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Mike Koplove has spent the last couple of years of his professional baseball career getting early wake-up calls and taking long bus rides from Minor League city to Minor League city.
This season, he is a relief pitcher for the Las Vegas 51s, the AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. His stay with the organization is winding down as come Aug. 1, the right-hander will join his USA Baseball teammates in North Carolina for a four-game series against Team Canada. The following week, the 24-member squad along with the coaching staff will board a plane to Beijing, China, to represent the red, white and blue in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
During a Monday phone interview, Koplove, 31, said last week’s Team USA announcement hasn’t completely set in yet.
"I didn’t think that I would ever make it to China in my life," Koplove, a Packer Park native, said. "Now I am going to be there for three weeks. It’s kind of indescribable how excited I am to be doing this."
The funny thing is, Koplove and Samantha, his wife of nearly two years, were having trouble hearing to the live announcement over their computer at home. They drove to a nearby library and even signed up for library cards in hopes they could get the information there. Luckily, his sister-in-law was watching it live in Michigan and held the phone up to the speakers so the Koploves could hear the news. Within seconds, his father Steve was calling from Philly.
"’Oh my God, you made it,’" Koplove recalled his dad shouting.
This will be the pitcher’s second trip to China this year. During spring training, which Koplove spent with the Dodgers as a non-roster invitee, he was selected to represent the Dodgers in a two-game exhibition in the Far East against the San Diego Padres. But that trip was only two days versus the nearly three-week journey he is about to embark on with Team USA. This time around, his wife, mom, stepdad and possibly father and sister-in-law will be making the trek.
"This is something I want to experience with my family," Koplove said.
What makes this USA Baseball team special is it is the last, as the sport is being dropped from Olympic competition following this year. Being contended on the Olympic stage since 1984, Team USA has won two golds, a silver and a bronze. That first team included catcher John Marzano, of 12th and Wharton streets, and it went on to win a silver medal. Marzano, who spent 10 years in the Major Leagues, unexpectedly died in April (see sidebar). More than two decades later, Koplove is following in his mentor’s footsteps by making the U.S. squad, putting South Philly bookends on the USA Baseball story.
"When I was 10 years old I was collecting his card," said Koplove, who noted he would get really excited when he got the Marzano Team USA baseball cards. "Never in a million years did I think I would have the same opportunity to be on the Olympic team."
Koplove said Marzano helped coach him during the early years of his playing days. Later in life, the pitcher said his mentor was "truly a friend."
Koplove said the news of Marzano’s passing is still hard to believe.
"It blows me away to even think about it," Koplove said. "I think about him every time I go out to pitch. I try and take some of his spirit with me when I go to the mound.
"It was a privilege to get to know him. He is someone I will always miss."
Like Marzano during his pro career, Koplove said it is difficult dealing with not playing in the Major League. Over the previous two seasons, the majority of his time was spent in the Minors as he appeared in a total of seven Major League contests with Arizona in 2006 and Cleveland in ’07. Much of last spring and summer was spent with the AAA Buffalo Bisons of the Cleveland Indians farm system where Koplove pitched in 51 games. This season, the reliever is putting up solid numbers with Las Vegas, appearing in 37 games with a 1-1 record and a 3.26 ERA. He also has nine saves.
Since making his Major League debut in ’01 with the Diamondbacks, Koplove has made 222 Major League relief appearances and compiled a 15-7 record with a 3.82 ERA. It was that level of experience that caught the attention of USA Baseball Manager Davey Johnson.
"He is having an outstanding year so far in AAA and has pitched in the big leagues," Johnson said of Koplove. "He knows how to pitch. His influence on the pen will be outstanding."
Any player not on the 25-man roster of a Major League club was eligible to be selected. With Team USA, Koplove is ready to step up where ever he is needed most. The Olympic journey begins nexst week in Cary, N.C., where Team USA will face Team Canada. The two North American squads then will travel to Durham, N.C., for another three games before departing for the Olympics, which begin Aug. 8. Team USA will open Olympic competition Aug. 13 with games against Korea and the Netherlands followed a day later with a match against baseball power Cuba.
"I think they put together the best team possible to win a gold medal," Koplove said of the Team USA selection committee.
When not on the field, Koplove said he hopes to check out some of the other events like USA Basketball, tennis and track and field.
Maybe before the ’08 baseball season comes to a close, Koplove will find himself getting the call from the Dodgers bullpen in September when Major League teams can expand their rosters. For now, he is living a dream.
"[Making the Olympic team] definitely makes all the long bus rides and early morning wake-up calls worth it," Koplove said. "This is bigger than anything I ever experienced. Obviously, it’s never going to happen again."
