Drove here to the outer edges of the so-called Paradise Valley with the best intentions: to preview the Seattle Mariners, who could be much improved and capable of leaping into contention in the American League West. But I was waylaid by two former Cub managers/head coaches, both of whom have come out of the woodwork.
It has been three years since I last shook the hand of Lee Elia, who, of course, shook the hand of Dallas Green, etc. And it has been much longer than that, probably 10 years, since I encountered Charlie Metro, a grizzled diamond warrior who still bears a remarkable resemblance to Clark Gable.
Elia first. He was on the third base side of the batting cage slapping grounders to Greg Pirkl, an aspiring rookie first baseman who, after five seasons in the minors, may be ready for the big time.
I asked Elia, a baseball lifer, how many grounders he has hit during infield practice. A million?
“Easy, a million,” Elia replied. “Maybe 2 million.”
Whatever, Elia, 56, is returning to the big leagues after a three-year absence. He has been managing minor-league clubs in the Phillies’ system. Before that, he put in a year with the Yankees as a coach; before that, there were two managerial hitches, two years with the Phillies and two years with the Cubs, 1982 and most of `83.
He took off his cap.
“Look,” he said. “Gray hair. I didn’t have a gray hair on my head until I managed the Cubs.”
I told him he looked fine, that he has been aging well.
He snapped his fingers, indicating the passage of time.
“Poof,” he said. “Ten years. They’ve gone by like the blink of an eye.”
I mentioned that nobody can foresee the future. For example, here he was about to start his first season as a coach with the Seattle Mariners while Jim Lefebvre, who managed the Mariners for three full seasons, was starting his second year as the so-called Cub pilot.
“Thank God, we’ve all got work,” Elia said.
Not quite. Metro is looking for a job.
“My wife chased me out of the house,” Metro said. “She said, `You’re driving me crazy. Why don’t you go to Arizona?’ “
So Metro kissed the missus goodbye and left his Denver manse. He has been here only a few days. He wants to get back in the action and is looking for a scouting assignment.
“I want to cover all the National League teams as they come through Denver,” Metro advised. “Scouting, that was my strong point.”
Metro, 74, was the Cubs’ head coach for much of the 1962 season.
“I refused to be rotated,” he said. And so he was dismissed and spent the next three seasons with the White Sox, the first two as an assistant to General Manager Ed Short, the third as a Sox coach.
“I coached for Al Lopez,” Metro said. “One of the finest years of my life.”
My most vivid recollection of Metro’s tour with the Cubs was a night in Pittsburgh when he was honored by some 60 or 80 people from his home town of Nanty-Glo, Pa. The women were in long, white dresses; the men in black suits, some with black hats.
They stood behind the mound, assembled in one row, stretching from first to third base, a tintype photograph from the 1920s. The people in the middle held a banner: “Nanty-Glo Loves You.”
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Enough of such sentimentality. It was time to get to the business at hand. Lou Piniella, the new Seattle manager, was behind the cage, keeping a steely eye as his hitters took batting practice.
“You’re starting too early,” he told infielder Bret Boone, who is baseball’s first third-generation big leaguer. He’s Bob Boone’s son and Ray Boone’s grandson. He’s learning to hit to all fields and appears to have good power for his size.
The Mariners are coming off a last-place finish, 32 games behind the champion Oakland A’s, but should be much stronger. Their principal off-season acquisitions were established pitchers-Chris Bosio, a starter, and Norm Charlton, a left-handed reliever who played for Piniella when he managed the Cincinnati Reds.
“We’ve got a good nucleus of talent,” Piniella said. And he rattled off the names of some very good players, rising stars such as outfielders Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buhner, third baseman Edgar Martinez and shortstop Omar Visquel.
Pitching is the Mariners’ strength. Their starting rotation of Bosio, Randy Johnson, Dave Fleming and Erik Hanson could be among the best in their division, particularly if Hanson is healthy. Charlton and Mike Schooler, a veteran right-hander who is coming off a poor season, are the principal relievers.
Bosio joined the Mariners as a free agent. He was one of the American League’s most effective pitchers last year: a 16-6 record for a remarkable .727 winning percentage.
Bosio revealed he almost hooked on with the Cubs.
“I was this close,” he said, holding his fingers an inch apart.
I said if he was that close, he should have taken less money and signed with the Cubs.
“I would have taken less money, but they wanted Jose Guzman,” Bosio said. “They never called me back.”
Good fortune to all.