CINCINNATI — Michael Mariot had a deadline — if he didn’t get signed by an affiliated minor league team, a team in Mexico or a team in Asia by June 9th, he was going to retire.
He’d thought about retiring after a 2022 season that saw him play pitch for two Triple-A teams and in Taiwan, but his wife encouraged him to give it one more shot.
Mariot, 34, had 44 games under his belt in the big leagues and two wins and two saves on his ledger from his time with the Royals and Phillies, but he hadn’t stepped on a big-league mound since October 2, 2016.
Since pitching in Philadelphia against the Mets in the final game of that season, Mariot’s lived up to his soundalike surname by appearing all over the world, pitching for 12 different teams, five big-league organizations, and in six leagues that were either unaffiliated or in another country and in three foreign countries.
He signed on for one last shot, joining the Cleburne Railroaders of the independent American Association of Independent Baseball, a league whose website boats “We play for the love of the game” — which tells you all you need to know about the salary structure.
Mariot and his wife decided that if he didn’t get an offer by his deadline, they were going to Hawaii to visit family. He booked flights and a…
