‘Easy’ Does It : Gulls’ Manager Beat the Bushes on Way to Ventura

On the opening day of the 1985 baseball season, Glenn Ezell sat in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, basking in the major league atmosphere created by a sellout crowd of 50,402.

This Friday, the former Texas Ranger bullpen coach will be at Ventura College, beginning his first season as manager of the fledgling Ventura County Gulls, who may not draw 50,000 this year for their entire 71-game home schedule.

Even by minor league standards, the Toronto Blue Jays’ affiliate in the Class-A California League has the look of a minor league operation.

The Gulls will play their home games at a junior college stadium that has no lights.

The assignment of managing the team has fallen on Ezell, who used to camp on the beach in Ventura and calls it a “beautiful” area.

Still, he admits he’s “not thrilled” by the prospect of returning under these circumstances. His love of the game, though, probably will win out over any misgivings he may have about the working conditions.

In the mustachioed, salt-and-pepper-haired Ezell, the Blue Jays have hired a dedicated baseball man whose easygoing personality--his nickname, appropriately, is “Easy”--has enabled him to bounce around professional baseball for 20 of his 41 years.

A former catcher, Ezell is not a former star, or even a former major leaguer. After signing with the New York Mets out of Arizona Western College in 1966, he played for three organizations in nine seasons, including four at the Triple-A level, without ever reaching the majors for even so much as a cup of coffee.

Nevertheless, in the 12 years since he retired as a player in 1974, Ezell has gained a reputation as a skilled instructor.

“When you aren’t a really good player,” he said, “you have to learn an awful lot. I think that’s why I was able to stay in the game--because I had to study. I wasn’t blessed with tremendous talent.”

It took Ezell a long time to admit that. He was the last player cut by the Minnesota Twins in the spring of 1971, then spent the next four seasons in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. His lifetime batting average was .268, including 23 home runs.

When he finally convinced himself after the 1974 season that he no longer had a chance to make it to the majors--”if you can convince yourself,” he said--he realized that he enjoyed the game too much to give it up altogether.

So, he got into coaching.

He spent eight more seasons in the minors as an instructor and manager. None of the seven teams he managed finished above .500, and his record was 319-428, but in 1983 he finally reached the majors when former Texas Manager Doug Rader named him to his staff.

Ezell would spend the rest of his career in the majors.

Or so he thought.

But then Rader was fired last May. His replacement, Bobby Valentine, retained Rader’s staff for the rest of the season, but “cleaned house,” in Ezell’s words, on Oct. 28. Ezell was out of a job.

When he couldn’t find another in the majors, he signed on with the Blue Jays, telling them he’d go anywhere. He had offers from other teams, he said, “but the Blue Jays pursued me a little bit. That made me feel quite good.”

The Blue Jays assigned him to Ventura County, they said, because of his skills as a communicator and an instructor.

“The younger clubs need a more experienced manager because that’s where most of the teaching is done,” said Gord Ash, the Blue Jays’ administrator of player personnel.

Having spent almost half of his life in the minors, Ezell believes that the Gulls are facing an uphill battle this season.

“In the minors,” he said, “you always have maybe 400 to 1,000 steady fans who are there night after night.”

Anybody getting to the park after dark in Ventura will, of course, miss the game.

“I think that’s going to be the most difficult thing for the players,” Ezell said. “Playing in front of people is what’s exciting. That’s what gets the adrenaline going.”

All it takes to get Ezell’s adrenaline going, it seems, is for someone to suggest a game of baseball.

He loves his work, and has never seriously considered doing anything else.

At one time, he said, he tried to put a timetable on when he believed he should make it to the majors as a coach.

“And then,” Ezell said, “I sat down and said, ‘You’re really stupid, aren’t you?’ I told myself that if I wasn’t in the big leagues by the time I was 35, I was going to get out of the game. And that’s dumb. I enjoy the game too much to even think in that direction.

“That was the only time I ever really thought about getting out, but once I sat down and had a conference with myself, I realized it really was a stupid idea.”

Married for almost 20 years to the former Roberta Sloane, and father of a 15-year-old daughter, Lauryn, Ezell still hopes to return to the majors.

For the time being, he said, he’ll make do in Ventura.

It might not be the majors, but it’s still professional baseball.

“I enjoy being on the field,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything that would substitute for this in my life.”

Ultimately, he’d like to manage a major league team.

Having only three years of major league exposure may hinder him in that quest, he said, but he’s got plenty of time.

“I’m 41 years young,” he said. “I don’t feel old at all.”

Especially when he’s on the field. Ventura Gulls: 1986 Roster

Pitchers B-T Ht. Wt. Age Hometown Hugh Brinson R-R 6-0 175 19 Wilmington, N.C. Mark Dickman R-R 6-2 183 25 Angleton, Tex. Jose Mesa R-R 6-3 170 19 Azua, Dominican Rep. Steve Mumaw L-L 6-0 180 22 St. Petersburg, Fla. Jeff Musselman L-L 6-0 180 22 Lanoka Harbor, N.J. Zach Paris R-R n/a n/a n/a n/a Todd Provence R-R 6-4 185 20 Redding, Calif. Pablo Reyes L-L 6-1 150 21 Azua, Dominican Rep. Willie Shanks R-R 6-1 190 25 St. Louis, Mo. Todd Stottlemyre L-R 6-3 185 20 Yakima, Wash. Tom Wasilewski R-R 6-3 200 22 Kingston, Penn. Catchers Francisco Cabrera R-R 6-3 190 19 Santo Domingo, D.R. Greg Myers L-R 6-2 202 19 Riverside, Calif. Tim Rypien R-R 6-0 190 21 Spokane, Wash. Infielders Oscar Escobar R-R 6-0 165 19 Caracas, Venezuela Santiago Garcia* R-R 6-0 165 20 San Pedro de Macoris,D.R. Sandy Guerrero L-R 5-11 155 20 Santo Domingo, D.R. Omar Malave R-R 6-3 160 22 Cumana, Venezuela Domingo Martinez R-R 6-2 185 18 Santo Domingo, D.R. Norm Tonucci* R-R 5-11 180 20 Waterford, Conn. Eric Girard Yelding R-R 6-1 170 21 Montrose, Ala. Outfielders Geronimo Berroa R-R 6-0 165 21 Santo Domingo, D.R. Rob Ducey L-R 6-2 173 20 Cambridge, Ontario Ken Kinnard R-R 6-3 200 25 Claremore, Okla. Darryl Landrum R-R 6-2 195 20 Sweetwater, Ala. Louis Reyna L-L 5-11 160 21 Santo Domingo, D.R.

Pitchers 1985Team Hugh Brinson Bradenton (R) Mark Dickman Knoxville (AA) Jose Mesa Kinston (A) Steve Mumaw Florence (A) Jeff Musselman Medicine Hat (R) Zach Paris n/a Todd Provence Florence (A) Pablo Reyes Kinston (A) Willie Shanks Knoxville (AA) Todd Stottlemyre Yakima College Tom Wasilewski Florence (A) Catchers Francisco Cabrera 1st year Greg Myers Florence (A) Tim Rypien Kinston (A) Infielders Oscar Escobar Florence (A) Santiago Garcia* Florence (A) Sandy Guerrero Bradenton (R) Omar Malave Kinston (A) Domingo Martinez Bradenton (R) Norm Tonucci* Florence (A) Eric Girard Yelding Kinston (A) Outfielders Geronimo Berroa Florence (A) Rob Ducey Florence (A) Ken Kinnard Syracuse (AAA) Darryl Landrum Florence (A) Louis Reyna Medicine Hat (R)

* Will open season on injured reserve list.