THE NEW PIRATES : General Manager Syd Thrift Using the Finley Approach to Rebuild From Ashes of ’85

The owner of Syd Thrift and Associates, Inc., Realtors, poked through the cartons of bubble gum and chewing tobacco stashed in the Pirate clubhouse here, looking for a package of Red Plug, his favorite chaw.

Finally, a clubhouse boy found the right box. Satisfied, Syd Thrift stuck a wad in his cheek, then ventured to answer why he would leave the Virginia real estate business to become general manager of a baseball team that lost 104 games last season, more than any other team in the big leagues in 1985.

“Especially when interest rates are lower now than they have been in 10 years,” Thrift said. “I guess that doesn’t make me very smart.”

For now, though, his wife, Dolly, will have to take care of the business of selling houses. Thrift, 57 and out of baseball for a decade, couldn’t resist the chance to rebuild a franchise.

And there’s no team more in need of a face lift than the Pirates, who have trouble drawing crowds in the best of times, never mind in a summer dominated by a baseball drug trial that was occurring just blocks away from Three Rivers Stadium.

Only 735,900 people paid to see the Pirates last season. The Dodgers drew more than four times that many. The steel workers around Pittsburgh were depressed enough without having to watch the Pirates blow another game, then turning on the TV to watch the game’s tooting stars point fingers at one another in court.

And when the Galbreath family put the club up for sale, it appeared that the Pirates were about to cut roots that extend back to 1876 and up through Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor, the Waner brothers, Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.

But then a group of local investors came up with $25 million, the Pittsburgh city council approved a $21-million bond issue, and the Pirates were saved for Pittsburgh, at least through 1990.

Along with the new owners came a new motto. “We’re Playing Hardball,” not to be confused with whatever the Pirates were doing last season.

Enter Thrift, who had spent 11 years with the Pirates as a scouting supervisor and spring training instructor, founded the Kansas City Royals’ baseball academy and worked two years for Charlie Finley in Oakland. “I got my Ph.D in baseball working with him,” Thrift said. “The thing I liked about Charlie was he was always receptive to new ideas.”

Joe Brown, the outgoing interim general manager, called Thrift and asked for a recommendation.

Thrift, who had never been a general manager, told Brown that the Pirates needed someone who knew scouting inside and out, who knew about player development.

“And third, I told him, you need someone capable of doing missionary work for baseball in Pittsburgh because of all the terrible things that happened there,” Thrift said. “Those things weren’t fair to the people and not fair to the city.”

Brown liked what he heard. He also figured that the Pirates had found their man. He asked Thrift if he was interested.

“When he said that, I kind of laughed and said, ‘Are you joking?’ He said, ‘Hell no, I’m not.’ ”

Thrift was goose-hunting on Maryland’s Eastern Shore when Malcolm Prine, the new president of the Pirates, summoned him for an interview. Shortly thereafter, he had the job.

“I was like the prodigal son,” Thrift said. “You know, the prodigal son went everywhere--I went that way. He wallowed with the hogs, the swine--that’s what it said in the Book, did you know that? That’s true, that’s what the Book said.

“What happened is when the prodigal son got back the father received him . . . maybe that’s what’s happening here.”

Thrift, a big, slow-moving, slow-talking man, favors homespun expressions.

“A good understanding prevents a misunderstanding,” Thrift said, talking with new manager Jim Leyland about some cars the team was leasing. “In God we trust, always pay cash.”

When someone asked him how he planned to use former Dodger Sid Bream when he already had another left-handed hitting first baseman, Jason Thompson, Thrift said: “We’ll find a way. That’s the model of life. Losers make excuses, winners find a way.”

And when Thrift took a seat on the Pirate bench at McKechnie Field here before a recent exhibition game, he advised a reporter to change places.

“I don’t want you sitting downwind,” Thrift said.

And like Finley, Thrift favors different approaches, too. He brought an eye specialist to camp to help the Pirates with visualization techniques and financial planners to counsel the players on investments.

“Everybody thinks we’re trying gimmicks,” Leyland says. “They’re not gimmicks, they’re legitimate things. We have an eye doctor, that’s not an uncommon thing. He’s a very talented guy. And (Thrift) brought in some management people to help a player with his finances.

“We’re not sticking our noses in their private affairs. We want to show the players we care about them, that we’re committed to them.”

