Ex-Fullerton Star Mike Rubel Looks for Mr. Good Bat : Sizzle Turns to Fizzle

Had things gone as expected, the left-field bleachers in Arlington Stadium, home of the Texas Rangers, would be known today as “Rubel’s Ravine,” the final resting place for many of Mike Rubel’s home runs.

Rubel’s paperback biography would have just hit the bookstores with one of those short and snappy titles--you know, something like “MIKE!”

He’d have his own fan club called “Rubel’s Rebels,” complete with monthly newsletters, bumper stickers and a calender.

Yes, big things were expected from Mike Rubel, 25, the 6-foot 4-inch, 220-pound first baseman from Cal State Fullerton. College coaches and pro scouts didn’t just project him to be a major leaguer. He was supposed to be a big star.

But he’s not. He isn’t anywhere near the big leagues. In fact, for a few days in early June he wasn’t in professional baseball at all. Rubel, who was hitting .180 for the Rangers’ Class AA team in Tulsa, Okla., was released on June 5.

Wait a minute. Released? Is this the same Mike Rubel who slugged 45 home runs and had 174 RBIs in three seasons as the Titans’ cleanup hitter; who once hit a ball over the 50-foot-high light standard in left field at Cal State Fullerton; who was the Rangers’ first pick in the 1982 June draft and was playing Class AAA ball a year later?

It is.

And that’s what makes his story so hard to believe.

Augie Garrido, the Fullerton coach who has had his share of players make the major leagues, figured it would take Rubel 3, maybe 3 1/2 years to make the big leagues. Rubel started on the right track.

After helping the Titans reach the 1982 College World Series, Rubel signed with Texas and hit .271 with 13 homers and 43 RBIs in 63 games. With the help of Rubel and new infielder Steve Buechele, the Class AA Drillers went from the worst first-half record in the Texas League to the best second-half record.

Rubel began the 1983 season at Tulsa by hitting .302 with 23 homers and 63 RBIs in 72 games. That earned him a promotion to the Rangers’ Class AAA team at Oklahoma City, where he closed the season with a .250 average, 4 homers and 18 RBIs in 50 games.

Those were the glory years. Now for the gory years.

In 1984, his first full season of Class AAA ball, Rubel’s average dipped to .207. He had 13 homers and 49 RBIs in 116 games. He began 1985 with a .240 average, 8 homers and 34 RBIs in 63 games, but he broke his wrist before the halfway point and missed the remainder of the year.

Things got worse. Hoping to increase his chances of making the 24-man major-league roster, Rubel asked the Rangers this spring to try him at catcher, the position he played at Banning High School.

They liked the idea but sent him back to Tulsa, where they figured Rubel could reacquaint himself with the position and beef up his confidence against Class AA pitching.

Instead, he hit only .180 in 45 games. Then Rubel was released.

“He hadn’t made any progress, and we don’t feel like he’s going to play major-league ball,” said Marty Scott, the Rangers’ director of player development. “We felt we had exhausted all the avenues in trying to get him back to where he was when he first signed with us.”

But Rubel isn’t giving up. Four days after his release, he was signed by the San Francisco Giants, who sent him to their Class AA team at Shreveport, La. Rubel moved right into the Captains’ lineup and has played seven games.

“Getting released was a blow to my ego, but in some ways, deep down, it was a bit of a relief,” Rubel said in a telephone interview from Shreveport. “I was tired of the sleepless nights, tossing and turning, trying to figure out why I wasn’t hitting anymore. I had to get away from the constant, everyday frustration of not being able to do something I know I’m capable of doing.”

Rubel still hasn’t recovered from his wrist injury, which may be the reason for his problems this year. But he’s still having trouble figuring out why he struggled in 1984 and ’85.

Rubel said he didn’t seem to have his good bat speed, and he couldn’t retain the stroke he had in 1983. He pulled the ball too much instead of using the whole field. He overswung--tried to hit home runs when he should have concentrated on making contact.

He did anything and everything in an effort to regain his old form. He switched to an open stance, then to a closed one. He moved away from the plate, then closer to it. He took extra batting practice. He worked diligently during the off-season.

Nothing helped.

Rubel’s confidence suffered. And whenever he tried too hard, things only seemed to get worse.

“I played two good seasons and now here I am, years later, when I should be a better hitter, and I’m struggling,” Rubel said. “I don’t know what it is.

“I probably put more pressure on myself to duplicate the big years I had before, and it just wasn’t happening. I tried too hard to get it going too quickly, and I wasn’t patient. And most of my problems I caused by getting down on myself.”

Rubel doesn’t think his skills have deserted him, though.

“They’re just not coming to the surface,” he said.

Rubel said he’s happy that Buechele, his former roommate, is now the Rangers’ starting third baseman. But it’s frustrating to see players such as Buechele, Sid Fernandez (Mets), Sid Bream (Pirates), Chris Brown (Giants), and Rob Deer (Brewers)--players who were with him in the Texas League--reach the majors.

“They’re all good players, but I was playing right along with them,” Rubel said. “They just kept going, and I went the opposite direction. I don’t know why.”

Rubel said he hopes a change of scenery and some “new ideas” will help get his career going again. His confidence, however, has been tempered by his recent setbacks.

Asked if he still felt he could reach the major leagues, he replied: “Eh . . . to tell you the truth, I’m probably not as confident as I once was. But deep down I still believe I can. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be playing anymore.”

Rubel doesn’t know how much longer he’ll try. He’ll wait to see how this summer and next year go.

“Mike is one of the exciting memories and is a big part of our tradition,” said Garrido, the Fullerton coach. “I just hope like heck this isn’t his epitaph.”

If it is, Rubel is working on a contingency plan.

Last winter, he returned to school and is only two classes from a degree in sports management. If he doesn’t make it in baseball, he’ll return to California with his wife, Sheri, the sister of former Titan outfielder John Fishel, and their son, Justin Michael, who was born three weeks ago.

Rubel hopes to land a job in sports administration or coaching in Orange County, where he had his successful seasons. During his years at Fullerton, Rubel was one of the most prolific power hitters in the Southern California Baseball Assn.

As a sophomore, he hit .349 with 22 homers, 24 doubles and 72 RBIs. Despite missing about five weeks because of a broken hand during his junior year, he hit .314 with 16 homers and 48 RBIs.

His most memorable and meaningful homer came against Pepperdine in the first game of a doubleheader that the Titans needed to sweep to take over first place late in the 1982 season.

With runners on second and third, the Waves intentionally walked Mike Pirruccello to pitch to Rubel, who smashed a changeup over the light standard in left field for a grand slam. The Titans won, 6-1, went on to sweep the doubleheader. They won the SCBA title.

“It was the most titanic home run I’d ever seen,” said Mel Franks, Fullerton sports information director. “I went looking for the ball in the Arboretum (beyond the fence) but I never did find it. It had to have landed in the lake, which is about 475 feet away.”

The Titans upset top-ranked Arizona State in the West Regionals but lost their first two games in the College World Series to Wichita State (7-0) and Maine (6-0).

“That was a big year for me,” Rubel said. “I started out real slow, broke my hand and missed about five weeks but came back red hot. Then we got to the World Series and didn’t score a run, which was amazing, because we had a great offensive team.

“But those things happen.”

Mike Rubel should know.