Relentless Success. Todd Stottlemyre

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СКАЧАТЬ in both my personal life and my career. Dave was my role-model, mentor, teammate, and friend. We both arrived at the 1994 spring training at the same time, a few days earlier than the start date. Since we had been in contact throughout the off-season and he had quickly become my good friend, I invited him to dinner to celebrate his 37^th birthday. I hired a limousine and booked a dinner at a five-star restaurant in Tampa Florida. I wanted to show Dave how much I appreciated him. We got off to a late start that night, not getting to dinner until after 9 p.m. One of my buddies who owned a law firm was also in Tampa that night, so we agreed to meet up after dinner and have a drink. It was a great night; we had a great dinner, and I was spending time with my mentor. We laughed, told stories, and talked a lot about our goals for the upcoming season. We were excited for spring training to start. After Dave and I met my friends for a drink, we jumped back into the limo to head home.

      We decided to make one more stop on our way home. A nice bar to have a nightcap and Dave insisted on covering the charge to get in since I had covered the rest of the night to celebrate his birthday. I agreed and said I would go in and get a table while he was getting out arranging to cover the door charge for our group. Right as I was grabbing a table, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Dave’s friend who informed me that they wouldn’t let Dave inside. I headed for the door to see what was going on and Dave was nowhere in sight. As I walked outside, I saw Dave about thirty yards away standing on the sidewalk with three guys standing around him.

      “Is everything ok?” I yelled over to Dave as I headed in his direction. He didn’t respond. At this point, I knew something wasn’t right. As I was walking towards Dave, there were police officers arriving on the scene, it seemed by the dozens. The night went from celebratory to out of control in a matter of seconds.

      “Get back!” an officer yelled at me as he cut off my path to Dave.

      “I was just getting my buddy and we were leaving” I replied calmly.

      “It’s too late for him!” the officer shouted in my face, clearly hyped up and overreacting to the situation. He pushed me backward and my hands went up to let him know that I was not there to cause problems. As my hands went up, I was taken down from behind by another officer. I was now lying on the street face down. I had no idea what was going on with Dave. I had several officers on top of me trying to get me in handcuffs. I was face down with my arms outstretched. Then my left arm was ripped behind my back.

      “Give us your right arm!” They screamed at me.

      The rough pavement burned against my face as they grabbed my hair from behind and slammed my head into the pavement repeatedly. They were completely out of control, acting like they were in a war zone. I stayed calm, able to find the zone, keeping my emotions under control and not reacting with my usual tendency to fight back. I was also protecting my right arm, however, knowing that any damage could harm the way I made a living.

      As I tried to push more into the zone and silence the chaos around me, I was jolted by a strong punch to my ribs. The officers had pulled out their metal clubs and were repeatedly beating me on my side trying to get me to roll over. The officers were slamming my forehead against the pavement and taking batting practice on my ribs. I was taking a beating in public on the streets of Tampa! They ripped my right arm behind my back and cuffed me. However, before sitting me in the back of the police car, they took one final blow and slammed my head against the car. I had no idea what was going on, but there I was, after what started out as a perfect night with my mentor, handcuffed in the back of a cop car. My shoulder ached as my pitching arm was tightly cuffed behind my back, warm blood dripping down my face after being smashed into the pavement and the side of car.

      “What happened?” I asked the officer in the driver seat.

      “I don’t know,” he replied.

      “Why am I in the back of your car?” I continued, my hazy mind catching up to the shock my body was experiencing from the brutality.

      “I don’t know,” he repeated.

      Well I didn’t know either! I didn’t know where Dave was and didn’t know why I was in the back of a police car. But I did know that I had received a beating by some cops that were out of control, and that I had chosen not to fight back. Which of course was contrary to my normal mode of operation. A sense of relief washed over me as I realized I had won the ultimate challenge; I stayed in the zone, controlled my emotions and didn’t retaliate! The officer driving the car didn’t take me to the police station. He took me to a building in the middle of nowhere and locked me in a cage. It looked as if we were in an old school building. The cage was so small I couldn’t even stand all the way up, and my elbows were touching either side of the cage while my hands were still tightly cuffed behind me. I felt like an animal being caged and taunted. That’s when I saw Dave in the cage next to mine.

      “What in the hell happened out there Dave?”

      “The guy at the door wouldn’t let me in because I didn’t want to wear the wristband,” Dave said. “He got nasty and threatened me, and then he called the police.”

      Internally I questioned if all of this could really be over a wrist band. The guy at the door saw us getting out of the limo. Was the guy at the door being a hard ass because he was jealous of Dave’s success? Was it because Dave was a massively successful athlete and the guy at the door was taking his shot at stardom? Was he discriminating? I had no idea what triggered it, I just knew there was no violence prior to the police arriving, and yet here we were, locked in cages after taking beating, totally unprovoked.

      The Police kept us cuffed in the cages for around four hours. During that time, one after another showed up, about 25 in all. Dave and I sat in our cages watching them all collaborate and “get their stories straight.” It was ridiculous and sickening as we listened to the lies they were composing. Officers who hadn’t even been a part of the arrest were coming in and spinning a story about how Dave or I had thrown punches at them, even though we didn’t resist at all. They then unlocked us from the cages, keeping us cuffed, and transported us to the Tampa Police Department. As they walked us outside, there were cameras everywhere from various national media outlets. They booked us at the station, and we posted bail around 5:30 a.m.

      We were both charged with battery on an officer, resisting arrest, and then they added one more charge to Dave, disturbing the peace. We were charged for hitting the police, even though it was really just the opposite! The news media went crazy. They took the police reports as fact and ran the stories making Dave and I look like crazy villains running wild in the streets of Tampa. The only comment that Dave and I were permitted to make to the media was, “No comment.” Our case was going to court, and we were coached to say nothing.

      I called my parents immediately, to let them know I was ok. I told them that everything on the news was a lie. They trusted me. They knew that every time I made a mistake, I was the first to take full responsibility for my actions. This time, I was letting them know that the media and police department were all lying, and there was nothing we could do about it until the case went to court. But that was one of the main problems; the case was set to go to court in November after the baseball season ended! Basically, that meant that Dave and I were going to be slated as criminals the entire season. “Jailbird! Jailbird! Jailbird!” The taunting chants of the opposing teams’ fans still ring through my memory.

      The bombardment of slander and our legal situation continually sent me back into the zone, silencing the undeserved jeers and ignorant opinions Dave and I received during that season. I remember warming up in opposing stadiums’ bullpens and having their fans chant “jailbird” over and over. It was brutal, but with every challenge, I was building my new mindset. I was constantly challenged to not give my mind over to my circumstances, stay in the zone, and be secure in what I knew to be the truth. Everyone knew how СКАЧАТЬ