Mason Miller's Inspiration Goes Far Beyond His Work on the Mound

[Joe Naiman]

My appreciation of Mason Miller goes beyond his activity as the San Diego Padres’ closer. I am writing this in the first person because this is based on my own experience rather than on following baseball or studying baseball history. My son is now 35. When I was 35 and my son, Cliff, was eight, he was diagnosed with diabetes. Mason Miller is the latest athletic role model for diabetics and their families.

When I received the phone call in August 1999 that Cliff was diabetic and would be for the rest of his life, it was pretty scary. During his time in the hospital I learned more about juvenile diabetes, and I was relieved that if he took his insulin shots and otherwise took care of himself, he could live a normal life. Cliff didn’t settle for normal, but he hasn’t had diabetes-related health problems and his condition hasn’t limited his activities.

By the time Cliff was released from the hospital, I considered myself fortunate that he didn’t have anything terminal or debilitating, but I still needed inspirations. I knew that Eddie Williams, who had been an infielder with the Padres, was an insulin-dependent diabetic, and during Cliff’s stay in the hospital, Eddie Williams was one of my inspirations.

The Padres played their home games at Qualcomm Stadium at the time, and the suburban weekly papers were given season press credentials. I also knew that Chicago Cubs announcer Ron Santo was diabetic. The Cubs had a midweek series in San Diego which began the day Cliff was released from the hospital. The timing was ideal to obtain some assurances from Ron Santo.

Ron Santo was on the field prior to the game, and there turned out to be an added bonus. I began following the Padres in 1972 when I was eight years old and Nate Colbert was the team’s star. I had never previously met Nate Colbert, even though 1999 was my fifth year with a season press credential. Ron was talking to Nate on the field, so after 27 years I finally was able to meet my first baseball hero.

Ron and I had chatted in the press box during previous seasons. I mentioned the situation with my son to Ron, and he was very encouraging. Nate noted that one of the children in his baseball camp was diabetic. Nate also said that diabetes saved his 95‑year-old father’s life, as his father eliminated many of his unhealthy habits. Since the Cubs were in town for a three-game series, the following day I had my son and I sign a thank-you card for Ron Santo, and I gave it to Ron on the final day of the series. When the Cubs were in town the following year Ron and I spoke about my son and about the progress of curing diabetes.

Catfish Hunter, who was diagnosed with diabetes late in his playing career, passed away about a month after my son was initially diagnosed. Hockey star Bobby Clarke was diagnosed with diabetes in his childhood and was in inspiration to diabetics before my son was born. Football quarterback Wade Wilson was diagnosed with diabetes early in his professional career but played his final game before my son was diagnosed. Basketball player Chris Dudley—who played for a San Diego County high school—was the diabetic athletic role model in 1999.

By the time Chris Dudley retired, Luke Branquinho was qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo. Ron Santo passed away in December 2010. A year later, the Veterans Committee elected him to the Baseball Hall of Fame. On the same day he was elected, Luke Branquinho, who competed with an insulin pump during his rodeo career, won the Steer Wrestling go-round at the National Finals Rodeo and it can thus be said that December 5, 2011 was a highlight for families coping with diabetes.

Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler was diagnosed with diabetes after his second National Football League season, which added Cutler to the list of diabetic role models. Cutler was with the Chicago Bears in 2011 but did not play in the Bears’ game the day before Ron Santo’s election and Luke Branquinho’s go-round win, as two weeks earlier he broke his thumb in the Bears’ win over the San Diego Chargers and was out for the remainder of the season. That win gave the Bears a 7-3 record, but they lost their next five games before a victory in their season finale gave the team an 8-8 record.

Branquinho finished that year’s National Finals Rodeo as the Steer Wrestling world champion, giving him his third world championship. He added a fourth world championship the following year. Branquinho and Cutler, along with singer Bret Michaels, were inspirations to diabetics and their families in those years.

In July 2014, Branquinho underwent surgery and was out of competition until November. That made Cutler the premier diabetic athlete and role model for that part of the year.

The 15 cowboys in each event with the highest earnings as of the regular season ending September 30 qualify for the National Finals Rodeo, and despite missing two months Branquinho still qualified for NFR in 2014. He had been leading the world standings prior to his injury that year.

Earnings from placing in NFR go-rounds and the average (aggregate) are added to regular-season earnings to determine the world champion. By the fourth go-round of 2014 Branquinho had regained the lead in the standings. Although Branquinho did not win a go-round outright (he split first and second in one) he won the average and his fifth world championship.

I was at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas the Saturday night Branquinho sealed his 2014 championship. I returned to San Diego the following night, and the day after that the Bears were on Monday Night Football and I was at the bar where I watched those games. After an interception Jay Cutler threw I remarked that it was a good thing Luke Branquinho won NFR because Jay Cutler wasn’t a very inspirational role model for diabetics that night. Cutler still had a career high completion percentage in 2014, and by the time he retired in 2017 his NFL passes had gained more than 35,000 yards.

Branquinho would win his final world championship in 2014 and would make his final NFR appearance the following year. Another diabetic steer wrestler, Matt Reeves, finished second in the world standings in both 2013 and 2016. In 2019 Reeves, who was 41 at the time, won the average at NFR and finished sixth in the standings.

Reeves has not competed in rodeo since last year’s Texas circuit finals. Michaels has not released a studio album either with Poison or as a solo artist since 2013. So, where does that leave us?

Obviously, Mason Miller is the current inspiration and role model for diabetics and their families. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 20 years old, he's now the best closer in baseball just eight years later. As long as he continues to dominate for the Padres, this community will always have someone to look up to.

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