'Baseball is in my blood': Francisco Cervelli enjoying retirement, eyes next phase of life

Francisco Cervelli was back in a major-league ballpark for the first time in a year and, after visiting the broadcast booth for a guest appearance, the former Pittsburgh Pirates catcher was impressed by a new viewpoint of PNC Park after five years of seeing it from behind home plate.

A day after joining the AT&T SportsNet telecast of the Pirates-Detroit Tigers game, Cervelli stood near the home dugout Wednesday afternoon and reflected on a retirement forced by seven documented concussions and an assortment of other injuries over his 13-year career with the New York Yankees, Pirates, Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins.

“It’s a process. You retire, and you hate baseball for a little bit. Then you start missing it again,” said Cervelli, who spent the past year with his family, traveling to Italy and other countries. “It’s been really good, man. Waking up with no pain in my body. My head is amazing. I miss the adrenaline. I miss the fans. I don’t miss baseball, but I miss that. After the game, get together with your teammates, I miss that a lot.”

Seeing Cervelli back in the ballpark and wearing a relaxed smile was a welcome sign for Jacob Stallings. The Pirates catcher reminisced about how Cervelli got him a proper catcher’s bag when he was called up to the majors in 2016 but also remembers the dark times in the clubhouse three years later after Cervelli took foul balls off his facemask.

“That’s really good to hear, especially from him,” Stallings said. “There were some times when I was in that clubhouse that I was really scared for him, just going through all the concussion stuff — and, obviously, the other injuries as well — but the concussion stuff is so scary. To see the smile on his face today and see he’s doing well was really good to see.”

Now that his beard is showing some salt and pepper, Cervelli joked he’s a candidate for Dos Equis commercials as the most interesting man in the world. What interests Cervelli now is the next phase of his life. He wants to get back into the game, in a new role. He expressed a desire to become a baseball broadcaster — he’s multilingual and not shy about sharing his opinions on the strategic and mental aspects of the game, let alone rule changes — and dreams of managing in the majors.

Cervelli flashed the charm and charisma that would make him interesting in either role. Though he’s not interested in taking the long bus rides in the minor leagues like Derek Shelton did, Cervelli cracked wise about how catchers have an edge in smarts over pitchers and joked he never could see the fiery A.J. Burnett as a manager.

“We watch the whole game like this,” Cervelli said, surveying the field. “We put a lot of information in our brains. We watch hitters and pitchers. We can be hitting coach, pitching coach, infield coach, everything. So they’ve got to keep putting catchers (as managers).”

Cervelli already has an endorsement from Stallings, the son of a longtime college basketball coach and someone who isn’t afraid to score points with his own skipper.

“Catchers make great managers,” Stallings said, with a sly smile. “He’s got a great knowledge for the game. That would suit him in either role. I think that (manager) would be the one that would suit him more.”

As for the Pirates, Cervelli said he hadn’t watched one game this season but sees highlights and understands the growing pains they are going through. Where the Pirates reached the postseason the two years before Cervelli joined them in 2015 and then went backwards, he sees the challenge in trying to build a winner from the bottom up.

“They’re trying to rebuild,” Cervelli said. “You’re going to see a lot of mistakes, a lot of things, but that’s the only way they’re going to learn. You’ve got to make those mistakes now. Then they start dwindling. Then it gets to a point where everybody is on the same page, and they know what to do and they know how to win games.”

“What they have to create now is a winning environment. Even if you don’t win, the mentality should be that. I think the selfish part or some players because they want to do numbers — this game is all about numbers — but you start putting the message of, ‘Let’s win one today. Let’s win another one. Figure it out. I don’t know how. Figure it out.’ Everything starts changing and then you start having fun.”

Where Cervelli believes that the heavy home run/strikeout aspect of the game is causing players to lose their identity and prefers a small-ball approach that moves runners around the bases, he added “the new guys are putting on an amazing show.” What Cervelli adamantly is against is the concept of automated strike zones and the idea that robots someday will replace umpires. He loves the adrenaline rush of the human drama played out at the park.

“If I was still playing, I would be 100% against that,” Cervelli said. “Sports need human errors. … A strike call, sometimes it’s good for me, sometimes not. Baseball is fun, even when the manager and umpire fight. It’s not a real fight. It’s the moment.”

Cervelli scuffed his shoes in the red clay outside the home dugout during batting practice. He looked wistfully at the immaculate infield and claims he was built by dirt and grass, calling it “the best smell of my life.”

“Baseball is in my blood,” Cervelli said, with a grin. “What can I say?”