Sunday, March 05, 2000
BASEBALL INSIDER
Sparky led and followed
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
To Johnny Bench, Sparky Anderson succeeded as a leader because he sometimes let himself be led.
Often, said Bench, the Big Red Machine manager solicited advice from the team's key players, such as Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and Pete Rose. And, of course, from Bench himself. Anderson demonstrated his style immediately on the opening day of spring training in 1970, his first year as the Reds' skipper.
Recalled Bench, “He said, "John, what would you think if we were to hit over on this field, then take extra hitting with some extra guys over on that field and get the pitchers and do some infield on the other field ...' Wow, he's asking me my opinion? I felt I wasn't just a number out there.
“Sparky was a friend, a mentor and a manager. He made me feel like a professional all the way.”
Anderson, who was elected to the Hall of Fame Tuesday by the shrine's veterans committee, must have sensed that he was surrounded by players worthy of Cooperstown's shrine. So he enhanced his baseball intelligence with theirs.
“He wanted to know,” said Bench, the legendary catcher who's visiting the Reds' training camp as one of General Manager Jim Bowden's special assistants. “He wanted to learn what got the best out of each player, what team he could put together. A team means you get role players and personalities that fit. I think that was much of the genius of the man. And he was a genius.”
MORE SPARKY: San Francisco's Dusty Baker, widely acclaimed as today's premier manager, was happy Anderson was selected.
“He should have been in there a long time ago,” said Baker, one of the Reds' worthiest adversaries as the Los Angeles Dodgers' left fielder in the 1970s. “He was one of the best managers of all time on one of the best teams of all time. He's one guy I had a lot of respect for.”
Anderson, said Baker, enhanced the enduring aura of his teams: “The Big Red Machine, boy. I've seen some good ones, but they were the best.”
WELCOME, SAMMY: Maybe Cubs manager Don Baylor borrowed some of Anderson's thinking.
Baylor had implied that he would be a taskmaster with right fielder Sammy Sosa, who arrived late to camp. But once Sosa reported, Baylor got warm and fuzzy all over.
“I'm not going to have any problem whatsoever with him,” Baylor said. “I think we're both after the same thing. And the magnitude of Sammy Sosa, I'm not getting in the way of that.”
Sosa's attitude might have helped. “I've been pretty good the last eight years,” he said. “I don't know what else I have to do, but I will do anything (Baylor) wants.”
ROUND NUMBERS: Boston Red Sox right-hander Rich Garces is fat, and everybody knows it. When he pitched with Minnesota, manager Tom Kelly would summon him from the bullpen not with a wave, but by holding his hands in front of his stomach.
Suffice it to say that Garces is rounder than his listed 6-foot, 215-pound dimensions indicate. But as long as his ERA stays lower than his weight, the Red Sox don't care. Garces was one of their top relievers last year, posting a 5-1 record with a 1.55 ERA.
“I used to weigh around 130, 145,” Garces said. “I was really thin. I knew it was going to change because my mom and dad are big.”
ABSOLUTELY UNFAIR: With his 157-113 career record, the last thing Atlanta's John Smoltz needs is a new pitch. But he's working on one — a knuckleball, which fluttered so wildly that it struck catcher Eddie Perez on his left biceps, causing a bruise.
“Everybody asks me how is John's knuckleball, and I say, "See?'” said Perez, lifting his sleeve to reveal the bruise. “He's got a nasty one.”
Smoltz began toying with the pitch last year and wants to throw it more this season.
KINDER, GENTLER? Baltimore slugger Albert Belle, whose moods typically range from miserable to horrible, has insisted that he's going to try to be a little more sociable to people he used to frighten, such as fans and reporters.
Belle's increased comfort with his surroundings might help him take this approach. He's in his second year with the Orioles, for whom he hit .297 last year with 37 homers and 117 RBI.
“I feel better about 2000,” he said. “A year ago, we had a lot of new faces. It was kind of chaotic compared to now.”
Belle also feels at home with new Orioles manager Mike Hargrove, his skipper in Cleveland from 1991-96. “He knows my approach; I know his approach,” Belle said.
WILD AGAIN: Chuck Knoblauch of the New York Yankees was up to his old tricks last week in an intrasquad game, flinging a throw over first baseman Tino Martinez's head.
Knoblauch, who led all second basemen with 26 errors last year, sounded helpless when he addressed his recurring malady.
“There's no remedy,” he said. “You can't explain it, because it's unexplainable.”
KONERKO'S TEST: The Chicago White Sox's Paul Konerko, who failed to catch on as Cincinnati's third baseman in 1998, is being tried at that spot again.
Konerko, dealt by the Reds after the '98 season in exchange for center fielder Mike Cameron, made only one appearance at third base last year while spending most of his time at first base or designated hitter. He batted .294 with 24 homers and 81 RBI.
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