Valentine Loves the Can-Do Spirit : Can a Manager Who Idolizes Tom Lasorda Fire Up Rangers?

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — There are no golf courses in sight. No tennis courts, no fish pond, no Jackie Robinson Avenue or Sandy Koufax Lane. No Peter O’Malley riding his bicycle on the grounds.

This obviously isn’t Dodgertown.

But if this is ramshackle Municipal Stadium, soon to be abandoned as the spring home of the Texas Rangers, what are all these old Dodgers doing here?

There are Happy Hooton and Ricky Wright, shagging flies in the outfield. Isn’t that Charlie Hough, doing a crossword puzzle in the clubhouse? And that road uniform hanging in his cubicle--Dodger blue and gray, exactly the same as the one Charlie wore with L.A.

And over here, on the practice diamond, why, it’s Wimpy himself, Tom Paciorek, at first base. And what do you know, there’s Joe Ferguson on the mound, pitching to the manager, who has a big No. 2 on his back, just like . . . why, just like Tom Lasorda.

Close your eyes and listen, and you might swear it was Lasorda himself, constantly barking out encouragement, telling his players how terrific they are.

This guy had a pitcher in camp, Paul Kilgus, and swore this pitcher had the best breaking ball he’d ever seen. Kilgus was gone in the first cut, but, hey, you’ve got to like his future.

And just like Lasorda, this guy never stops. One minute, he’s hitting infield. Then he’s pitching batting practice. What’s he doing now, on that back diamond? Looking at a high school kid who showed up for a tryout.

Who do you suppose was out there, stringing up the nets in the batting cages when spring training opened? And when those nets were stolen, who was at the hardware store the next morning.

The other day, when it was raining, did you notice who was the first guy out with a rake, combing the infield?

He just doesn’t eat like Lasorda, is all. This guy’s in better shape than some of his players. Heck, this guy is younger than some of his players.

So he’s not Tom Lasorda. But when Bobby Valentine became the manager of the Texas Rangers last May, the first thing he did was hang Lasorda’s picture in his office.

And at his first press conference as manager, the second question asked of Valentine was: “You’ve been described as a self-promoter and a Tommy Lasorda clone. How do you respond to that?”

Well, Valentine, the Dodgers’ No. 1 draft choice in 1968, played in the minors for Lasorda. Before he took the Rangers’ job, he called Lasorda. Next to his father, he says, nobody has had a bigger impact on his life than Lasorda.

And while Valentine may not bleed Dodger blue as Lasorda says he does, Valentine’s son, Bobby Jr., has Dodger bloodlines on both sides of the family. His mother, Mary, is the daughter of Ralph Branca, former Dodger pitcher.

So how do you think Valentine answered that question.

“I think the world of Tommy Lasorda,” Valentine said. “I consider it a compliment.”

Ask Valentine if he’d answer it the same way now, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“Sure, why not?” he says. “Tell me anybody who has won more pennants in a shorter time than Lasorda has.”

He’s got you there. Lasorda’s first two seasons, the Dodgers were in the World Series.

Valentine’s first year, the Rangers finished last in the American League West, losing 99 games.

But that wasn’t really his team. It was Doug Rader’s, at least until he was fired and Valentine replaced him last May 16, signing a two-year contract with an option for a third.

So what are Valentine’s goals for his team this season?

“Win a pennant,” he says, looking his questioner directly in the eye.

Well, sure, but short of that?

“Be the most improved team in baseball.”

If that happens, there’s no telling how loud the rumors will get, the rumors Lasorda started himself a couple of years ago when somebody asked him who he’d hire to manage the Dodgers if he became general manager.

“I’d like Bobby Valentine to get my job,” Lasorda said.

That may not happen tomorrow, not when 69-year-old Al Campanis said last summer that he plans to be the Dodgers’ general manager for another five years.

Valentine, however, has time. At 35, he’s the youngest manager in the majors.

But ask him if he thinks that’s the Dodgers’ master plan, and he shakes his head.

“I don’t think that’s the master plan,” he said. “I think Bill Russell will become the Dodger manager, if I had to guess.”

Bill Russell?

“They chose him over me as shortstop, why wouldn’t they choose him over me as manager?”

When the Dodgers decided that Russell would be their shortstop, Valentine--who had spent five years in the organization and, like Russell, had been converted from an outfielder to a shortstop--was traded to the Angels in November, 1972.

The following May, back in the outfield, Valentine ran into the fence at Anaheim Stadium, breaking his leg in two places. He hung on as a player until ‘79, but retired at 29, having never fulfilled the promise he’d shown as the player of the year in the Pacific Coast League in 1970.

