Former Reds starter Mat Latos never used to worry about lunch when it was his turn to pitch.



Mort, Latos’ go-to Cincinnati clubbie, had the right-hander’s gameday order down pat. Without fail, whenever Latos strolled into Great American Ballpark, he’d find Mort waiting with a chicken, bacon and ranch sandwich and a bottle of Cholula Hot Sauce.



These days, Latos, 30, spreads his own peanut butter and jelly with cheap plastic knives before games. Now a closer for the independent Can-Am League’s New Jersey Jackals, home is the patchy field inside Montclair State University’s Yogi Berra Stadium. It’s not Great American or Petco Park or any of the other MLB stadiums Latos used to frequent when he was making millions in the majors, but it will do.



“I’ve never thought of myself as any higher than anybody else. I’m a human being,” Latos said. “If we were walking on the street and you had no idea who I...