What a year for Mark Loretta.
He has a new, expanded role. He has a big new contract. He even has a new hobby.
Loretta, who has become the Milwaukee Brewers’ starting shortstop, is taking violin lessons. Now there’s a line you don’t see often on the back of a baseball card.
“I’ve always liked the sound a violin makes,” Loretta said. “I’d been telling my wife that I’d like to learn to play an instrument and she called my bluff. She gave me violin lessons for Christmas. I know it’s not something you just pick up and play, but I’ll give it a try.”
Considering Loretta’s background, it might seem more likely that he would play violin than become a regular shortstop in the major leagues. But the Northwestern graduate somehow has emerged from the County Stadium shadows with a three-year, $11 million contract and the responsibility of being the Brewers’ No. 2 hitter and minister of defense.
Manager Davey Lopes knows he is inheriting a team that has endured seven consecutive losing seasons. He knows it has some questions. He does not believe, however, that the shortstop with the choirboy countenance is among them.
“When I was in San Diego [as a coach], we always regarded [Loretta] very highly,” Lopes said. “We like him. In fact, we tried to get him. . . . He’s a very heady player, a very intelligent player. Heck, he’s just very intelligent.”
Loretta wasn’t sure how smart he was in the winter of 1989-90. That’s when he left his family and friends in La Canada, Calif., to become a freshman at Northwestern. He wanted to go to Stanford but wasn’t offered a scholarship. He turned down offers from UCLA and Loyola Marymount to come to NU, where he would play baseball and prepare for the business world.
Because Loretta wasn’t drafted out of high school, he figured he would need the best education possible for his financial future. That point was driven home after his junior season with the Wildcats, when once again he wasn’t drafted.
“I always knew I had to take school seriously,” Loretta said. “I knew I wasn’t some kind of phenom, that’s for sure. I wasn’t going to finish college, go straight to the major leagues and be a star. The odds of having a successful baseball career were stacked against me. I had to have something to fall back on.”
But Loretta flourished as a senior in 1993. He added some muscle to his skin and bones and wound up as an All-American and the Big Ten’s Most Valuable Player. The Brewers took him in the seventh round of the draft.
Loretta was thrilled, but he already had fielded some other offers. Kmart wanted him for its executive training program. Other businesses were interested. That was the only leverage Loretta had when it came time to negotiate his first contract.
In the craziest month of his life, Loretta came to terms and walked across the stage to receive his organizational studies degree from Northwestern. He took in all the activities of Senior Week, including the traditional trip to Wrigley Field.
Loretta and his girlfriend were sitting in the bleachers watching the Cubs when Loretta did what any 21-year-old in his right mind would do. He told her that one day he might be down on the field in a major-league uniform.
Hilary, whom Loretta would marry five years later, recently told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she almost laughed out loud at the suggestion.
“I looked at him and said, `Yeah, right,”‘ she said.
Loretta could understand why his suggestion might have seemed unlikely, if not implausible. But it took only two years for the kid who turned down Kmart to climb to the top of the Brewers’ organizational structure.
Loretta, who made his Milwaukee debut Sept. 4, 1995, began the ’96 season back with Class AAA New Orleans but spent most of that year in Milwaukee. He had played shortstop in the minors but had no trouble learning to play other positions.
Because the Brewers always had more highly regarded middle infielders–guys such as Jose Valentin, Fernando Vina and Ron Belliard–it took time for Loretta to establish himself. He carried four or five different gloves in his duffel bag and worked to become good with all of them.
Loretta thrived as a utility infielder. But he never could escape that tag while playing for Phil Garner, who was fired last August.
Loretta moved all over the infield, even learning to play first base. He is 6 feet and weighs 180 pounds dripping wet, hardly giving him the appearance of a prototypical first baseman. The position demands power and he has only 17 career homers. Yet Loretta started 32 games at first in 1998 and 54 last year.
“I never thought I’d be playing first base in the major leagues,” Loretta said. “But I’m thankful for the opportunity to play different positions. That’s really how I got my experience.”
Despite never having a permanent position, Loretta became a regular in Milwaukee’s lineup. He has played at least 132 games in each of the last three seasons, establishing a .296 career batting average. He always has been a disciplined hitter who will take a walk and put the ball in play.
“You can do a lot of things with Mark,” Lopes said. “He can take two strikes. He can hit-and-run. He’s a very smart hitter.”
Former Atlanta Braves assistant Dean Taylor replaced Sal Bando as the Brewers’ general manager last September. He has reshaped his roster drastically, trading veterans Jeff Cirillo, Valentin and Vina and allowing Dave Nilsson to depart for Japan.
But Taylor quickly identified Loretta as a key element for the future. He rewarded him with a contract that buys out two years of salary arbitration and one of free agency, binding him to the Brewers through 2002.
There was an assumption Loretta would replace Valentin as the regular shortstop, but it did not become official until after Lopes met with Loretta at the start of spring training. Some in the Brewers organization doubt Loretta can hold the position, citing his lack of range and average arm strength. Those people believe Loretta is best suited to be a jack-of-all-trades.
“There are a lot of people who think he can’t do this,” Lopes said. “I have a tendency to disagree. I wanted to nip that in the bud. I called him in to talk and told him I wanted him to be very honest with me. I point blank asked him, `Can you play shortstop for the whole season?’ There was no hesitation. He said he could do it, no problem.”
As a second baseman for the Dodgers, Lopes played alongside shortstop Bill Russell in four World Series and sees many of Russell’s characteristics in Loretta.
It takes a vivid imagination to picture the Brewers becoming even a contender, much less a champion. But Loretta believes they are moving in the right direction.
“Things have been the same for a lot of springs here,” Loretta said. “Now from the general manager down to the manager and a lot of new players, things are different. To some guys who have been here it almost feels like we’ve been traded to a whole new organization.”
Time will tell if Loretta can make beautiful music, both on and off the field.
