these managers had different personalities, but all shared the same goal.
As far as changing cities, that is something I never got tired of. I have a great family that has supported me through all of this. My wife loves to travel and my kids love baseball and being around the park, so that was something I was truly blessed with.
Playing for the Cubs was almost surreal. Who goes to work at 12:30 on a Wednesday, and 45,000 people are around you? That is what I use to tell people about Chicago; great organization and fabulous baseball town, especially when we would win.
You were a catcher in high school at Robinson and then to begin your collegiate career at George Mason before Dayton Moore, who was then an assistant coach with Mason and is now the general manager of the Kansas City Royals, helped you make the transition to pitcher. Was that a smooth transition, and what specifically did Moore work with you on as you made the transition?
Dayton Moore will always be a person that made a positive impact on my life and in my career. He recruited me out of high school and I attended George Mason camp most of the time to be around him. I saw him recently at a GMU event and we spoke briefly about how both of our paths turned out. Transitioning from catching to pitching was difficult personally, but not so much physically. I found out quickly that my arm was better than my bat at the collegiate level. I think Coach Bill Brown and Dayton both felt that way as well.
Personally, giving up my dream to be a catcher was difficult. As a kid, I dreamed of catching for the Orioles and i would stay up late watching them on [Home Team Sports] all the time. One time, when I was playing for the Blue Jays, we were playing the Orioles at Camden Yards and I actually went out on the field early, geared up and had a teammate throw off the mound to me while I caught.
What aspect of the game did you learn as a youth or high school player that helped you along the way during your journey to the Major Leagues? And was there a specific coach that played a key role in introducing or emphasizing that to you?
I learned so much about the game growing up and I would not have made it as far as I did without the help of my father early on. He taught me how to love the game, respect it and be a good teammate. You have to have all three of those qualities outside of the talent. If you do not, then all the talent in the world will not matter.
My father educated me on how to take care of my arm. Probably one of the only disagreements I will admit to with my father was after a Friday night game at Robinson, we had a school dance of some sort. When I got home my dad had my bands out and my ice bucket. I fought this because I was late and wanted to be with my friends, but it wasn’t an option for me so at the end of it all I had to take care of my arm before i went anywhere.
We laugh about that night still today. To me, that was a learning lesson and if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t still bring it up today.
When i was coming up through the minor leagues, arm care was a players option; either you did it or didn’t do it. Now, I can tell you in the Major Leagues it is mandatory throughout training rooms. Being back in the area now, that will be something that I drive home with players I work with. It is something that the youth needs to be educated in.
You were high school teammates with Javier Lopez, another Major League pitcher who won a World Series with San Francisco last year to earn his fourth world championship ring. What is your favorite memory from your high school days playing with Lopez and for coach Tom Peterson?
I was able to share a moment with Javier and Coach Peterson a couple of weeks ago when we were inducted into the Robinson Hall of Fame together, and it was a special moment for us.
It’s hard to put into words what Coach Peterson has meant to me. He has been around me since i was a little kid, and has been involved in my entire career. When I would come to D.C. and play the Nats, during BP I could always turn at some point and in the left field bleachers there was Coach Peterson.
The highlight of my Robinson days for sure is when we beat the “unbeatable” DeMatha team. They were a really good team and well-coached.
Javier and I have been friends for a very long time, and I said this in my induction, that you will not find a person that cares about his teammates more. That goes back to high school as well to the Major Leagues. We would play San Francisco once a year and we would always find time to stand in outfield during BP and catch up on old times.
Everyone who follows baseball knows that perhaps the most fun place to be for a player is in the bullpen. Are there any stories that stand out from your time waiting for your opportunity to enter the game? And were there any players in particular that made it an enjoyable experience out there during your playing days?
You are 100 percent correct in saying that the bullpen is the most fun place on the field. There are some goofy topics that are brought up.
The 2009 Blue Jays team was probably the funnest group of guys because we had a lot of different characters and our bullpen was really successful that year. We had a 2.90 ERA as a bullpen on the year. BJ Ryan was one of the top closers in the game at that time, and he would joke with me and say, “Camp stop driving our ERA up”. It was hilarious because i ended the year with a 3.50 ERA and almost 80 innings. You would think that would have been good.
Mostly when you are on the road all you do is get yelled at constantly and it never stops, especially when you play on the road in Philly. The craziest story is actually when we were playing in Toronto and Detroit was in town. One thing you never do is address the crowd because you make it worse. The left fielder made a hand gesture at the crowd on a ‘Thirsty Thursday’ and pretty much every beer can came out of the stands at him. All the Detroit players cleared the field and when the game started again, here came all the beer cans again.
I will say that one of my closest teammates, Jason Frasor, and I came up with a saying: Friday Night at Fenway. That is when the adrenaline is going and crowd is electric. I loved that night. I would always try and talk the pitching coach into getting me into that game.
Fenway is really tiny in some ways and the crowd is so loud that it almost feels like the stadium is moving. It’s hard to put into words but an amazing feeling.
Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Phillies
