28-year-old MLB catcher abruptly hangs up cleats to help those in need
When Mike Marjama made the Seattle Mariners’ Opening Day roster, it was a cool story.
The catcher spent seven seasons in the minor leagues playing for the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle organizations before getting called up by the Mariners for five games at the end of last season.
Marjama opened the season with the M’s, but was sent back to Triple-A Tacoma in late April. He went on the disabled list June 18 after taking a foul tip off his catcher’s mask.
Now Marjama has proven to be an even more inspirational story.
He announced Sunday that he is retiring from the game and taking up a more important cause — eating disorders.
Marjama is hanging up the cleats for a position with the National Eating Disorders Association, an organization he’s done speeches for in the past.
"This is about helping anyone I can. Just know that there’s help. This is more important than anything I will ever do on a baseball field." – @MMarjama at the Seattle #NEDAWalk pic.twitter.com/BWJJGvYHgI
— NEDA (@NEDAstaff) May 19, 2018
The cause hits close to home for the 23rd-round pick of the White Sox in 2011. While wrestling at Granite Bay High School in California, he began cutting weight for matches.
As he told the Sacramento Bee last September, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Marjama was all the way down to 130 pounds.
He said his problem was obsessive training.
“I’ve always had this tenacious will,” he said. “And when others would stop, I’d keep going, which was my best asset — it got me this far — but it was also my biggest downfall, a push to great extremes.”
His condition required an in-patient stay at a specialized facility.
Once he recovered, Marjama vowed to be a role model.
“When I had the eating disorder, I was stubborn. Now my eyes are open,” Marjama said. “A lot of high school students have a tremendous amount of pressure on them. We all want to see things out of reality, and we don’t always see things fully clear. It was a hard time, what I went through, but it changed my perspective on life. It definitely helped me grow.”
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
‘Surrender to what is. Let go of what was. Have faith in what will be!’
-Sonia Ricotti pic.twitter.com/Utkho6hOLJ— Mike Marjama (@mikemarjama) May 29, 2018
Marjama, who will turn 29 later this month, finishes his big league career with a .167 average, and just one home run among his six hits.
But the former catcher has a chance for some big-league saves.
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