The Boys of Schott, otherwise known as the Cincinnati Reds, have just about had it with the month of April.
It began with umpire John McSherry’s death at Riverfront Stadium on Opening Day, at which point Reds owner Marge Schott, the baseball equivalent of Beavis, popped off about about the unfairness of postponing a game on account of a little on-field cardiac arrest.
Days later, in a bizarre scene just minutes before the first pitch, Schott walked onto the field and tried apologizing to the umpiring crew. Her apology mostly consisted of blaming the whole public relations mess on the mean, nasty media.
“One of a kind,” said Reds pitching ace Pete Schourek. “Obviously, she gets most of the attention around here.”
Meanwhile, second baseman Bret Boone hurt his elbow, outfielder Reggie Sanders hurt his back, outfielders Vince Coleman and Eric Davis were earning spots on the All-Mendoza Line team, the defense stunk and the middle relievers couldn’t hold a lead if you welded it to their gloves.
Somehow–and rookie manager Ray Knight can’t quite explain the reasons–the Reds have managed to stay atop or near the top of the NL Central Division. This is no small feat, considering Schott’s weekly doofus moves and the absence of a dependable bullpen (closer Jeff Brantley excluded).
“To be where we are, as poorly as we’ve played, is really something,” said Knight.
Knight has undergone his share of early-season scrutiny by assorted media types (hello). He was a hyper-intense player. Would he be equally intense as a first-time manager? And would it play in the Cincinnati clubhouse?
Stupid questions.
“People who talk about that, they don’t know me,” Knight said. “I can be the calmest person in the world.”
With that, he angrily reached for a butcher’s knife and . . . (nah, just kidding).
Knight doesn’t apologize for his desire to win. He said he only gets steamed when players make mental mistakes or, worse yet, when they don’t care about the mistakes. Otherwise, Knight said, he is pure sweetheart.
“The Ray Knight who takes his three daughters to church, who takes them fishing, hunting, camping, who cuddles with them and never raises his voice . . . that’s the same Ray Knight who points to a center-fielder and tells him with force to move over for a pitch. The emotion is never forced. It comes from the heart.”
Reds, Part II: Right now, the Reds could use less of Schott and more of a bullpen. But the Reds’ budget is so tight that General Manager Jim Bowden decided against signing veteran left-handed reliever Larry Casian when the Cubs outrighted him to Triple-A Iowa. Casian is making $225,000 and might have settled for less had the Reds offered him a job.
“We talked about him,” Knight said. “Any left-handers out there, we’re looking at.”
Despite the April difficulties, the Reds aren’t conceding anything, especially the Central Division title.
“In a way, it’s exciting to have our record and know we haven’t played the way we know how to play,” said Boone, who came off the disabled list last week. “I see us being right there in September.”
Boone is a half-full kind of guy. He even likes Schott.
“I think things get blown out of proportion sometimes,” he said. “It doesn’t affect what this team does on the field.”
Turns out Schott has a soft spot. On the same morning Boone’s wife gave birth to a baby girl, Boone had to catch a plane to Birmingham, Ala., for arthroscopic surgery. He returned late that night and the next day, new mom and dad had a visitor. It was Schott.
“I thought that was a class move,” Boone said.
Around the league: It took 56 at-bats, but Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza finally got his first extra-base hit of the season. It was a double, and afterwards some of his teammates jokingly suggested he save the ball. In his first 41 at-bats last season, Piazza had four homers, four doubles and 13 runs batted in. . . . Yet another reason why the Colorado Rockies won’t reach the playoffs in 1996: In a four-game stretch last week, Rockies pitchers gave up 40 runs. Plus, would-be starter Billy Swift walked off the mound after just 23 pitches of a simulated game a week ago. He is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder and was scheduled to make his first start as early as this week. Now? Who knows?
Florida Marlins star right-fielder Gary Sheffield, who will earn $6.1 million this season, must have been terrified by the recent $200 fine levied against him for throwing his bat and helmet after arguing a strike call. The 27-year-old Sheffield, one of only a handful of legitimate Triple Crown threats, also is making noises about quitting the game after the 1997 season. . . . Rather than report directly to Florida to begin his rehabilitation assignment with trainer Hap Hudson, Philadelphia Phillies left-fielder Darren Daulton took a vacation to Anguilla in the West Indies. Does that sound like someone interested in a comeback? . . . Starter Darryl Kile, considered a key to the Houston Astros’ playoff chances this season, finally recorded his first victory since July 1995. He beat the New York Mets last Wednesday, dropping his earned-run average from 10.57 to 7.63.
If nothing else, Dodgers starter Chan Ho Park is polite. Park, the first Korean to play in the majors, dedicated a recent victory to team President Peter O’Malley and also made a point of introducing himself to San Francisco Giants third-base coach Wendell Kim. Kim is the first Korean-American to wear a major-league uniform. Park-mania is nearing Hideo Nomo proportions. Park’s games are televised in South Korea, and more than 60 credentials were issued to South Korean media for his second start. The Cubs issued about 85 credentials to Japanese media when Nomo and the Dodgers made an early April visit–and Nomo wasn’t even scheduled to pitch.
