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Mets pitcher LaTroy Hawkins will complete his 19th major-league season on Sunday. During that time, his brother Ronald has been in prison.

(Howard Smith/USA Today)

NEW YORK — Come the offseason, and when he can during the regular season, LaTroy Hawkins makes the trip to Milan, Mich. He arrives at the Federal Correctional Institution at 6:55 in the morning, and sits in the waiting room well before the steel doors open. This is to ensure as much visiting time as possible.

He knows the procedure. He presents his license. He fills out a form. He writes in whom he is visiting. His half-brother’s name is Ronald Sewood, but the federal government has him registered as Ronald "Seawood." Hawkins writes the incorrect name down and his younger brother’s inmate number, 05024-027, and the names of the visiting party.

In the past their mother, Debra, and Sewood’s two daughters, Alayah and La’Aniiah, would join Hawkins. In recent years, Hawkins has gone with his wife, Anita, or by himself.

Hawkins leaves his belongings in a locker and goes through a metal detector. He carries $20 in quarters in a clear plastic bag. Twenty dollars is the limit for each visitor. Hawkins brings the money in quarters because the only food available is in vending machines. Visitors use the money to buy the inmates and themselves food for the day, food not available to the inmates inside the walls of the prison.

Sewood lets Hawkins know in advance what he is craving. Sometimes it’s a jalapeño burger. Usually it’s wings. Hawkins buys the wings and microwaves them as soon as he gets to the visiting area. They’re hot and ready by the time Sewood emerges. "We got it down to a science," Hawkins said.

Tables line the visiting room with chairs on either side. One side is for the prisoner, the other for visitors. Hawkins stays until visiting hours end, usually about six hours later. The brothers talk about baseball and family, memories of growing up on 2795 West 12th Avenue in Gary, Ind. They talk about everything. They play cards. Once in a while an inmate or guard recognizes Hawkins, the veteran Mets reliever.

That has been the routine at the low-security facility in Milan since Sewood was transferred there nearly a decade ago. He spent eight years at three different prisons around the country before he moved to Milan, where he will complete a 327-month prison sentence without parole.

Sewood’s first day in prison was Dec. 20, 1996, the day before Hawkins’ 24th birthday. A year later, he was sentenced to the 27 years. Months earlier, Hawkins had completed his first full season with the Minnesota Twins.

The Yankees have Mariano Rivera, who is retiring at 43, but the Mets have their own Father Time-defying relief pitcher in the 40-year-old Hawkins. A one-time starter, Hawkins established himself as one of the sport’s consistent relievers over the past decade. This season, he stepped in as the Mets’ closer and has thrived once more.

With the Mets’ final game of 2013 today, Hawkins will complete his 19th major-league season. This Dec. 2 is the 16th anniversary of Sewood’s prison sentence. Hawkins has appeared in 943 major-league games, 20th all-time among pitchers. Sewood has never seen a game in person. He likely never will.

"It doesn’t bother me that I’ll never get to see him play," Sewood, 38, wrote in a recent e-mail from prison. "I know his capabilities, skill level, his talent. I watched him growing up, witnessing greatness. I had my turn watching him. Now it’s the world’s turn."

A WRONG TURN



It was November 1995 when Sewood last saw his older brother play baseball live. Sewood, then 20, stayed with Hawkins and his Twins teammate, Matt Lawton, in their apartment during a fall baseball stint in Surprise, Ariz. They had Thanksgiving together. Sewood served as chauffeur, dropping them off in the morning and returning later for the games.

Thirteen months later, Sewood and two others were arrested on a litany of charges — including carjacking and using a firearm while committing a felony — in connection to an incident in August 1994.

According to police reports, Sewood and three other men abducted a young couple at gunpoint in Gary’s Glen Park neighborhood in the early morning hours on Aug. 14, 1994. The reports say they drove off with the 19-year-old woman in the couple’s 1993 Lexus, and locked the 23-year-old man in the trunk.

Police said the men took turns raping the woman, but they were never formally charged with sexual assault. The charges became more serious, however, because the carjacking crossed state lines — from Indiana to Illinois — leading to federal charges that carried longer sentences. Throwing a wrench into the investigation, one of the accused was murdered during the investigation.

Sewood has proclaimed his innocence since the moment he was arrested and declined a plea deal. Sewood insists, Hawkins says, that he was not there during any part of the crime spree, and that the murdered man lied to police about Sewood’s involvement.

Meanwhile, Hawkins had rapidly risen through the Twins’ farm system. By the time Sewood was sentenced, Hawkins had made 12 starts with the Twins.

"I feel like I could’ve gotten on his ass a little more about staying straight, telling him, ‘Look at what you can do. You got a chance to play professional baseball,’" Hawkins said. "But you know what? I can’t carry that guilt around because that’ll eat you up. It’s definitely crossed my mind. I always said he was a better ballplayer than I was."

Two years younger than Hawkins, Sewood was Hawkins’ personal catcher at West Side High School for two seasons. Basketball was their first love, but reaching the major leagues was their dream.

As Hawkins describes it, Sewood was a power-hitting third baseman, catcher and pitcher who played at a community college in Iowa before transferring to Florida Memorial University in Opa Locka, Fla. But he quickly dropped out.

"He says he’s a softball legend in prisons around the country," Hawkins said with a laugh.

'A SURVIVOR'



Hawkins, a seventh-round selection in the 1991 draft out of high school, debuted on April 29, 1995. He surrendered seven runs in 1 2/3 innings against a Baltimore Orioles lineup that featured Rafael Palmeiro, Cal Ripken Jr. and Harold Baines. He had two more outings before he was demoted.

He returned to the Twins when rosters expanded in September to make three more starts, highlighted by his first complete-game effort in a 4-3 victory over the White Sox.

