Swinging for the Fences. . . : San Diego’s Super Sluggers : Steve Plein: Brother, Fiancee Key to His Success

When Steve Plein was 3, his brother gave him a little whiffle-ball bat and threw him some pitches.

“He picked it up like a fish with a hook,” said his brother, John, who was 12 at the time.

A few years after that, John gave Steve a few red worms and a hook and the boys went to a nearby pond to fish--and he took to fishing like a ball with a bat.

“We went to fish for crappie, and he was catching them left and right,” John said. “Since he was 12, he’s been bugging people to go fishing with him. Baseball and fishing are his life.”

Baseball is in season at Patrick Henry High School, where right fielder Steve Plein, 18, is one San Diego County’s best hitters.

And when he casts his reel, it’s not to escape from baseball.

“I sit back and think about baseball when I’m fishing,” Plein said. “I think how I can improve. If I’m not thinking about baseball, I’d go crazy.”

But there is more to Plein’s life than either baseball or fishing. There is the role his brother has played in his past and present. And the role of Marcia Murphy, 21, plays in his present and future.

John, 27, has had the biggest impact on Steve’s life.

“He’s been like a father to me,” Plein said. “He is the basis behind my success in everything, including baseball. I’d be nothing without his help.”

Three years ago, Plein had pneumonia for three weeks. Later, he was told that when he was feverish he would get delirious and call for his brother.

He continues to call on his brother whenever he needs help. Since the fall, though, he has had another person to console him. He has been engaged to Murphy, his history teacher’s assistant, since October. A wedding date has not been set. She has given him a sense of stability and responsibility, John said.

“I think I have mellowed him,” Murphy said. “He used to party with his friends and go out, but he’s not as wild now. Also, when he comes home (Murphy lives with Steve at his parents’ house) after a bad day now, I’m there to tell him he’s still great. I think he needs that.”

Plein was going great at the start of the season, when he opened with 14 hits in 21 at-bats. However, he slumped in early April and his batting average dipped to .350.

During the slump, Plein welcomed encouragement from Murphy and advice from his brother.

“I went to my brother,” Plein said. “He corrects my flaws quickly and keeps my confidence up. He always pumps me up, telling me I will succeed.”

Given that direction, Plein has raised his average during the last two weeks to .404 (19 for 47). He hit a home run Wednesday at Mira Mesa, giving him 12 runs batted in and three homers for the season.

John, the man giving the advice, has little playing background but he is a man who pays attention.

He has picked up his baseball knowledge from working for 11 years in assorted jobs around the locker rooms at Jack Murphy Stadium. He listens when players and coaches talk. Currently, he is an attendant in the umpires’ room.

Last summer, John got Steve a job with the Padres as a video cameraman behind home plate. Steve also did a little work as a bat boy.

“That was a great summer,” Steve said. “I knew all of the Padres, some better than others, and got a lot of advice. Carmelo Martinez helped me out a lot with my hitting, my stance is down low like his.”

Steve Plein is receptive to advice on baseball because he wants to be a major league player. He has not seen many major league scouts at Patrick Henry games, but a few collegiate scouts have visited.

When the Cincinnati Reds came to San Diego last summer, Plein got some career advice.

“I must have talked to Pete Rose for 45 minutes,” Plein said. “He told me that he wasn’t a great ballplayer in high school. He said he was mediocre and had to work hard at making himself what he is today. Hustle, hustle, hustle. . . .”

In youth baseball, Plein thought “hustle, hustle, hustle” meant something else. In Little League, he tried to cover the whole field from his position in center.

John helped him mature.

“(Steve) was always hanging around me,” John said. “Ten years ago, I’d go to the beach with my friends . . . and I would pile him into the car also. I never thought about not taking him.”

It was a blow to Steve when his older brother got married eight years ago and moved out of the house. Steve called that time the lowest point of his life.

Plein began hanging around a group of friends two or three years older than he. Many of his friends graduated while he had two more years remaining in high school.

That might explain why Plein, as a senior, has such clearly defined career goals. He has this game he loves to play and this woman who is so supportive of his dream of a major league career.

That dream would start in minor-league baseball. But if a college expressed interest, he would think about going that route.

“I was always good in school, and graduated from Patrick Henry with a 4.0 GPA,” John said. “I was average in sports. Steve has tried hard in school. His God-given talent is at athletics, not books. He’s always gotten good enough grades to get by.”

Steve is well aware of the minor-league life style, and so is Murphy.

“It’s a lot of traveling,” Murphy said. “And it’s a lot of hard work, but it’s what he wants. I believe in him.”

But nobody believes in Plein more than he does. He expects to be a professional baseball player.

Hanging out at the stadium last summer, he got an unexpected taste of celebrity status when the Padres called Lance McCullers from their Las Vegas farm club. Fans started calling to him, except it wasn’t his name.

“Everybody thought I was McCullers,” Plein said, “and asked me for his autograph.”

He hopes that someday someone asks him for Steve Plein’s autograph.