As a fearless White Sox outfielder two decades ago, Ken Berry used to run into walls. He can only hope the ballplayers in his charge next season won`t have him climbing walls.
Berry, a Sox regular from 1965 through 1970, last week was named manager of the Birmingham Barons, the Double-A stop on the minor-league road leading to Comiskey Park. Previously a manager at the Class-A level in the New York Yankees` (Oneonta, N.Y.) and Kansas City Royals` (Appleton, Wis.) systems, Berry spent last summer as a roving instructor in the Sox organization.
”I was like a lot of other guys,” he said from his home in Topeka, Kan. ”The ultimate goal was to get to the big leagues, with no time frame. But now, I`m looking forward to the challenge of managing in the big leagues.
”I`ve done everything-pitch batting practice; coach outfield, baserunning, hitting and bunting; coach first base, coach third. The only thing left to do is manage, and let the chips fall where they may.”
Berry, 47, likely will be the first professional manager under whom No. 1 draft pick Robin Ventura plays. Other prospects expected to be in Berry`s employ are pitchers Ravelo Manzanillo, Jerry Kutzler, Buddy Groom and Mike Ollom-all of whom performed well for Class A Tampa in 1988.
”Pitching probably will be the strength of the club,” Berry said. Then, he cringed: ”Actually, our weakest spot will be the outfield.”
Regardless, Berry wants a winning club.
”It`s important to win. Development is foremost, but winning is right there behind it. If you have players who are decent-they don`t have to be great-and they win, they`ll never go into a season thinking they`re beat, that they`re out of it before it starts.
”It`s an attitude. If they`ve been successful, and the success has come through execution and doing the little things it takes to win, then they`ll know how to do it. It`ll always be there.”
– Outfielder Kenny Williams has been following with interest the daily trade rumors that have had him going to the New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and who knows where else.
”It`s kind of unfortunate that it`s come to this,” said Williams, once among the Sox`s most prized prospects. ”But, reading the papers, I know someone out there has an interest in me.”
The Sox obviously no longer have interest in Williams, 24, as a third baseman. And, what with their ongoing pursuit of the Mets` Lenny Dykstra, they don`t seem interested in Williams as a center-fielder, the position Kenny played as a rookie in 1987 (.281 average, 11 home runs, 21 steals in 116 games).
”I could`ve played third base,” said Williams, whose experiment at that spot was called off after 14 errors and what proved to be a broken bone in his left ankle. ”But my problem was throwing. And it`s kind of hard to throw when one of your legs is numb.”
So now it`s back to the outfield, either with the Sox or with a ballclub to be named later.
”Every time I read about me going somewhere else, or about the White Sox center-field problem,” he said, ”it makes me that much more determined. It`s an anger, but it`s a controlled anger. I know I have something to prove. The only thing I proved last year is I can`t play hurt.”
– Second baseman Wally Backman, reportedly discussed in trade talks with the Mets last week before he wound up going to the Minnesota Twins, would have been a perfect addition to the Sox: He was born on Sept. 22, 1959, the day the Sox clinched their one and only American League pennant in the last 69 years. – One positive note from the Sox`s failure to land Backman: The Twins can be erased from the list of suitors for Willie Randolph.
– Toronto right-hander Jose Nunez, in whom the Sox supposedly had expressed interest last week in talks with the Blue Jays, has undergone tests on his pitching elbow and has been ordered to cease pitching for the time being.
– The Sox have talked to former Pirate Doug Frobel as a possibility to provide some outfield help at Double-A Birmingham.
