Scott Miller was a Carlsbad resident. His home was any baseball press box.
Miller, a decorated journalist of our national pastime, passed away last week. It was a revelation that is as difficult to grasp as it is to put into words.
Miller, just 62, was in the prime of a life which, then again, could be said about any time of Miller’s life. He was always upbeat, always happy to see you, and as we say in my business, he knew how to type.
“I’ve never met a finer person,” USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale said. “And he was an absolute role model for the way he lived his life.”
A sportswriter praising one of their own isn’t unique. But Miller was a unicorn, which is why anyone with their fingerprints on, or possessing a love for baseball, was effusive in saluting Miller.
From scouts to ushers to club owners. From players to managers. From Pulitzer Prize-winning authors to wet-behind-the-ears rookie scribes, Miller was tops with all of them.
Bill “Chief” Gayton was a major league scout for 44 years and the former director of scouting for the Padres. He’s old-school and not prone to blowing smoke, so when the Chief spoke, I listened.
“I never felt pressure from Scott if he was working on a piece,” Gayton said. “He’s the guy that made you happy when you saw him, and he had a way to make you comfortable.”
Miller wasn’t one to write puff pieces or to slap someone’s back where it wasn’t warranted. If hard truths had to be told, Miller always got the views of both sides, then circled back to make sure he got it right.
Respect is earned, not given, and Miller received it from those associated with baseball, and they usually don’t grant it easily.
“Scott was highly thought of in all the baseball world,” Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “He was not only a great writer but a great guy to talk baseball with.”
Talk, Miller did.
There’s a constant vision of Miller standing outside the Petco Park press box — so not to disturb others — yapping about this team or that team, to some radio station nearby or one on the world’s other side.
Miller was an easy touch for those looking for keen insight into their club, as Miller knew the ins and outs of all of them.
Miller did have one fault, and that was his reluctance to say no when asked to spread his wisdom.
It could be the MLB Network on the other end of his ever-present cellphone, or some wanna-be broadcaster on a college campus. He treated both the same, which meant Miller would deliver a wealth of information with a tone and smooth delivery that made the recipient feel as if they were the apple of his eye.
“He loved the game,” said Bochy, and the ex-Padres manager could have added people, too.
Miller’s father was a well-known editorial writer for the Detroit papers, and it was there that Miller’s love for all things Tigers and journalism developed. Miller came west to kick-start his career and landed at the Encinitas Coast Dispatch.
He would go on to cover baseball for three decades for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Los Angeles Times’ San Diego edition, CBS Sports, The Bleacher Report, The New York Times, as well as other periodicals fortunate enough to have Miller’s byline grace their pages.
He was also an author, with “Ninety Percent Mental,” co-authored with former pitcher Bob Tewksbury, and his latest effort, which was released in May: “Skipper: Why Baseball Managers Matter and Always Will.”
“Scott Miller has always been one of the best and most insightful baseball writers in America,” The Athletic’s Jayson Stark said. “But this might be his finest work because ‘Skipper’ is the definitive book on the complicated, new-age world of modern managing.”
Miller’s prose would shine in any era. And if kindness, empathy, and grace are missing in others, perhaps it’s because Miller had them in spades.
“He was a friend to all of us,” Gayton said. “Not just the scouts.”
Which is why Miller’s seat was vacant an hour before each first pitch. His trusty laptop, with its top plopped down, told those in the know that Miller had plopped down next to a scout for dinner.
He would pick their brains while consuming a hamburger, a Miller favorite, along with Bruce Springsteen, with conversations that had as much to do with life as the life on the starting pitcher’s fastball.
“He cared about your personal life and frankly became your friend,” Gayton said.
We know there are 108 double stitches on a baseball. We don’t know how many buddies Miller had, but it was more than 108.
By plenty.
“No one,” said Nightengale, a pal of Miller’s since 1989, “was more universally admired than Scott.”
That is written in stone for one of our generation’s greatest baseball scribblers, who loved to sing Springsteen’s “Born to Run.”
Miller was a man who was born to write, pointing his readers to the promised land.
Unfortunately, cancer claimed Miller, as it recently did San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Bryce Miller.
Sharing the same last name, although not related, and battling the same disease, these two class acts are greatly missed by San Diego.
Scott Miller still lives through his newest book, and here’s a not-so-shameless plug to grab it. Or borrow mine, if capable of overlooking a few tear-stained pages.
“Endlessly kind and upbeat,” Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal said. “Our hearts go out to his wife, Kim, and daughter, Gretchen. We love you, Scott.”
Amen.
Contact Jay Paris at [email protected] and follow him @jparis_sports.
