Arizona's Fetters not done yet

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Not long after Mike Fetters left the mound following his appearance on "Sunday Night Baseball" for the Arizona Diamondbacks, his phone began to ring.

"Eddie Guardado, Jesse Orosco ... a lot of people were calling," Fetters said.

Of course, he knew the reason: "I think a lot of people were surprised to see me (on TV)," Fetters said. "They thought I was retired and done."

Where the Iolani School graduate was concerned, seeing really was disbelieving.

Small wonder. Fetters turns 40 this year, he's back pitching in the majors for the first time in a year and he's doing it with a ligament that doctors removed from his wrist and attached to his right (throwing) elbow just 11 months ago.

After 12-plus seasons in the majors, the thrill is bigger than ever for the player some of the Diamondbacks are coming to call the "old man." Never mind that he was already pitching in the big leagues when teammate Brian Bruney, then age 7, wasn't much higher than a t-ball stand; Fetters revels in the moment with a rookie's enthusiasm.

To be back in the major leagues now, "is just amazing," Fetters said. "Growing up you don't know if you'll ever make it to the big leagues. Then, once you get there, you don't know how long you're gonna stay, so it has been an unbelievable baseball career for me. I've been very blessed and I'm thankful for every opportunity I have to put that uniform on. This is probably the biggest accomplishment of my career."

A year ago, when he injured the elbow in his fifth game of the season for Minnesota, it seemed his gypsy-like career that had taken him to eight teams (some more than once) and 597 games was finished.

"The doctors equated it to putting a piece of tissue (paper) under water and then shaking it out," Fetters said. "With all the slivers and cuts, my whole ligament was trash and, finally, in Minnesota, the last piece that was still hanging broke loose and that was the end of my ligament."

And, he had reason to fear, his career as well. "I knew there was a chance — a pretty good chance — that I wouldn't be back. With my age and injury, I'm sure a lot of people doubted that I would (be back)," Fetters said.

But through the advances of the so-called "Tommy John surgery," his own resilience and dedication, Fetters was able to get a tryout with the Diamondbacks and an assignment to Tucson, the team's Triple-A affiliate.

Coming into the game last week, Fetters said he pondered a distance that had seemed much longer than that of just bullpen-to-mound. Said Fetters: "It had been (over) a year, but seemed like forever."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.