Guillen’s Another Star Now Shining in Another Town

San Diego is not a nice place to leave. Any person who would want to leave San Diego is the kind of person who would nibble on an apple in the Garden of Eden or would win The Big Spin and complain about the tax bite.

However, the world of sports is transitory. With notable exceptions such as Don Shula, Tom Landry, Connie Mack and Ernie Banks, athletes and coaches live rather nomadic lives. Heck, Vince Lombardi left Green Bay, Gordie Howe left Detroit, Willie Mays left the Giants (who had left New York) and Steve Garvey left the Dodgers.

I make this point because it was announced this week that Ozzie Guillen was named the American League Rookie of the Year.

“How many times have we seen this happen?” asked a cynical San Diego fan. “We get a good player and he ends up somewhere else.”

In truth, Guillen did not actually depart San Diego, but he did depart the Padres organization. Thus, he cannot really be a member of the “City and County of San Diego Alumni Club.” He only got as far south on I-15 as Las Vegas, where he labored for the Padres’ Class AAA farm club. Close, but . . .

Many others have made an impact of varying degrees hereabouts and departed, some on their own and others by being traded or fired.

Under the heading of “Where Have You Gone and What Have You Done,” here is a glimpse at a number of prominent (and not-so-prominent) folks who have left America’s Finest City:

Ozzie Smith--The Original Oz now makes $2 million a year for picking up baseballs that litter the infield at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. No one has ever been paid so handsomely for what amounts to ballpark maintenance.

Ed Whitson--A capable pitcher with the Padres, he recently gained his greatest renown off the field when he was mistaken for a marshmallow salesman by Billy Martin. Whitson floated like a butterfly and kicked like a mule and disposed of Bad Billy in what was estimated to be Round Three.

Donald T. Sterling--When he purchased the San Diego Clippers, they were bad as in awful. And Sterling did what no one thought possible. He made them worse. Shrewdly, he took them to Los Angeles, thinking they would surely be embraced by a community that tolerates smog, traffic jams and the Raiders.

Dave Winfield--Like Whitson, Winfield went from San Diego to the New York Yankees. Like Ozzie Smith, he got a giant contract. Like Sterling, his departure was not bemoaned.

Art Linkletter--Twice the leading scorer on San Diego State’s basketball team, he gained his greatest fame informing us that kids say the darndest things. I’ve learned that coaches (and athletes) say the darndest things.

Michael Cage--Another former SDSU basketball star, Cage now plays for the Clippers. With any luck, he will someday have an opportunity to play for a National Basketball Assn. team.

Juli Veee--Let’s call it The Kurt Bevacqua Syndrome. An athlete leaves San Diego, only to return. Veee left to join a newly formed Major Indoor Soccer League team in Las Vegas. When soccer lasted about as long as a roll of quarters at Caesars Palace, Veee returned whence he came.

Joe Niekro--One of the Padres’ best trades was a 1969 deal involving Niekro. They sent him to Detroit for Dave Campbell, who will be broadcasting long after Niekro is done pitching. However, Joe’s brother Phil may be pitching long after Ozzie Guillen retires.

Alan Wiggins--Remember him? He might have been the Padres’ second baseman for years to come, but he got lost between the hotel and ballpark in Los Angeles and ultimately showed up in Baltimore. He has never been caught stealing, but has been tagged out on a few occasions when he got lost on the way to second base.

Defensive Line--Gary Johnson, Fred Dean and Louie Kelcher did not go to San Francisco in one gift-wrapped package from the Chargers. It was just a coincidence that three former Chargers came away from Super Bowl XIX with championship rings. Meanwhile, back in San Diego . . .

Ted Williams--Born too soon. He played for the minor league Padres and hit that legendary (or is it mythical) 120-mile long home run, which supposedly landed in a box car beyond the fences at Lane Field and finally stopped “rolling” in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Williams was soon on his way out of town en route to a Hall of Fame career.

John Jefferson--Done too soon. The voltage was drained from this most electric of athletes when the Chargers exiled him to Green Bay during a bitter 1981 contractual dispute. He was further exiled to Cleveland earlier this year and then waived, just another name in small type.

Ted Tollner--It’s nice when a former San Diego State assistant coach gets a big opportunity. Tollner got his shot at USC. Of course, this job comes with the hottest seat this side of South Bend. USC coaches are supposed to vacation in Hawaii without their football teams, and Tollner is taking the Trojans to the Aloha Bowl. Don’t tell the beleaguered Tollner, but aloha means both hello and goodbye.

Dave Roberts and Dave Roberts--They both played for the Padres, and I have forever confused them. I have no idea where they went from here, or where they are now. Perhaps living in a duplex in Walla Walla.

Jack Kemp--Can a man go from quarterbacking the Chargers to quarterbacking the United States? Kemp, now a congressman from New York, is considered a 1988 presidential candidate. None of today’s quarterbacks would be interested in such a parlay; not with the cut in pay they would have to take.

And there have been so many others whose roots have touched, however briefly, in San Diego. There have been coaches and managers, such as Joe Gibbs, Bill Walsh, Chuck Noll and Sparky Anderson, who have won the most coveted of championships. There have been athletes such as Rollie Fingers, Marcus Allen, Fred Dwyre, Haven Moses, Don Warren, Isaac Curtis, George Hendrick, Brian Sipe and Greg Louganis.

Surely, there are many more.

Ozzie Guillen never quite made it to the Padres. He was never more than a name from the farm system, a phenom who would surely be a star in the future.

Should he someday fulfill the potential of his rookie year, maybe he will get a spot on the list anyway. But he will have to get an asterisk.