Breaking Down the "Baseball Wives" Husbands

Last year at this time, I had the pleasure to talk with Brad Mangin about his career as a San Francisco Bay area photographer.  A year later, I realized that Mangin and I have something more in common than baseball and me looking at his pictures of baseball.

Enter the newest VH1 guilty pleasure "Baseball Wives".

Over at Mangin's blog, the acclaimed photographer broke down, one by one, the better halves of the cast of "Baseball Wives".  And it turns out...he's snapped some pretty awesome pictures of the "Wives" husbands along the way.

Here's Mangin's breakdown, and yeah...you can click on the BOLD names to check out a photo gallery of that player.

KRIS BENSON
Benson is still married to Anna, his wife who became more famous than him during his days of toiling for the Pirates, Mets, Orioles and other squads. In 2004, Anna, the former stripper, posed for the cover and a spread in FHM magazine and was named “baseball’s hottest wife.” In an interview with Howard Stern later that year, she vowed that if her husband ever cheated on her she would take revenge by sleeping with the entire Mets organization. Awesome!

Needless to say Anna’s husband must be used to being married to his controversial wife, but I wonder what he thinks about the show?

MATT WILLIAMS
The former All-Star is on his third wife, and her name is Erika Monroe Williams. The good news for him is he has an insanely awesome 20,000 square foot house in the Scottsdale area and a nice job coaching with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The bad news? His wife is looking pretty ridiculous on “Baseball Wives.”

I covered Matt for his entire career and he was always a classy guy who will forever be beloved in San Francisco. He has been through a few troubled marriages, and I can’t see how this show will help his current one. Erika got off to a rocky start in the premier episode while hosting a cocktail party for the other “wives.” How cool it would have been to see Matt wander through the kitchen looking for a beer. No dice. What we got was the beginning of a verbal cat fight that spilled into episode two.

For Matt’s sake I hope that things slow down for Erika on the show and that Anna stops beating up on her. For the show’s sake it would be great if she keeps causing trouble!

JASON KENDALL
The recently retired catcher’s ex-wife Chantel Kendall has a checkered past and is a very polarizing character on “Wives.” Jason always seemed kinda goofy when I photographed him. He was a real hard-ass with the A’s and helped them to their great season in 2006. I never saw Chantel at any of the family softball games at the Oakland Coliseum. I can’t imagine how entertaining that would have been!

After two shows it seems that Chantel hates pretty much every other “wife” with the exception of a surprise guest we will learn about down below. Also, her skinny arms and tattoos scare me.

MARK GRACE
First of all I was surprised to hear that  Grace was ever married. He was always a great interview on the Jim Rome show during his playing days talking about “slump busters” and strip clubs. I learned that he USED to be married in the first episode of “Wives.” Tanya Grace is Mark’s ex-wife and one of the more outgoing stars of the show. The avid golfer met Mark when she was a golf cart girl.

Mark seems to have a good sense of humor and is a local TV broadcaster for the Diamondbacks. I wonder what he thinks of seeing Tanya on “Wives.” I bet he kinda gets a kick out of it!

RON VILLONE
Villone's current wife Brooke has come out of the first two episodes pretty unscathed. Brooke is a model with a really long neck and seems to stay out of everyone’s business as she hangs out with some of the looser women on the show.

NYJER MORGAN
The nutty Morgan has the unfortunate task of being the former boyfriend of the youngest star of “Wives” Jordana Lenz. Lenz is a young and trashy stalker who went to the Milwaukee Brewers team hotel during the 2011 NLDS whole Morgan and the Brewers were in town to play the Diamondbacks. She practically chased him into the elevator! She complains that once Morgan got to a good team he dumped her.

The thinking here is that T. Plush can do much better than Lenz.

CHUCK KNOBLAUCH
The best part of Wednesday night’s episode was the arrival at Scottsdale Airport of Cheri Knoblauch, the current wife of Chuck. Cheri was picked up by her good friend Chantel Kendall and they instantly plotted how there were gonna harass nemesis Anna Benson. Anna has been a bitch to Chantel and Cheri has come to town to save the day. It seems that Cheri and Anna know each other from the 1990′s when Kris Benson pitched for the Pirates and Cheri was dating his teammate Brian Giles. You just know that sparks will fly when they get together, and I was not disappointed.

In a future episode Anna will supposedly attack Cheri with 12-inch dildo!

Knoblauch was a good ballplayer and a former World Champion with the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. I can’t imagine that he is too thrilled to have his wife on this show, but who knows? Maybe they need the cash!

BRIAN GILES
Giles won a big court decision against his ex-girlfriend Cheri Olvera (Knoblauch), who had sued him for more than $10 million in 2008. Giles allegedly abused Olvera and the jury also awarded Giles the return of the $107,000 engagement ring he purchased for their canceled 2007 wedding. During the trial Giles testified that he didn’t strike his girlfriend at a bar in Phoenix in 2006, testimony that contradicted witness statements to Phoenix police.

But wait...it gets better.

Giles suggested in his testimony that the 2006 incident was a case of Olvera being drunk. He said Olvera “often falls when she’s intoxicated” and wearing high heels. Giles’ attorneys tried to portray the case as part of a pattern by Olvera to pursue rich men for money to satisfy her lavish lifestyle. Olvera testified she was currently engaged to Chuck Knoblauch. Olvera also testified that while living with Giles, she had someone to help her shop, an occasional driver, housekeepers and a woman to blow-dry her hair for $100 each time.

Awesome!

Well, there you have it. The men behind the women. I hope you enjoyed this rundown of the active and in-active roster players who have laced’ em up with the “Baseball Wives".

