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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > March > 05 > Entry
Baker trying to get the right fit
When writers arrived at the media work room Thursday morning, Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker was seated at a table with a guy selling suits - expensive suits, I presume.
The guy is here every spring and players wander in to check out his goods, too. My question is why do the players purchase suits? I seldom see them wear them. The dress code for their charter flights is sport coats. No ties necessary. No suits necessary.
But then, why do some players need six cars? Because they can afford them.
BAKER SAID he was pleased with what he saw from shortstop Alex Gonzalez in his debut Wednesday against the Dutch WBC team - even though all it involved was two at-bats as a DH and no fielding.
Gonzalez singled his second time at bat and Baker noticed a hitch in his giddy-up.
“I asked him if he was OK and he said he was,” said Baker. “But I noticed a funny gait as he ran to first base. He just has to get it out of his head. You tell somebody to quit limping and it’s like your mother telling you to quit scratching.”
Gonzalez was to appear again today against the Pirates as a DH, then hoped he would be back on the field to test the surgically repaired left knee that kept him out of the lineup for all of 2008.
IT WAS JACQUE JONES turn to play first base Thursday as Baker continues his auditions over who might be able to back up Joey Votto when he isn’t at first base.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played there,” said Jones.
How long?
“Long time,” he said.
“Ever? Ever play it in a major-league game?”
“Uh, no,” he said with a smile. “But I’ve worked out there. I go over there a lot and take ground balls, just to relieve the monotony of taking fly balls all day in the outfield. I like it because you are in the action most of the time.
“And it is not as easy as people seem to think,” he said. “There are places you have to be on every play and things to do on every play. But it’s fun and if I can show versatility I can be more valuable to the team.”
BAKER keeps a large white board that covers one entire wall of his office and it lists all 63 players in camp. And he stares at it constantly with hope.
“We have a whole wall full of guys who at one time were good players expected to be star-calibre players,” said Baker. “You look at Jonny Gomes - he was almost rookie of the year. There is Jacque Jones, a star at USC and a big-time player at Minnesota just a couple of years ago. Look at Darnell McDonald - a first round draft pick (Baltimore, 1997). Then there is Laynce Nix - he was a high-round draft pick (Rangers, fourth round, 2000).
“At any give time or day, they could play like they were touted,” said Baker. “It is just a matter of if they can put it all together for an extended period of time. I keep looking for a guy like (Ryan) Ludwick - a No. 1 draft pick and highly touted and it took him a while, four or five organizations, then ‘bam,’ he got it. And it’s possible. Because if it is in there, it’s in there. They just have to get it out.”
Ludwick, drafted No. 2 by Oakland in 1998, bounced from the A’s to Texas to Cleveland to St. Louis.
SOME GOOD lines from Baker this morning:
—“To be a good base stealer you have to have larceny in your heart and want to run.”
—“The game is going to go back to speed during the post-steroids era.”
—One wish I have, as I watch our kids do baserunning drills, is that wish that I could still fly and run the bases the way I did when I was a kid.”
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Comments
By Huber Tucky
March 5, 2009 5:14 PM | Link to this
T-Pick would surely say that he didn’t know any of that was going on right under his nose. Uh, that was all just coincidence, wasn’t it? He’s a company man all the way. Like corporate chieftains and politicians, they all obfuscate.By drunkenhopfrog
March 5, 2009 1:21 PM | Link to this
—“The game is going to go back to speed during the post-steroids era.” Nope, Dusty: Getting on base and drilling basehits will be the way post-pre-and-during steroid era. Batting a career .320 OBP guy leadoff guarantees a 68% failure rate for your first batter. GREAT strategy. That speed sure will kill - one the way to the box and back to the bench. Moron.By drunkenhopfrog
March 5, 2009 1:11 PM | Link to this
Guh. I have to unsubscribe to this feed. Hal, great job as always - I appreciate the time you spend to dump some reports on us here. However, I just can’t stand reading quotes from Baker anymore. The guy is a MLB Manager answer to a spiritualist. He hopes to manage with a divining rod while hoping really hard. Guh.By Florida Buckeye
March 5, 2009 10:32 AM | Link to this
Hal, I have a question: Has anybody, including yourself, and the rest of the Cincinnati Media ever asked, and gotten straight answers from Dusty w/r to the steriod usage on the Giants, Barry Bonds, and Balco? The thought hit me since he was referring to the ‘post-steriod era’ and he was in the midst of it in San Fran.