Baseball buddies
team up once again
PHOTOS BY FARRAH MAFFAI New York Met Joe McEwing autographs a baseball for a fan at Lakewood BlueClaws head coach Jeff Manto’s baseball clinic at GPU Energy Park in Lakewood Dec. 19.
Twelve years ago a major league baseball player reached out to a young Joe McEwing, and now it is time for the New York Mets utility man to return the favor.
In 1989, McEwing was just a college kid home on winter break in Bristol, Pa., when someone suggested he touch base with another Bristol resident, one who just happened to play for the Cleveland Indians and who was home in the off-season.
That major leaguer was Jeff Manto.
McEwing took the advice and soon began working out and training with Manto. Twelve years later McEwing feels as though he owes his professional baseball career to Jeff Manto.
![New York Met Joe McEwing works with Rob Ogorzat, 16, of Middletown during a baseball clinic at the Lakewood BlueClaws GPU Energy Park in Lakewood on Dec. 12. “Having [McEwing] here is awesome,” Ogorzat said. “It is not as though he stands there looking down on you. He is really a part of it.”](https://nmg-multisite.s3.amazonaws.com/ImageArchives/EXA/images/2001-12-27/004p2_xlg.preview.jpg "New York Met Joe McEwing works with Rob Ogorzat, 16, of Middletown during a baseball clinic at the Lakewood BlueClaws GPU Energy Park in Lakewood on Dec. 12. “Having [McEwing] here is awesome,” Ogorzat said. “It is not as though he stands there looking down on you. He is really a part of it.”")
New York Met Joe McEwing works with Rob Ogorzat, 16, of Middletown during a baseball clinic at the Lakewood BlueClaws GPU Energy Park in Lakewood on Dec. 12. “Having [McEwing] here is awesome,” Ogorzat said. “It is not as though he stands there looking down on you. He is really a part of it.”
Manto is now the manager of the Lakewood BlueClaws, a minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Now that McEwing is with the Mets, he is closer to his hometown, and that opened up the possibility of working with Manto, his mentor and good friend.
This winter McEwing and Manto have joined forces and are offering batting lessons to a group of dedicated youngsters on Wednesdays at Lakewood’s GPU Energy Park, the home of the BlueClaws.
During a recent visit to the ballpark for one of the hitting sessions, McEwing said, "Jeff taught me everything I know, from the beginning. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for him."
Lakewood BlueClaws head coach Jeff Manto works with Thomas Dorsey, 14, during the coach’s batting clinic at GPU Energy Park Dec. 19.
— Farrah Maffai
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