Mientkiewicz honors mom

SEATTLE – Standing in front of his locker before Saturday night’s game, New York Yankee Doug Mientkiewicz absently, repeatedly flipped a baseball into his glove as he watched another game on TV.

On that first baseman’s mitt is stitched “MOM” in capital letters.

One glance at that glove can give Mientkiewicz a booster shot to help him through any 0-for-24 stretch. It can make the Yankees’ struggle to reach .500 seem like no struggle at all.

Janice Mientkiewicz, Doug’s mother, is a breast cancer survivor.

And today, as the Yanks play the Mariners at Safeco Field, her son – as always – will be the one with the specially monogrammed glove. Oh, and the pink baseball bat.

Mother’s Day is also Breast Cancer Awareness Day around the majors and, according to MLB.com, nearly 200 players have signed up to use pink bats today. Major League Baseball will auction some of those game-used bats to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation.

“It’s a really good idea,” said Mientkiewicz, whose wife, Jodi, is also a breast cancer survivor, having been diagnosed in 2002.

“My family has a way of hiding injuries,” Mientkiewicz said of the emphasis for cancer screening. “You realize, more and more, that anything we can do as a player is a good thing.

“If we can get one more mother to the doctor, we’ve done our job.”

Before he ever had a personal reason to join a cause against cancer, Mientkiewicz and his wife donated time, raised money and made appearances for the Parker Hughes Cancer Society when he was in Minnesota.

Inside of a few weeks during the latter part of 2005, his son Steel was born, his grandmother died and his mother was diagnosed.

“All my mom ever wanted was a grandson,” Mientkiewicz said of that bittersweet period. “My glove used to have ‘Steel’ on it. I had to bump the little man back. But he’ll understand.”