Overview:
James McCann has turned August into his hottest month of baseball by batting .400 which included a 10-game hitting streak
The closest journalist Mark Twain ever got to covering sports came when the humorist wrote about some frog-jumping contest in Calaveras County.
But this quote from that former reporter for the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada, convinced me that he knew his baseball:
“There are three kinds of lies,” Twain once mused. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
They are all just static to Santa Barbara-born James McCann.
His 10 seasons with four Major League Baseball clubs saddled him for a wild roller-coaster ride.
He’s gone from the heights of his All-Star season with the Chicago White Sox in 2019 to the depths of last year’s injury-plagued, hard-luck summer with the New York Mets.
McCann was viciously damned by the anti-social media of a rotten Big Apple. They focused only on the cold, hard numbers of his $40.6 million contract and the worst statistic of his career: a batting average of .195.
So what if he was one of the best defensive catchers in baseball? So what if he worked so well with teammates that several White Sox pitchers had begged their management to outbid the Mets?
New York added insult to McCann’s string of injuries last fall by trading him after just two seasons to the Baltimore Orioles. In return it got only Luis De La Cruz, a minor league outfielder who has yet to even make it out of Rookie Ball.
The Mets even agreed to pay $19 million of the $24 million that McCann is owed for the remaining two years of his four-year contract.
But not even getting so insultingly dumped could put him in the dumps.
McCann, who was drafted out of the University of Arkansas in 2011 by the Detroit Tigers, once explained himself this way:
“God’s going to put me where He wants me,” he said.
“The perfect example is that I grew up in Santa Barbara, California … Most people still can’t believe that I’ve left and chose the University of Arkansas to play baseball, especially as an 18-year-old who probably couldn’t have picked out where Arkansas was on the map.
“The only thing I can say is that’s where God wanted me. I trust that He’s going to lay out that same plan for me right now, and where He needs me most is where I’ll be.”
McCann is right where the Orioles need him as a very valuable, 33-year-old, backup catcher.
He’s gotten hot at the plate. His 10-game hitting streak was finally halted on Sunday when he went 0-for-3 with a line-drive out and two fly outs against the Colorado Rockies.
He’s batting a robust .400 for the month of August (14-for-35) to raise his season average to .241 and the Orioles to an American League-best record of 81-49.
“It’s a blast,” McCann said. “There are no words that can describe it, honestly.
“From top to bottom, it’s a phenomenal clubhouse, a great group of guys … and let’s just keep it going.”
Beating the Odds
His mother, Carla McCann, was given a bleak statistic when her amniotic fluid began to leak less than 15 weeks into her pregnancy with James. Her doctor gave him just a 25% chance of survival.
“And if it’s born,” he told her, “it’s almost a guarantee that it’s going to have mental or physical challenges … or both.”
The doctor raised the option of an abortion. Carla and her husband, Jim, would have none of it.
“There was no discussion,” she said.
Carla prayed and persevered, and gave her baby a fighting chance by spending the next 5½ months in bed.
And on June 13, 1990, the doctor announced that she had delivered “a beautiful, healthy baby boy.”
Carla took one look at little James and said, “Not bad for a one-in-four chance.”
One-for-four just about sums up James’ statistical career in the big leagues. He’s batted .243 (675-for-2,779) in parts of 10 seasons.
McCann has been sustained by both his faith and his love for the game.
His dad may have been a football guy, respected as one of the top referees in the Channel Coast Officials Association, but baseball was always James’ sport.
He was 9 years old when saw the first fruits of his labor.
“I had my mom drive me to the Goleta Valley South Little League fields — they were going to post the list of those who’d made the all-stars,” McCann told Noozhawk..
“I saw my name up there … and I was so happy that I had my picture taken next to it.”
The Miracle of the McCanns has continued with his own two Little Leaguers. Christian and Kane, now age 5, were just 2½ and 3 pounds when they were born 10 weeks prematurely in December 2017. James and his wife, Jessica, spent the next seven weeks with them at a hospital in Nashville.
The McCanns were in the NICU unit on Christmas morning when they received a gift card from Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.
