Despite hardships, McClain enjoying ride

FRESNO, Calif. - Scott McClain emerged out of the dugout for pregame warm-ups before the Fresno Grizzlies' game with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox Wednesday. He sported a San Francisco Giants windbreaker, emblematic of McClain's desire to reach the Major Leagues, a feat that the 36-year old has spent his entire career striving to achieve.

Playing professional baseball for 19 years has taken McClain to an array of different places -- including a four-year stint with Seibu in Japan -- but unfortunately for him, none of his longer stops included an extended stay in the Majors.

"It has been a pretty amazing career and I have been very fortunate," McClain said. "I guess ultimately I'd like to get a year's service time up [in the Majors]. It has been hard for me because I have done it in bits and pieces, and every time I get up there it adds up.

"I do enjoy it and I have learned not to put so much pressure on myself when I am up there and just enjoy the experience when I'm there. It is also good because I'm with people who are a little more my age," McClain added with a chuckle.

While making the Majors has been the main goal, McClain has found another purpose during his time in the Minors, as he serves as a role model for the younger players that surround him.

McClain, the active career Minor League home run leader with 273 blasts, doesn't sit on the bench and teach. He finds himself still in the Grizzlies' starting lineup and is out on a daily basis leading by example, despite being considerably older than his teammates.

This season has been no different from his past, as he leads the Grizzlies in RBIs (48), good enough for a third-place tie in the Pacific Coast League entering the middle of the week.

In 2006, McClain was named the PCL's Most Valuable Player with Sacramento, where he hit 28 home runs with 107 RBIs.

"He is a great person to have on this club and he takes care of the young kids and leads by example," Grizzlies manager Dan Rohn said of McClain. "He is just an all-around good person to have on your club."

Despite his consistent competitive edge and the numbers to prove he is still capable of swinging the bat, McClain has accepted another role within his team and has fully came to terms with what he contributes to his team.

"That is why teams sign me. I understand why they sign me back," McClain said. "I kind of help out at the Triple-A level and if somebody goes down up [in the Majors]... hopefully I am the guy they think about to call up.

"I am here a lot to help with the young guys and just kind of groom them and help them learn the game. ... The game of baseball brings guys in a lot younger, so I think it is good to have a guy like me to go between them and the manager."

McClain has seen his days in the Majors, but they haven't gone quite as well as those in the Minors. In the bigs, McClain is a career .133 hitter in 30 games, only registering six hits in 45 at-bats without a home run.

The veteran has also fallen victim to bad timing in terms of talent ahead of him in the Major Leagues, with guys like Cal Ripken Jr. and Wade Boggs blocking his way during some of the bigger years of his Minor League career.

"You see guys nowadays skate through the system and find themselves in the Major Leagues," McLain said. "I have been behind a couple Hall of Famers and it's frustrating, but it's all part of the game and I realized early on that I can only control what I control -- and that is putting up numbers and playing hard.

"If I got to the Majors and had a long career that would have been great, but it was just kind of out of my hands, really."

"He is a talented man who never really got a true shot with anybody to play in the big leagues, and if he would have gotten that shot he may have been a pretty good player," Rohn said. "I think it is all a learning experience, and I think if he wants to coach someday he would be a heck of a coach."

In 1990, McClain was offered a football scholarship from the University of Southern California. McClain instead decided to pursue baseball due to the lower injury risk and has had a rather successful career in the Minors.

Being an athlete -- particularly a baseball player -- is all McClain has known, but coaching may be a viable option for him once his seemingly ageless clock runs out of the ability to remain competitive.

For McClain, it isn't something about which he has given too much thought.

"I don't particularly want to get on a bus for eight hours in A Ball or Rookie ball," McClain said. "I always said I would do coaching if it was around Florida where I could be around my daughter, but it is a difficult choice because this is everything I know and I learned so much and I feel like I have so much to offer the game. I guess if the right circumstance comes along."

The teammates he plays with have noticed McClain's leadership abilities around the clubhouse and have learned to respect him through his hard work and consistent personality and play.

"He has been around this game for a long time, he is a heck of a baseball player, and is good for this team," said Justin Leone, a fellow Grizzlies infielder. "He is the same guy every day. Everyone has problems off the field and different things happen, but you would never know. He is professional and he's the same guy every day, and that's cool."

To McClain, he has played for an eternity. However, he's ready to add another eternity of baseball providing his body will comply.

"I've always wanted to play until I was 35, and I have accomplished that obviously," McClain said. "I have as many as I can continue to put up numbers I guess."

Given his statistics nowadays, that could be quite some time.