1986 Pirates Will Be Well-Schooled : Club Plans Instruction in Areas Other Than Baseball

Pittsburgh Pirates’ players will receive instruction in personal finance, tax laws and public speaking as well as bunting and base running during spring training, according to General Manager Syd Thrift.

Thrift, who said many major leaguers never realize their full potential because they don’t receive proper guidance, also said the players’ wives will be invited to take part in some of the classes.

“We think it’s important to take the time to instruct the players in areas beneficial to them off the field,” Thrift said. “We’ll also have classes on drugs and how they can affect a player’s performance. The classes on public speaking are important because we are in the entertainment business. It just makes for a better person.”

The Pirates want to help the players with their finances, he said, because many young athletes suddenly find themselves making far more money than they are capable of handling properly. This creates problems not only for an athlete but his family and can affect the player’s performance, Thrift said.

“It’s all part of the confidence level the player has in himself,” Thrift said. “It also teaches them independence. If we can help the players now, maybe we won’t have problems later.”

Thrift left a profitable real estate business in Virginia four months ago to return to a full-time baseball job for the first time in nine years. The former Pirates scout has said the Pirates will rely heavily on teaching to rebuild a team whose 57-104 record was the worst in the major leagues last season.

This season’s spring training will likely be the most intense and most instruction-filled camp that any of the current Pirates have seen, he said.

Pirates’ fans will be able to notice a transformation in the team from the first day of spring training Feb. 21, Thrift predicted in a recent interview with the Associated Press.

“The fans will notice a change in attitude, how the players go about their business,” Thrift said. “A good fan can tell that in five minutes.”

The lack of fans has been a Pirate problem. The Pirates have drawn fewer than 800,000 fans the last two seasons, resulting in losses totaling nearly $15 million and the sale of the team to a public-private coalition.

Thrift predicts Pirates’ fans, instead of looking for reasons not to go to the ballpark, will eagerly greet a young, enthusiastic team that plays hard.

“The fans in Pittsburgh are very good fans, such good fans that they tell you right up front that they’re not going to come and watch lackluster play,” he said.

“But the people I’ve talked to are very enthusiastic and they really like the Pirates. Our radio and TV ratings have remained high although there have been attendance problems. I think they’re looking for an excuse to come to the ballpark.”

Thrift also said that:

--Outfielder Steve Kemp and first baseman Jason Thompson are undergoing extensive off-season West Coast rehabilitation programs, Kemp for his sore shoulder and Thompson for a knee that required surgery. Both earned more than $1 million last season although Kemp rarely started and Thompson ended the year on the bench, playing behind Sid Bream.

--Bream will be given the chance to win the starting job in spring training. “That’s the great equalizer, when you step to the plate,” Thrift said. “If doesn’t make any difference whether you make $1.98 or $500,000 . . . the guy who can do the job will play.”

--Twenty-three of the Pirates’ top minor league prospects will report with the major leaguers on Feb. 20 for several weeks of instruction, allowing Pirates’ Manager Jim Leyland and his staff to become better acquainted with the players.

--Leyland will have considerable input in player personnel decisions.

--Pitcher Jose DeLeon, whose 2-19 record last season “is one of the great mysteries of baseball,” will be tried as a short reliever in spring training. “We want to see how his arm responds,” Thrift said. “One thing for sure, he’ll be a better pitcher in 1986.”