Hawkins made it. Somehow, Hawkins avoided the rampant temptations to, as he put it, "make fast money" in Gary, a blue-collar city 30 miles from downtown Chicago. Gary, recognized as the home of The Jackson 5, is now dotted with dormant steel mills.

For Sewood and Hawkins, each man’s father was absent. Sewood’s father spent time in prison. One of Hawkins’ best friends is now in prison. Six of his maternal grandmother’s nine grandsons have served time in prison. Plenty of peers were sidetracked or gunned down.

Hawkins, on the other hand, received a $47,500 bonus to sign with the Twins. He has made nearly $43 million over his career, according to Baseball Reference.

"I wasn’t always a good guy growing up," Hawkins said. "I was just fortunate enough and blessed that I never got in some real trouble. When I was in high school I was devious. I did some things, hell, I can’t even talk about it. I was talking to my best friend today. He was like, ‘Damn, man. How the hell did we escape?’"

Hawkins calls himself a "survivor."

"I know if I survived that, I can survive anything," he said. "But I was just lucky to stick to those dreams. Some of us weren’t. My brother was lucky. Twenty-seven years? Shoot, it could be worse. It could be eternal."

Hawkins last was a starting pitcher in 1999, when he compiled a 6.66 ERA in 33 starts with the Twins. He was converted to the bullpen the following season and has spent the past 14 years as one of the most consistent relievers in the sport, compiling a 3.29 ERA with 10 different clubs since then.

He owned a 1.08 ERA with the Angels on Mother’s Day last May when Omar Vizquel lashed a line drive back to him. Hawkins caught it and threw to first base to record a game-ending double play and register his first save of the season.

But the liner broke his pinkie finger. He spent five weeks on the disabled list. When he returned, the finger was still sore. Shaking hands was painful. His velocity dropped to 88-91 mph.

By the end of the season, his ERA had ballooned to 3.64. He returned to his home in Posper, Texas — he owns a ranch two hours north in Paris with about 100 cows — and enrolled in an intensive Crossfit class. He signed a one-year contract with the Mets and had decided the 2013 season would be his last when he reported for spring training.

That changed when he realized he was healthy and touching 95 mph again. He has posted a 2.93 ERA in 72 appearances this season for the Mets, emerging as the team’s closer following Bobby Parnell’s season-ending neck surgery. Hawkins has converted 13 saves in the role. Last Sunday, he earned his 100th career save.

The success hasn’t come without hurdles expected for a 40-year-old pitcher. Hawkins has dealt with triceps tightness throughout the season. Oftentimes he posts a photo on Instagram of his elbow in a tub of ice after games. He hasn’t been shy to notify manager Terry Collins when he wasn’t available, confidence that develops over two decades in professional baseball. But he intends to pitch next season, as long as his right shoulder and elbow permit.

"As long as I’m healthy, who knows?" Hawkins said. "I just want to be healthy, that’s it."

HELPING HAND



What up bro? I see y'all been beating up on the Yanks. Softball season has started and coaching these grown-ass men is a headache because whatever you say, they take it as 'you're not my father' or 'you can't tell me anything.' My head feels like it's going to explode with these dudes. Hit the (expletive) cutoff man! How hard is that? I guess very hard …"



— Sewood to Hawkins in June, via e-mail.

Sewood has kept track of his brother’s career through television, when he is allowed to watch. The prison gets Tigers broadcasts, so when Hawkins faces Detroit, Sewood is glued to the TV. ESPN’s "Baseball Tonight" is a "ritual."

"He knows what’s going on," Hawkins said of his brother. "That’s for sure."

Otherwise, Sewood is enrolled in a computer vocational training class from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. He eats lunch at 11:30 a.m. before he begins an hour-long workout at noon. For the next two hours, he makes ceramics and has to be back in his assigned housing unit by 4 p.m. for the four o’clock count.

He resumes ceramic-making — he’s an instructor — at 4:30 until 8. The rest of his night consists of a shower, dinner and watching television until he goes to bed at the midnight count. He reads a book until he falls asleep.

"I do it all over again the next day," Seawood wrote.

Hawkins left Minnesota for the Cubs after the 2003 season and hasn’t visited Sewood as often since. With the Twins, he traveled to Detroit three times each season, and would come to the prison, a 50-mile drive, during each trip. Initially, the visits were emotional. With time, the two accepted the circumstances.

"Saying goodbye is always the hardest part, but it got easier and easier," Hawkins said. "And it got easier for him, too."

In recent years, they have communicated primarily via e-mail through a program called CorrLinks. Prisoners pay $5 to send 100 e-mails. They are allowed to e-mail every day from 6 a.m. until 11 a.m. Phone calls cost $3.65 for 15 minutes. They can use the phone for 15 minutes at a time and must wait a half hour before making another call.

But the brothers rarely talk on the phone anymore. Sewood saves his minutes for his mother, Hawkins’ wife and others. "Me and him just e-mail because he’s like, ‘I’ll be wasting my money trying to catch you,’" Hawkins quipped.

Hawkins sends Sewood money every month, anywhere from $300 to $600, Sewood estimates, usually via Western Union. Hawkins figures he has also sent $10,000 worth of books and magazine subscriptions over the years.

Hawkins paid for online courses Sewood has taken. Sewood has earned two degrees while in prison. Hawkins has set money aside for Sewood for when he is released.

With his freedom, Sewood hopes to create a foundation for impoverished communities to "help the youth see the world in different perspectives and show them there’s more in life and the world than what they’re exposed to in our type of environment."

Sewood’s prison sentence is set to end in September 2020. He will be 45. Hawkins will be 47, and long retired.

"I don’t think, ‘What if?’ " Sewood wrote. "I live my dream and what I desired through my brother. He’s my dream."