Wednesday nights on VH1. Don’t miss it!

Talkin' Baseball with Brad Mangin

Every so often, you come across someone and you have to find out what makes them tick.

Brad Mangin is one of those guys.

You see, Mangin does what anyone one of us would love to do...he wakes up and goes to the ballpark.  Every day.  He's a sports photographer...and, most often, his office is AT&T Park in San Francisco. 

He's photographed everything from last year's World Series run by the Giants to the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.  In between, he's been to SuperBowls, All-Star Games and even had some of his work displayed at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Recently...I had the privilege of talking with him.

HOVG: The SuperBowl is this weekend and given your love for the 49ers...you've covered your fair share of Championship football. I've gotta know, what do you enjoy more...shooting football, baseball or something else?

MANGIN: I enjoy shooting football, and have shot the NFL since my first 49er game back in 1986. I shot the 49ers beat the Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV in New Orleans in 1990 by a score of 55-10. However, baseball is my favorite sport to shoot. I am a baseball guy and over the years I have become more and more appreciative of the game. At this point in my life I usually photograph close to 100 big league hardball games each season, from the first pitch of spring training to the final out of the World Series. When I am not shooting I am watching on television or attending games as a fan in my San Francisco Giants season tickets.

HOVG: Who has been (or is) your favorite athlete to shoot?

MANGIN: This has changed over the years. One of the first ballplayers I loved to shoot was Bo Jackson playing baseball for the Royals in 1990. He was such an incredible athlete and he always made great pictures by diving headlong for line drives in the outfield or breaking a bat over his knee after striking out. The camera loved Bo Jackson. A few years later (1993) Barry Bonds came to the Giants and he pretty much dominated the scene for me over the next 15 years. Being able to document Barry's career and home run chases was a fun experience.  Recently I have been very fortunate to have two terrific young players to shoot in San Francisco. Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey are my two new favorite players to photograph. I shot Lincecum's MLB debut against the Phillies in May of 2007 and ever since then it has been tough to take a bad picture of him. Posey burst on the scene at AT&T Park last May and was a joy to photograph during his Rookie of the Year season. As he helped lead the Giants to the World Series title I was able to get so many pictures of Posey that I really like. He is very photogenic. He has a beautiful right-handed swing that looks good while shooting him from first or third base. He also is a catcher, and I love photographing catchers. He is involved in so much of the game and is such a terrific young player that he always makes for good pictures.

HOVG: You're based outside the Bay Area...and, clearly, you're a San Francisco Giants fan. Who would be on your "Giants Mount Rushmore"?

MANGIN: Because I have been a Giants fan since I was eight-years-old in 1973, I go back quite a ways and always have to remember the guys who meant so much to me as a kid. Therefore, my Giants Mount Rushmore will be personal and not a simple list of All-Stars. To make it more fun, I will only qualify guys who have worn the orange and black since 1973 when I started following the club. I would have to start with two of my favorites from my childhood: Jack Clark and John "The Count" Montefusco. Next I have to add Barry Bonds. My fourth and final guy to be placed up there would have to be Will Clark. Will was the first Giants superstar I had the chance to shoot in 1987 and has always been a fan-favorite.

HOVG: Speaking of Barry Bonds, do you have any good Bonds stories? I've been to San Francisco and it seems like everyone has something to say about the man.

MANGIN: I do not really have any good Bonds stories. I am not a portrait guy so I never had to deal with him one-on-one, thus I never had any bad experiences with him. I just remember how exciting it was every time he came to the plate. I could care less about the whole steroids thing. Pretty much everyone did them, along with greenies, red juice and everything else. Bonds created excitement wherever he went doing whatever he did, and I was glad to have the chance to document his long and historic journey in San Francisco.

HOVG: Last fall...the Ken Burns documentary "Baseball" was continued on PBS with "The Tenth Inning". Many of your pictures made it into the final cut. How did that partnership between you and Burns come about?

MANGIN: I was contacted by a producer from Florentine Films named Michael Welt a few years ago. Michael was doing research trying to find original photographs of players and events that took place during the steroid era. I have an extensive online archive that is searchable on my website containing over 44,000 images. Michael searched through my archive and found many pictures that fit into their documentary. It was a huge honor to have some of my work in the film, so I took a trip to New York last July to view a private screening of the film that I was invited to. What a thrill it was seeing the "Ken Burns Effect" performed on some of my images in one of his films! I had the chance to meet Burns in a party afterward and he actually knew my name from the pictures. What a great night that was.

HOVG: Quickly...what's in the camera bag? What are the essentials?

MANGIN: I am not a huge gear freak. There are certain essentials you need to be a sports photographer and not of it is cheap. I shoot with Canon Mark IV digital camera bodies and Canon lenses ranging everywhere from a 15mm super wide angle lens to an 800mm lens, with everything in between. I try not to get hung up on camera equipment, but to do the job I do there are certain things you must have.

HOVG:  Lastly, baseball season is right around the corner...what do you have cooking until then?
MANGIN:  Actually I have my first book coming out soon. It will be announced in the coming days. I am teaming with a writer friend of mine Brian Murphy to do a book for the SF Giants entitled "Worth the Wait." It is a 128-page picture book full of my images from the 2010 World Series season. This is the Giants OFFICIAL book of their season.


You can find out more about "Worth the Wait" by clicking HERE.  And if you've got the time (and, honestly, you should figure out way to make the time), peruse Brad Mangin's extensive photo archives over at his personal website.  The stuff is amazing!

Brad asked that I share this picture with you all.  Enjoy!