There are no superstars here in the spring training camp of the Colorado Rockies and that isn’t all bad.
“It makes us closer as a team,” said Daryl Boston, a former White Sox outfielder. “We can’t sit back and depend on one guy to carry the club.”
More Top Picks How To Cope With Light Sensitivity At Work
Another plus, Boston insists, is more intensity and competition among the players than in any other camp except the Florida Marlins. Like the Rockies, the Marlins are preparing for their maiden voyage in the National League.
“Everyone here is fighting for a job,” Boston said. “We don’t have any household names. Just a bunch of guys named Joe.”
Like Joe Girardi, who put in the equivalent of three full seasons with the Cubs. If the Rockies hadn’t taken him in the expansion draft, he would be a backup catcher or platooning with Rick Wilkins. With the Rockies, he’s No. 1.
“I’ll get a great chance to play every day,” Girardi said Wednesday. Fit as ever, he had emerged from a half hour in the trainer’s room.
“Ehveryone is happy to be here,” himself included, Girardi reported. “Some guys are getting their first chance to be in the big leagues and that’s always exciting. And other guys are getting a second or a third chance to prove themselves.”
Girardi is a no-nonsense, bear-down competitor out of Peoria and Northwestern University. He refused to acknowledge he and his teammates are castoffs:
“Sure, some guys weren’t respected enough by their own clubs. But some guys are here because of financial reasons. Somebody in the front office said, `We’ve got to unload this guy. He’s making too much money.’ “
Then Girardi, raising his voice to a battlefield fever, offered a prediction: “We’re coming in to win. We’re not going to be just another expansion club that’s going to lose 100 games.”
Whatever, Girardi has no ill feelings toward the Cubs. He is looking for forward to seeing his former teammates, who will be here Thursday for an exhibition game.
“The Cubs gave me my chance to fulfill my dream,” Girardi said. “I’ll always be grateful.”
Don Baylor, the Colorado manager, is also grateful, especially to General Manager Bob Gebhard.
“Bob took a chance, too,” Baylor observed. “This is his first year as general manager.”
Although this is Baylor’s maiden managerial assignment, he had a distinguished 17-year big-league playing career. He played for 11 managers, from Yogi Berra to Tony La Russa.
Baylor has surrounded himself with knowledgeable coaches. Don Zimmer, who managed four big-league clubs, including the Cubs, is Baylor’s bench coach.
Zimmer was a coach with the Red Sox last year but couldn’t wait to get out; he didn’t get along with Butch Hobson, Boston’s first-year manager. Hobson apparently seldom, if ever, took Zimmer’s advice.
Referring to Zimmer, Baylor said, “He’s been around since Abner Doubleday. He put the bases 90 feet apart. Anybody who’s been around that long knows a lot of things.”
Obviously, Baylor will use Zimmer’s experience to advantage.
“He tells me things,” Baylor revealed, “and then he says, `You don’t have to use any of them.’ How can you beat that?”
That Baylor will be the thinking man’s manager was apparent moments later when he said, “Everybody always talks about a club being strong up the middle. I want to be strong at the corners. We’re going to be playing in a big ballpark. We’ve got to protect against doubles and triples.”
Denver’s only established players-who have had at least one season as a big-league regular-are third baseman Charlie Hayes and first baseman Andres Galarraga.
Baylor admitted that his biggest problem is convincing the troops they were wanted.
“This organization paid $95 million for the rights to 36 players,” Baylor said. “There were 3,000 players available. I keep telling them, `Maybe somebody else didn’t want you. But we did. Don’t ever forget that.’ “
More Top Picks Best Lightweight Rain Jackets For Men
Still, the prognosis isn’t bright. More than likely, the Rockies will lose 95 games, maybe more.
“We’ll have one advantage that nobody talks about,” Boston said. “There’s going to be 25,000, maybe 35,000 fans cheering for us every night.”
The Rockies, for the first two years, will play their home games at Mile High Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 76,000, largest in either league. A total of 26,000 full-season tickets already have been sold. A gate in excess of 200,000 is expected for their first home series, a three-game set against the Montreal Expos. Win or lose, the Rockies could be the first NL team with a home gate of 4 million.
Said Gebhard: “Last Sunday I was on a flight from Denver to Tucson. We had opened the day before, our first spring training game. It was televised back to Denver. Just about everybody on that flight was talking about the Rockies. You would have thought we had just played the seventh game of the World Series.”