Mickey Callaway’s new dugout sits a long way from New York’s Citi Field.
There are no New York tabloids waiting after games. No upscale clubhouses. No fancy postgame spread. No charter flights or luxury hotels. Instead, there are long overnight bus rides across the South and Midwest.
The former New York Mets manager is now leading the Meridian Blues, a first-year Mid-America League club trying to establish itself in East Mississippi. Through June 30, the Blues are 15-13 and sitting in third place in the league standings, a respectable start for an expansion team that did not exist a year ago.
The nearest road trip for the Meridian Blues is more than 400 miles away in Nacogdoches, Texas. Earlier this month, the club boarded the bus for what was supposed to be a three-game road series against the Nacogdoches Niners, only to have the entire series washed away by Tropical Storm Arthur. The Blues turned around and came home without playing an inning.
The rain didn’t stop there. Between rainouts and the canceled trip to Texas, Meridian went nine consecutive days without playing a baseball game.
That is life in summer league baseball.
But Callaway’s presence gives the Blues a story that stretches far beyond the standings.
The contrast between Callaway’s last two managerial stops could hardly be greater. The last time Mickey Callaway managed a professional baseball game in the United States, he was standing in the dugout at Citi Field on Sept. 29, 2019. More than 30,000 fans watched as the Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves 7-6 in 11 innings to close the season. It would also be Callaway’s final game as manager of one of Major League Baseball’s most recognizable franchises.
Today, Callaway’s office is a modest clubhouse tucked behind the third-base dugout at Scaggs Field. The clubhouse is smaller, the crowds are measured in hundreds instead of tens of thousands, and the conversations are different. Instead of answering questions about pennant races, he’s helping college players chase professional dreams while trying to establish a first-year franchise in a city that isn’t exactly known as a hotbed for professional sports teams.
The job looks very different from the one Callaway once had in New York. Players carry their own bags. Fans sit close enough to hear conversations from the dugout. Kids wait along the fence after games hoping for an autograph or a baseball. The crowd isn’t there to dissect bullpen decisions. Most are simply happy that Meridian finally has baseball again.
Before he became a manager, Callaway was a Memphis kid who pitched at Ole Miss (1994-96). After being drafted in the 7th round in 1996 he played professionally with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Anaheim Angels and Texas Rangers from 1999-2004. His playing career later carried him overseas to Korea and Taiwan before he moved into coaching in 2010.
His reputation grew as a pitching coach in Cleveland, where he served as pitching coach from 2013 through 2017 under Terry Francona. That run included Corey Kluber’s Cy Young rise, a 2016 American League pennant and a pitching staff built around Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Danny Salazar, Josh Tomlin and others. The Indians did not just have arms; they had an identity. Callaway was credited with helping individualize plans for pitchers rather than coaching every arm the same way.
That success landed him in New York.
The Mets hired Callaway before the 2018 season, giving him a roster that included Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, Pete Alonso, Robinson Cano, Yoenis Cespedes, Travis d’Arnaud, Michael Conforto and other recognizable names. He finished 163-161 over two seasons, including an 86-win 2019 campaign, but New York missed the playoffs both years and fired him after the season.
Callaway resurfaced as pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Then, in 2021, allegations of inappropriate conduct became public. Major League Baseball investigated and placed him on the ineligible list for two seasons after concluding he violated league policies. The Angels dismissed him, and the ruling barred him from employment with MLB or affiliated minor league clubs during that period.
After that, Callaway’s career moved outside affiliated baseball. He managed Acereros de Monclova in the Mexican League before being dismissed midway during the 2022 season. Earlier this year, he resurfaced as an assistant coach at Northeast Community College before accepting the opportunity to become the Meridian Blues’ first field manager.
The 6 team, wooden bat Mid-America League features college players, former professionals and players still trying to find a path forward in the sport. The Blues’ roster has that mix. Miguel Tejada Jr., the son of former American League MVP Miguel Tejada, gives Meridian a familiar baseball name. Meridian native Ladarius Clark, who has played professionally in affiliated baseball, gives the Blues an older, tougher presence with minor league experience.
The roster reflects the nature of collegiate summer baseball. Some players are looking to earn a scholarship. Others are trying to get back on professional scouts’ radar. Veterans share clubhouses with freshmen. Every player is still chasing something, and that’s part of what has made the Blues easy for Meridian to embrace.
That may be the most important part of the Blues’ first season. Meridian had not had this kind of summer baseball since the independent Meridian Brakemen played at Scaggs Field in 1996-97. And affiliated baseball hasn’t played in Meridian since the 1950’s. But nearly three decades later, the Blues have brought baseball back to the same ballpark.
The early returns have been strong.
Scaggs Field has become one of the places to be this summer in Meridian The setup feels more like a community festival than a standard ballpark experience, with food trucks, families, giant beach lawn chairs, being able to watch from your car on the hill and a casual summer atmosphere. The Blues are not trying to recreate big-league baseball. They are selling something smaller, warmer and more local.
For Callaway, the job also carries a question that does not go away: what does a second chance in baseball look like after a public fall?
His story cannot be told without acknowledging the events that led him here. The allegations that surfaced in 2021 and Major League Baseball’s subsequent investigation dramatically altered the course of his career, ending his time in affiliated professional baseball and leading him away from the major league dugout.
Now, that path has brought him to Meridian.
The Blues are still new, but the early signs have been encouraging. Fans have embraced the return of summer baseball, and Scaggs Field has become one of Mississippi’s most enjoyable ballpark experiences, complete with food trucks, lawn-chair seating, families and fans watching from the hillside beyond the outfield.
Nobody knows where Mickey Callaway’s coaching career ultimately goes from here. Meridian could be a stepping stone, a final stop or simply another chapter in a baseball life that has taken more turns than most.
What is certain is this: after nearly three decades without summer baseball, Meridian has a team again. And every night, tucked inside the third-base dugout at Scaggs Field, a former major league manager is back getting a second chance at what he loves to do.
Coaching baseball.
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