“One of their children had spent time in that Vanderbilt NICU,” he said. “It was just a little gift card, but it meant so much to know that somebody else out there was thinking about us while everyone else is at home with their family celebrating Christmas.”
It prompted James and Jessica to dedicate themselves to supporting NICU workers, patients and their families through both deeds and donations.
Their work earned McCann a nomination from the Mets for last year’s Roberto Clemente Award. The honor is “bestowed annually to the player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.”
Statistics and social media be damned.
The McCanns watched their now healthy twin boys play their first game of Little League in April.
It reminded James of how Jessica informed him of his impending fatherhood: She gave him a baseball as a birthday present with a question written on its horsehide cover:
“Daddy, will you play catch with me?”
Making His Mark
McCann batted .396 during his three years on the Dos Pueblos High School varsity baseball team. He led the Chargers to a Channel League championship during his junior year of 2007. He earned All-CIF Southern Section honors as a senior in 2008 when he batted .442.
He also took a firm grip of his Christian faith during those formative years. A Bible verse from another scribe named Mark became his mantra when he was still a teenager.
“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
McCann includes the scripture from Mark 10:27 with every baseball autograph he signs.
“God has definitely been protecting me from Day One,” he said. “Man said it was impossible for me to just be here, and they definitely said it was impossible for me to be here without any physical or mental disabilities.
“And God said, ‘Not so.’ Everything’s possible with God.
“And here I am, not just alive but having the platform as a Major League Baseball player to share that story.”
The veteran catcher, an avid student of scouting video and reports, has also shared his wealth of baseball knowledge with his new teammates.
“It’s a different type of team coming from New York, where it was a very veteran-heavy team,” McCann said. “A lot of older guys.
“This team is about the opposite, a bunch of young guys.
“There’s a lot in my career that I can draw back on experience-wise and share and help really every player, whether it’s a pitcher or a hitter.”
McCann Do Attitude
The Orioles obtained McCann to serve as a mentor to catcher Adley Rutschman, who made the American League All-Star team this year at the tender age of 25.
“I’ve been able to talk through some stuff with him,” McCann said. “I really valued the veterans on my teams when I was a young player.
“So, hopefully, these young guys will look back on who I am and value what I brought to their careers as well.”
Manager Brandon Hyde said McCann “has been everything as advertised” after he helped the Orioles start the month of August with a three-game sweep of his former team.
“He has a little history with a lot of people,” Hyde said. “I love how he is willing to share everything. He just wants to win.
“He is super helpful. For Adley, it’s a great combination.”
Shortstop Jordan Westburg, one of the youngest Orioles at age 24, noticed that McCann “was a little more fiery than usual” for the series opener against the Mets.
McCann was on fire at the plate that night. He went 3-for-3, drew a walk, drove in five runs and even stole a base in a 10-3 victory over his old teammates.
STATS, a data-gathering service for Major League Baseball, reported that it was the first time a catcher had ever accomplished those four feats in a game since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920.
His hits included a double off the outfield wall that missed becoming a home run by mere inches.
Statistics may or may not fib, but McCann refused to do that when a reporter asked him if the game meant something extra.
“I’d be lying if I said no,” he replied.
Baseball also has a statistic for hard-hit, hard-luck outs, and Hyde said McCann probably leads the league in that category.
“It’s never easy when you are not playing every day and you are getting two to three starts a week and trying to produce,” he said. “It’s a tough role.
“But he gives us good at-bats.”
Taking It Slow
It all came full circle for McCann on a recent road trip to his home state. Hyde asked him to pitch an inning of relief at San Diego to rest his bullpen in a game they trailed 10-1.
He hadn’t pitched in a game since taking a loss in relief against Ventura High School during his senior year at Dos Pueblos.
McCann said the best approach was to keep the Padres off balance by throwing as “slow as you can for strikes.”
Although he gave up a double and a single, he stranded both runners while getting three ground outs. One curve ball was clocked at a blistering 39 mph.
“I think I threw harder in the cage warming up than I did on the field,” he said with a laugh.
His career earned-run average of 0.00 is now tied for first place in MLB history.
“For the time being, I guess I got some bragging rights,” he said.
A damned good, lying statistic, if ever there was one.
