The Major League Baseball fraternity is a special one to be a part of whether you are a player, manager or coach. Very few get to make it to the highest point of their career.
Is just not players or coaches that get that opportunity. It takes an entire group to help keep an organization going and a Battle Mountain High School graduate may have one the most important positions with his team.
Rob Nodine, is in charge of keeping players healthy on the Seattle Mariners. Nodine, who graduated from UNLV in 1992, has been with the American League West ball club for the past seven seasons and is the assistant athletic trainer for the squad.
Rick Griffin is the head trainer for Seattle and Matthew Toth is also an assistant.
Nodine originally went to UNLV to study physical therapy. However, a fellow friend and professor at the university changed his mind and he went toward athletic training.
Battle Mountain was still home to Nodine during his college days and he said he actually turned down a job with the Oakland A's to go back to his hometown and work over the summer for the BLM.
"I already had a job in the summer with the BLM and didn't want to turn that down," Nodine said. "I wasn't to sure what the job with Oakland was going to be."
Nodine went back to school and got his athletic training degree from UNLV and this time he got a call from the Seattle Mariners organization. He has been with the team ever since.
"It has been a great organization to work for," Nodine said. "I get to work with great people every day. From top to bottom it is first class. I have had other opportunities to leave, but Seattle is home to me. They have been loyal to me and I am loyal to them."
Just like players and coaches, Nodine started at the lowest levels in the minor leagues, beginning with the Class A Riverside Pilots of the California League in 1993.
He was promoted to Memphis (AA) in 1997 and Nodine made his way through the minor leagues, hitting Class AAA Tacoma in 2001.
During his run through the minor leagues, Nodine was part of a championship team with New Haven, Conn., in Class AA. That has been his only title with the organization.
"That is one of my most memorable moments," he said. "You enjoy the championships you are part of. I also just enjoy what I do. I have one the best jobs out there for almost 200 days a year. You go down to Arizona for a couple of months in the spring and visit a bunch of places. I get to work with great people throughout baseball."
With Seattle being on the west coast, a majority of its games are at night starting at 7:05 p.m. When the Mariners play at night, Nodine usually arrives to the field some seven hours before game time and some days last 12 hours.
Nodine has a long list of duties to get done, but he said no day is the same. His first order of business is to keep the players healthy and to work on players early in the day if needed.
Athletic trainers are health care professionals who collaborate with physicians to provide preventative services, emergency care, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions.
"We really attempt to be proactive in prevention of injuries," Nodine said. "As an organization we are all about preventing injuries before they happen. Your are never going to prevent all injuries."
As Seattle goes out for batting practice in the afternoon, Nodine and the rest of the training staff will help out on the field. For instance he can be used as an extra thrower during batting practice or be used in other spots where the coaching staff can utilize him. He is also on the field to take care of any injuries that might occur.
"Each day brings something new," Nodine said. "The first part is taking care of players and from there, you do whatever is needed before you get to game time. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is getting to interact with the players everyday."
No teams go without injuries - off or on the field, as Nodine says he has almost seen it all. According to Nodine, the most gruesome injury he has seen was in the minors when a player broke his femur bone during a game.
"That was a really a bad one," he said. "You see pitchers get hit in the head by a ball. There are the little injuries like pulled muscles."
Nodine is a member of the National Athletic Training Association (NATA) and the Southwest Athletic Trainers Association. Nodine was elected to the PBATS Executive Board as the American League Assistant Athletic Trainer Representative in 2009.
If you think of concussions, one usually points to the NFL of NHL, where blows to the head are common place. Within the past few years, MLB has become proactive on the injury as well. Trainers now have to look for concussion symptoms in players if an injury occurs. MLB has a special 7-day disabled list for players with concussions.
"That is a big part of the sport right now," Nodine said. "That is part of the schooling to look for the symptoms of a concussion and take care of it from there. If a player has a concussion he is not getting back on the field until he passes all the tests."
Being a trainer for over 20 years with the Mariners organization, one would think Nodine would have some kind of memorabilia from players, but that is just the opposite. He added that one of the few baseballs he has singed is by Reggie Jackson.
A few of the players Nodine has treated in Seattle includes Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Ichiro Suzuki and most recently Robinson Cano.
"I am really not into that," he said. "Plus I don't want to take advantage of my situation. I get to see these guys everyday. As a club I will have the guys sign some items and we will have them sign for the military or if we visit hospitals."
Seattle just recently made a road trip to San Diego, where the military has a large presence and some signed items were taken to military members.
For those looking to getting into the athletic training field, Nodine said it is a tough but rewarding process.
"The first thing is you have to get all the schooling done," Nodine said. "It takes a lot of work to get to the major leagues and times you wonder if it will ever happen. It doesn't happen overnight and you have to be patient. Most trainers spend over 10 years in the minor leagues before getting a chance. However, it is rewarding and you have the best seat in the house to see some of the best players in the world everyday."
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