It was at the end of the darkest days. Things hadn`t been going well at all, and now the offense was taking its turn as the answer to ”What`s wrong?”
Even then, Walt Hriniak was talking positive. And believing it.
”We can turn it around,” the hitting coach said one day as he sat, virtually alone, in the White Sox dugout. ”We`ve still got a chance. You`re never out of it until you`re mathematically eliminated.”
That`s a baseball cliche, of course, but when Hriniak says it, it becomes less a cliche than a statement of absolute faith. That is Walt Hriniak.
”I was on a team in Boston where we were 14 games ahead in late July, early August,” Hriniak said. ”We got to 3 1/2 behind with a week to go, and we caught the Yankees, and we had the playoff.”
That was in 1978.
”I was on a team where we were one strike away from being the World Champion,” he said. ”At Shea Stadium. One strike away. As a matter of fact, they flashed it up on the board: `Congratulations, Boston Red Sox, World Champions 1986.`
”And we bleeping lost.”
He looked out over the field. Nothing there but a vacant batting cage and screens in front of the mound and first base. The stands, too, were silent.
An empty ballpark generates dreams for some. For most, it brings back memories of triumphant roars that have vanished into the air and of ghastly defeats that still tighten the stomach.
”Anything can happen,” said Hriniak. ”Anything. That`s what makes the game so great, and so frustrating at the same time.
”It`s a crazy game.”
– Goodbye, friend Comiskey: ”He did not want to look at the fish. He knew that half of him had been destroyed.”-Ernest Hemingway, ”The Old Man and the Sea.”
– The good doctors: Did Bo Jackson`s appearance in a major-league game last week mean the the Royals` doctors were wrong and Sox doctors were right? Not necessarily.
”The decision (to be made) by the Kansas City Royals was, `Definitely, could he play and contribute to the Kansas City Royals at midseason, play as a bona fide fielder and a batter?` ” said Birmingham physician James Andrews, who joined with the White Sox medical team. ”They needed a decision: Yes or no.”
Royals physician Steve Joyce, working under a deadline, said no. He was right.
Andrews and his people, under a lesser time constraint, expected Jackson to play sometime, perhaps this season. They were right.
The White Sox decided the financial risk was worth it. The Royals had decided, for them, it wasn`t. Medical credibility, Andrews said, was never at stake in this.
”There was more controversy made over (the diagnosis) than maybe there was controversy,” Andrews said.
– Keep reading: The Royals` Tom Gordon, Jackson`s best pal on his old club, sent him a Bible three weeks ago.
”I hope he`s reading it,” Gordon said. ”I hope he realizes where he gets his blessings from. He`s getting an opportunity to play again, but God made it all possible.”
– Keep back: George Brett, in Comiskey Park, on the lemming-like attention to Jackson`s return: ”I can`t believe the media hype behind it all. It`s like Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle coming back. We just left Texas, where five guys were covering the game. Here, it`s like the World Series.”
– Hey, George, it`s our job: Jackson`s career record against the White Sox
(in 126 at-bats): .151, 2 homers, 10 RBIs.
– It`s about time: From Roger Maris Jr., on the removal of the asterisk from his dad`s 61-homer record: ”I`m sure he`d like to have seen that asterisk removed while he was still alive, but it was never that big of a deal to him. He always felt he had the record. If he was around today, I think the only thing he would be is amazed that it took 30 years to make it official.”
Maris died in 1985.
– Around the league: The Brewers, through Thursday, had gone 22-8 after dropping to 17 below .500 in early August. Did manager Tom Trebelhorn envision this kind of comeback? ”When we were 17 games under .500, I was hoping the next day to be 16 games under,” Trebelhorn said. They think they`re in it:
The Brewers have seven games left against both the Tigers and Red Sox. On the other hand, they`re 0-6 against Boston. . . . Jim Gantner hit his first homer since June 14, 1987-1,762 at-bats before. It came off Dave Stewart. A clubhouse kid won the annual ”Gumby” pool, worth $310. ”I`m glad he won it,” said Gantner, ”somebody who needed the money, and not a player.”
. . . Also hitting his first in awhile: the Rangers Geno Petralli. A little more modest-223 games, 544 at-bats.
Dennis ”Oil Can” Boyd, out of the Texas rotation for nearly two weeks, finally won a start for the Rangers Monday. Boyd (0-4, 8.54 before then) had refused to pitch out of the bullpen. ”The only thing I`ve ever done in the bullpen is warm up,” he said. ”If I had to pitch in relief, I`d just get in my car and drive home to Mississippi. I`d probably get suspended or something, but that`s what I`d do.” Bobby Valentine will start him. . . . This year, Kansas City`s Storm Davis will make $2.37 million. Mark Davis will make $3.625 million. Mark Gubicza, $2.67 million. Combined, through Thursday, they were 15-18, 5.10. . . . On the other hand, Boston`s Danny Darwin (3-6, $3.25 million) is out for the year. . . . Seattle`s Harold Reynolds, through Wednesday, was batting .307 in the Kingdome, .216 on the road.
When Kevin Tapani was named AL Pitcher of the Month in August, he was the third Twin honored this year. Scott Erickson was Mr. May, and Jack Morris won in June. The three from one team is a league first. . . . Joe Hesketh of the Red Sox was 1-6 last year and was released twice. He`s 10-3 this year, 7-2 in his last nine starts. At Fenway Park, he`s 5-1, 1.96-and, remember, he`s a left-hander. . . . Milwaukee`s Willie Randolph (.340) is sneaking up on having enough at-bats for the batting title. . . . Tom Henke, after a sensational couple of months, is having shoulder problems again. The Blue Jays would be more concerned if Duane Ward weren`t having a sensational September.
To end it: The Twins led the league by 8 1/2 games on Sept. 1. Since divisional play began in 1969, no team has blown a lead that big that late.
