Padres Parties Gather To Try and Sort It Out

Dick Williams was greeted at the airport here Thursday not by any fans, but by much fanfare. And as he walked near the baggage claim area, he claimed to a San Diego television crew that, yes, the Padres did offer to “buy out” his contract as manager.

Other probing questions followed:

Will you be back as manager

“I don’t have any idea at this time,” he said. “I’ll find out more, probably tomorrow (which is today).”

Will you meet with Kroc

“We have a meeting scheduled,” he said. “All of us.”

Do you want to come back and manage?

“At this time, I really can’t say anything else.”

And he left.

Where he went is the next question. Ozzie Virgil, a third base coach in limbo, said Thursday that Norma Williams, Dick’s wife, told him that Dick was meeting Thursday, a day early, with a Padre official, probably owner Joan Kroc. This could not, however, be confirmed. Elsewhere, it was rumored that Ballard Smith, a team president in limbo, had also met with Kroc.

Smith, however, declined to confirm and said instead: “We’re all getting together tomorrow at 10 o’clock (although he wouldn’t say where). In due course, we will let you know what happens.”

This is what has happened: Williams apparently quit in November after the Padres offered him a “buy-out” of the final year of his contract. Smith and general manager Jack McKeon then told Williams before he left on vacation: “If you change your mind let us know.” In the meantime, Williams went around telling people he was quitting. Word spread back to Smith and McKeon, and McKeon had no need for Virgil, Williams’ right-hand man, and released him.

But since Smith wanted to give Williams a chance to change his mind, neither Williams’ quitting or Virgil’s firing was announced, and so no one told Kroc, the owner, what was going on. Virgil’s firing and news of the “buy-out” leaked out to the newspapers, and Kroc, learning of the news for the first time, was incensed.

She backed Williams, saying there’d be no buy-out and that she wanted him back as manager and Virgil back as third base coach. She was angered at Smith, her son-in-law, for keeping her in the dark. She also said if Williams still wanted to quit, there would be no buy-out, not at least with her money.

She then called Friday’s meeting to settle everything.

It’s entirely possible, then, that Williams, Smith and McKeon will all return. Or it’s possible that just Smith and McKeon will return. Or just Williams.

Kroc did not returned phone messages Thursday, while McKeon, Smith and Williams (after he returned from the airport) declined to comment.

Virgil, however, reached in Venezuela on Thursday, still says he won’t accept the Padre offer to return and will go to the San Francisco Giants unless Williams talks him out of it, which he doubts. Virgil also said Williams probably won’t return as manager unless he is given a contract extension, and, thus, more power.

“I don’t see him coming back unless they give him a lot of power and re-sign him for another two or three years,” Virgil said. “ . . . This is an awful situation. How the hell do you think the players are going to think now--’What the hell’s going on? The front office doesn’t know what it’s doing?”’

One player, who asked to remain nameless just in case Williams does come back to manage, thinks this:

“In a way, you can’t argue with her (Kroc for supporting Williams) because we haven’t had a losing season since Dick got here. But a lot of players don’t like him . . . And I think he (McKeon) thinks the players will play better if someone else is here. I’m sure he’s told that to Ballard, and probably that’s why they were going to do what they were going to do.”

“I’ll say about 23 out of 25 players don’t like Dick Williams. I think it would be a benefit for a lot of guys (if they got a more amiable manager) because Dick isn’t the type of manager who pats you on the back when you do something well. He’d shake your hand when you come in, but he never said anything (positive) in the paper or on the talk shows that much. If we get somebody who comes in and does that, a lot of guys will feel a lot more comfortable about playing baseball.

“You know, Dick’s from the old school. He wants things done his way, and if you’re not going to do them his way, you’re not going to play. A lot of guys just couldn’t deal with that. I don’t know why, but a lot of guys couldn’t. A lot needed someone to pat them on the back when they did something well and not just get on them when they did something wrong. Dick expected you to do things right because that’s why you were getting paid what you were getting paid.

“But you need encouragement. Players look around the league and see managers who are (nice) like that--(Tom) Lasorda or Chuck Tanner--and they see what’s going on and then you look in our dugout, and there’s hardly any of that other than players doing it amongst each other most of the time and some of the coaches.

“To me, that’s the biggest thing. Jack and Ballard, I think, are looking out for the players, and Joan is looking out for Dick. As soon as they decide what to do, everyone will be better off. Because if Dick comes back, we still have got to go out there and play. What are they going to do? Trade all 25 guys? So if he comes back we might as well make the most of it and bust our tails and hopefully win.

“If he doesn’t come back, there might be happier times at spring training. Guys probably will be smiling more and won’t be bitching as much as they do now. Because guys are actually scared to say what they want to say because of Dick. Dick’s from the old school, you see. When they played, the radio wasn’t blasting and guys weren’t playing cards or playing pool. I think he had to bite his lip not to say anything. But you could see in his face he didn’t like it that much.

“I’ll tell you, though. If he comes back, there’s really going to be a lot of hassles now. It’d be like Alan Wiggins trying to come back. That’s the kind of pressure he’ll have to go through. If he doesn’t have many players’ respect now, after all this he probably won’t have any.

“I just hope they get it done before Christmas because I want to enjoy the holidays.”