Michael Jordan and Frank Thomas hit together Monday in the White Sox camp in Sarasota, Fla., and Jordan celebrated by hitting his first spring batting-practice homer, the ball just clearing the billboards in left.
Thomas hit none.
“He’s my idol,” Thomas said. “Everyone’s really happy he chose us.”
Jordan, who couldn’t conceal a smile, did not break into a trot after his drive. He did break into the land of baseball cliches.
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“It felt good,” Jordan said. “I knew it had a chance when I hit it.”
Do or die: Ask Turk Wendell and he will admit it. This is a pivotal year in his career.
“Yeah, no doubt about it,” Wendell said Monday at the Cubs’ camp in Mesa, Ariz. The zany right-hander pleased opposing batters almost as much as he delighted Cubs fans last season.
Wendell, 26, was 1-2 with a 4.37 earned-run average in seven games with the Cubs last season and 10-8 with a 4.60 at Triple-A Iowa. Major-league left-handers batted .372 against him.
“I consider last year a bad year,” said Wendell, who pitched 5 1/3 innings of no-hit ball on his way to a 4-1 victory-his first in the majors-in the final game of last season against the Padres.
Seeing the ball: Cubs manager Tom Trebelhorn says the two most-pleasant surprises last season were catcher Rick Wilkins, who hit 30 homers with a .303 batting average, and pitcher Jose Bautista, who was 10-3 with a 2.82 ERA.
Bautista didn’t even pitch in the majors in 1992 and had a 16.88 ERA in just five games with the Orioles in 1991. He gives much of the credit for his turnaround to a simple eye exam and eye-training exercise instituted by Assistant General Manager Syd Thrift. “Now I can see the target,” said Bautista, who began wearing contact lenses.
Sox stuff: Jordan’s hitting group Tuesday, when he’ll face yet-unnamed actual pitchers, will include Julio Franco, Dan Pasqua and Drew Denson. . . . Roberto Hernandez, taking it easy on a tender right ankle, is working from the mound now.