Pirate pitcher Rick Rhoden advised not to let Thrift’s good ol’ boy act fool anybody, either.

“To me, he comes across like one of those guys who is dumb like a fox,” Rhoden said. “I think he’s a real intelligent guy.”

Rhoden is hopeful that Thrift is smart enough to trade him. He’s had his fill of losing.

“I’ve been fortunate to play on some good teams, teams that have won pennants and World Series,” said Rhoden, who played on the 1977 and ’78 Dodger pennant winners.

“But for the last couple of years, I’ve been playing on a team that has been out of the race after the first month, month and a half of the season. And Pittsburgh is not an easy place to play. Even when they’re winning, they don’t draw.

“I felt stale. Baseball to me is supposed to be fun. Like Willie Stargell used to say, they say ‘Play ball,’ not ‘Work ball.’ I pitched in 35 games last season, but only in a handful of them did I feel pumped up.

“They have a lot of good young players here. There could be a lot of improvement.

“But I don’t think they--I keep saying they--I don’t think we have the makings of a championship team.”

Thrift said he has been trying to accommodate Rhoden but is holding out for quality in return. “I’ve got a sure thing and there’s an old adage that says you don’t give up a sure thing for a couple of possibilities,” Thrift said.

Rhoden would become only the latest in a series of players to be unloaded by the Pirates. Gone are Bill Madlock, George Hendrick, John Candelaria, and Al Holland. Gone, too, are long-time manager Chuck Tanner and greatest living legend, Stargell, who have relocated together in Atlanta as manager and base coach of the Braves.

What’s left? Possibilities, mostly.

The Pirates were last in the league in home runs, 11th in runs scored and 9th in hitting in 1985. They had a pitcher, Jose DeLeon, who has a 3-28 record since mid-July, 1984. Thompson, their one supposed power hitter, had all of a dozen home runs last season.

But then there are the kids the Pirates got for the $3 million worth of veterans they gave up, such as Bream and R.J. Reynolds from the Dodgers, and outfielder Mike Brown and pitchers Bob Kipper and Pat Clements from the Angels.

They join holdover prospects like outfielder Joe Orsulak, the only rookie in the National League to hit .300 last season, and Egyptian shortstop Sammy Khalifa, who has played on the shores of Tripoli and is still learning on the shores of the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela.

And still around are legitimate All-Stars such as catcher Tony Pena and second baseman Johnny Ray, as well as the comeback player of the ‘80s, pitcher Rick Reuschel, who spent some time in Class-A ball before signing with the Pirates and leading their staff with a 14-8 record and 2.27 ERA, fourth best in the league.

What does that all add up to? Well, some people have likened the Pirates to an expansion team. Not Leyland, a veteran minor league manager who left his job as third-base coach for the White Sox to manage the Pirates.

“I take offense at that,” said the mustachioed Leyland, who is only 41 but in the Pirates’ old-style, squared-off baseball cap looks as if he could have played at the turn of the century.

“First of all, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a lot of tradition. If there hadn’t been so much attention focused on the drug thing and the lack of fans, Pittsburgh would be just another organization going through a lull. Not every organization has them, most of ‘em do.

“The club is struggling right now, but when I think of great moments in baseball, Mazeroski’s home run (to win the 1960 World Series) comes to mind. Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Harvey Haddix, Vern Law.

“What we’re trying to do is relight the spark.”

Or go down in flames trying. Leyland was asked if he’d had any second thoughts about taking the job.

“No, not when you wanted to manage like I did. I looked forward to it. People said I was taking the toughest job in baseball. But when you’ve been where I’ve been, it’s still better than the toughest job in the minors.

“I’m no miracle worker. I won’t be able to turn it around by myself. To be honest, it’s been a real tough spring. Not because I haven’t enjoyed it, but because we’ve had to look at so many players. I’m new, the general manager is new, the coaches are new.

“I just want them to play hard and I’ll take my chances on where we finish.”

For starters, the Pirates will have to face the Mets’ Dwight Gooden in their opener. Last year, they faced the 1984 Cy Young winner, Rick Sutcliffe, on opening day.

“I’m not exactly looking forward to Gooden in the opener,” Leyland said. “Although, it seems to me we have everything to gain and nothing to lose in that situation.

“I’ll tell you one thing: He won’t beat us in the second game.”