And when he retired, the San Diego Padres--not the Dodgers--hired him as a minor league instructor. The Dodgers never called, Valentine said.

Of course, the idea of being Dodger manager appeals to him.

“If I was out of a job and looking for one, it would appeal to me,” he said.

Only if he was out of work?

“Yep.”

Believe in

Your Organization

Your Teammates

And Yourself

--Sign hanging in the Texas Rangers’ clubhouse

Charlie Hough, a Dodger for parts of 11 seasons, is happy to see so many familiar faces. But to him, Ranger camp doesn’t resemble a little Dodgertown--yet.

“We haven’t developed the organization they have,” the knuckleballer said. “We have the people here who, given the time and money, will develop one. But right now, we’re struggling. We came in last, not first.”

The Rangers bought Hough from the Dodgers on July 11, 1980.

“I’ve gone through more managers, general managers and coaches since then,” Hough said. “There’s not a single player left from then, not a coach. Just me, the owner and the equipment man. That doesn’t breed success.”

When Hough broke in with the Dodgers, with Ogden, Utah, in 1966, Lasorda was his first manager.

“I remember we went to a Chamber of Commerce luncheon and Tommy introduced the players,” Hough said. “He’d known us only three days, we hadn’t played a game, but he stood up and said, ‘I’d like to introduce the 1966 Pioneer League champions.’

“Oh sure, we won. We had a good team, but Tommy made everybody believe. He gets guys to win.”

Valentine has some of that same effect on people, Hough said.

“I’d say Bobby learned some very valuable lessons from the guy,” Hough said. “Tommmy’s brilliant handling people. He plays around a lot, but he’s brilliant with people--he has a little force inside, a little spark, that gets more out of people than other people could. He breathes winning.”

So does Valentine, right down to the same stories Lasorda would tell.

“I’ve been hearing those stories for 20, 21 years,” said Hough, who has remained a close friend to Lasorda. “But they work. They work when the manager believes in them.

“And Bobby’s not just saying stuff. He’s legitimate. He’s not out here for some sort of PR stunt. He’s going to be a good manager. He isn’t good yet because he hasn’t won, but he will.”

At 38, Hough--like Paciorek, 39, and Hooton, 36--is older than Valentine.

“A few of us have played longer, have been in the game longer than Bobby,” Hough said.

“But it doesn’t matter. I’m the player, he’s the manager. He’s the boss, period. If he’s 65 or 25, it doesn’t make a difference.”

Hough, Hooton and Wright, another pitcher, already were here when Valentine arrived. Paciorek, released by the Mets, signed as a free agent last December. Ferguson, the Dodgers’ “Eye in the Sky” last season, was added as a coach last winter.

“I wanted some people around who spoke my language,” Valentine said. “That’s important. But I also thought they were the people best qualified for the job.”

Hough agreed that it would be easy for the veterans to try to undercut Valentine’s authority.

“If we don’t go along with what he wants us to do, the kids won’t either,” Hough said.

But that won’t happen, Hough said, because they believe in him.

“Bobby’s vibrant, a go-getter,” said Hooton, who was 5-8 in his first season with the Rangers last year after signing as a free agent.

“He’s a hard worker and he’s very knowledgeable about baseball. He came in here knowing what he wanted to do and he’s doing it.

“This spring training is so much different from the last one, so much more positive. Everybody’s excited.”

Ferguson, who came up in the Dodger system with Valentine, said that although the comparisons to Lasorda are legitimate, Valentine’s approach is also an extension of his own personality.

“I don’t think he does it (emulate Lasorda) consciously,” Ferguson said. “People don’t know Bobby like we know him. He was like that when he started, that’s the way he acted and played as a kid.”

When it comes to losing, Ferguson said, Valentine is just like Lasorda.

“He hates it,” Ferguson said. “And that’s why we’re not going to.”

Hough has heard the rumors and he, too, figures Valentine could end up with the Dodgers.

“But he’s not diving into this thing for nothing,” Hough said. “If he gets a better offer from the Dodgers, he’ll probably go, but that’s a long way off.”

In the meantime, Valentine has eyes only for Texas.

“I’m not the smartest guy around, but I really like to work and I really believe in myself,” he said. “I really believe in what I’m doing.

“And I’ve already seen results. We’re playing better baseball this spring, and that’s all that matters going into the season.

“We’re neither historians nor soothsayers.”

Lasorda couldn’t have said it any better. Unless, of course, he said it first.