Switch-hitting second baseman Mark Tremmell McLemore is one of the many nice guys in the Rangers' organization. The dynamic duo of Mark and Kevin Elster had the Rangers rolling along at the top of their division. Recent injuries to the tandem have caused the Rangers to drop down in the standings temporarily, but their expected quick return to health should shore the Rangers' league-leading defense once again. Mark and wife Capri are very involved with the children of their community and those of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
YST: Tell us about your family...
"Capri and I have been married nine years. We have a girl, DeMerca, 5, and two boys; Darien, 4 and Derek, 3.
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YST: Where did you grow up?
"San Diego.
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YST: How was your family life growing up?
"I was the youngest of seven. 'The baby', as my mother still loves to call me. I have three brothers and three sisters, and a huge family with tons of nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.
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YST: What activities were you involved with as a youth?
"Sports. I played everything...baseball, football, basketball. Whatever there was, I played it.
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YST: Who most influenced you growing up?
"My brothers. Whatever they were doing, I had to follow along and do it too. They all led me by example.
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YST: No sisterly influence?
"Oh yeah -- they are my three other 'mothers.' They definitely help keep me grounded. We're on the phone all of the time. I know I'll get a call from one or all, if they're watching a game on TV and I go off on an umpire. We've always been very close.
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YST: Are you close to your mom as well?
"Yes. We talk all of the time. She now lives in Arkansas, taking care of her mother.
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YST: How have you dealt with the loss of your dad?
"He passed away on June 12, in mid season a couple of years ago. My family had never lost anybody; he was the first. Obviously, it threw a wrench into our lives.
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YST: Which parent worked with you more in sports?
"Dad worked two jobs, so he wasn't around much. He came to the games when he could make it. But my mom came to all of my games. She was very active in the management of my games. It's kinda strange because you don't really expect your mother to be the manager of the team and president of the auxiliary.
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YST: What do you as a family do for fun?
"Just be together. I travel so much that it's sometimes hard to find time to just do that. I try to bring the whole family along on the road trips when the kids aren't in school. But usually, fun for us is just being at home, or me playing 'the monster', or swimming and playing games in our pool.
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YST:Do you do anything different as a family to compensate for your travel schedule?
"I try to keep it as normal as possible. That's why I like to take the family on the road. I take them with me just about every trip in the summer."
YST: What is your favorite place that you and your wife have lived?
"Here in Grapevine. This is now home."
YST: How would you feel about your kids getting involved in major league baseball?
"If that's what they want to do, it'll be fine. I'm not going to push them towards that. Darien just may go that route. He's got that instinct. Whatever they choose for themselves will be great."
YST: What manager have you most admired and why?
"That's a loaded question, but an easy one -- Johnny Oates.
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YST: What has Johnny done special for you?
"He believed in me and my abilities, when nearly everyone else was telling me that I couldn't do it. Johnny always told me that I 'could do' and worked with me to improve my skills. His encouragement was great."
YST: Other than Johnny, what other coach has made an impression on you?.
"Joe Madden. He was a coach that always believed in me, and knew I would make it to the big leagues and have a very successful career. We spent endless hours in the cage and infield, and he was patient and never got tired of working with me.
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YST: What advice would you give to a coach of young athletes?
"I think that advice should change depending on the ages of the player. At, say elementary age, it's important to just let them play. Their attention span at that point is too short. Young children can get burned out if they are pushed too hard. In middle school, start adding a little more by working on techniques, fundamentals, and basic skills. In high school, it's definitely time to learn it all. A ninth grader turns into a twelfth grader in a hurry. If a player has hopes of being drafted by a major league team or college, you have to be great by the time you're a junior.
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YST: In a game filled with statistics, what stat do you focus on most when you're playing?
" I only strive for consistency. I don't worry with statistics at all. They only take your mind away from playing the game.
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YST: Do most baseball players fell that way?
"No. Some of them spend a lot of time before a game looking at the stat sheets.
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YST: What sports figures do you greatly admire?
"I've got a few that I admired, that I guess were my idols growing up. Rod Carew, Davey Lopes, Garry Templeton, Ozzie Smith. Those are all guys that've I've met and gotten to know. They're not only great athletes, but also wonderful people."
YST: Tell us about receiving Jim Sundberg's Community Achievement Award in 1997.
"That was nice for me. I have been doing a lot of community service work in the last two or three years. The reason I do it is not to receive any awards or anything like that, but because it makes me feel good when I help other people out. As a professional athlete, I believe that you've got to give back. I know that I wouldn't be here today if somebody hadn't given back when I was a kid.
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YST: Tell us about 'Mac's Pac'.
"It's a program where I give 30 tickets to each Tuesday home game to the Fort Worth Housing Authority. Kids get a chance to come out to the Ballpark, out of their neighborhood, where they get to see there's a whole other world out there."
YST: Last Thanksgiving, you and your wife, Capri, donated 225 baskets to families. It this also and extension of your community involvement?
"It is. And one which we plan to continue doing. This last year was very gratifying. We implemented a program where recipients of the baskets worked to earn them. They either found jobs, worked their way off of federal support programs, went to school, those types of things. Since they worked to earn these gifts, I feel the program gave the recipients a sense of worth."
YST: What do you plan to do when you retire?
"Nothing except taking my kids wherever they want to go. I want to make sure that I'm there for my kids. I'm away from them so much right now, that when I'm finished playing baseball, I have no excuse not to be there while they finish growing up. I owe that to them.
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