Cey Not Ready to Say Goodby to Baseball : Financially Secure and Seemingly Without Team, He Hopes for DH Role

Ron Cey, now 38, his tenure with the Chicago Cubs apparently over and the future of his 15-year major league career uncertain, hopes to become a designated hitter in the American League.

He defines his emotions in terms of desire and determination.

Desperation, too?

Desperation, of course, is when there’s no food on the table, no money in the bank.

Cey is guaranteed $950,000 in 1987 whether he plays or not. His five-year contract with the Cubs, which has that one year left, will have earned him more than $6 million.

He was paid handsomely, too, during the last stages of his 11 years as the Dodger third baseman. His attorney, Steve Schneider, said that Ronald Charles Cey, the Penguin, is financially prepared to retire at any time.

Desperation isn’t the issue.

The issue is a conviction, stemming from Cey’s impressive production in a surprisingly limited role last season, that he is justified in pursuing a chance to earn his 1987 salary.

“It’s a case of athletic pride and a desire on Ron’s part to take that final step, write that final chapter,” Schneider said at his Wilshire Boulevard office. “He is not looking beyond 1987. The five-year contract with the Cubs was negotiated with the idea that ’87 would be his final year. He wants that concluding chapter. He wants to go out in style.”

Neither of the last two seasons was embroidered in the style to which Cey is accustomed, and much of it was beyond his control.

“I want to make it clear that I’m anxious to play, willing to play, healthy to play, obligated morally and contractually to play,” he said. “I want to see that happen.”

Positive that it won’t happen with the Cubs, he views the role of designated hitter as a perfect assignment. Although his defensive range is suspect, he remains confident that he can hit as well as ever.

Employed infrequently during the first six weeks of last season and almost not at all over the last six, Cey appeared in only 93 games and had 256 at-bats, about half his customary total.

He hit .273, 12 points higher than his career average. He had 70 hits, 21 of them doubles. That was three more doubles than he had in 500 at-bats in 1985. He hit 13 homers and drove in 36 runs.

He was third in National League slugging with a .508 average and led the Cubs in that department, as well as in on-base average, .384. He averaged a run batted in every 7 at-bats and a home run in every 19. He did better than any American League designated hitter by producing an extra-base hit an average of every 7.5 at bats.

Cey said that if he could have been at bat twice as often, he might also have doubled his home run and RBI totals and maintained his career averages of 23 homers and 82 runs batted in.

“Based on the infrequency with which I was asked to perform, I think you can justify those numbers being doubled,” he said. “I never got in a solid groove, and when I did, they sat me down anyway.

“Besides, history has proven that August and September, at least for production, have been real good months for me. There’s no reason to think the latter half wouldn’t have been better than the first.”

Cey’s status with the Cubs began to deteriorate in 1985. The team, hit hard by injuries to the pitching staff, failed to repeat as Eastern Division champion. Cey, however, drew much of the heat from frustrated fans and the outspoken club president, Dallas Green, who obviously believed that Cey’s 22 homers and 63 RBIs in the 1985 season weren’t commensurate with his salary.

Still, based on public and private comments by Jim Frey, then the Cub manager, Cey went to spring training in 1986 believing that he was the regular third baseman, only to learn that he wasn’t. He failed to start a season opener for the first time since 1973 and got no warning or explanation from Frey.

By mid-May, still playing only occasionally and receiving no communication from his manager, Cey met with management and, temporarily, was given a more active role.

In August, however, he was told by Green that he would not play in the final six weeks and would not be back in 1987, even though he had that year left on his contract.

“I was told that they were going to move forward with another program and that this was the end of my playing career there,” Cey said. “My statistics don’t justify their decision, but there was nothing I could do about it then or now.”

One source, requesting anonymity, said that Green, though obligated for the 1987 salary, even asked Cey to retire, believing it would be an easier way out for the Cubs. The team must now either release or trade Cey, assuming they are determined not to keep him.

Said Cey: “We have a verbal arrangement (with the Cubs). I know I’m not going to be back.”

The contract, however, is a considerable complication. If Cey is released, he can be signed for the major league minimum of $60,000, with the Cubs still obligated to pay the remaining $890,000 in base salary.

The Cubs, of course, would prefer to trade Cey and would undoubtedly give him up for minor league considerations just to unload the contract. Green has already said that the Cubs would be willing to retain some of the salary obligation if it helped facilitate a trade.

In his own effort to speed a move, Cey, it is believed, has agreed to negotiate a compromise in the trade provisions that call for him to receive $200,000 if traded in 1986 and $150,000 if traded in 1987.

There is also an attendance clause that pays Cey $100,000 if the Cubs draw 1.5 million and another $100,000 at 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 and 1.9 for a potential total of $500,000.

If he is traded, the attendance clause becomes the property of the new team and is based on that team’s attendance. If he is released, the contract language seems to obligate the Cubs, though it is believed Green would dispute that interpretation.

The contract has been a bonanza for Cey, but now, with the 26 clubs conducting a cold war over salaries, it would seem an impediment to his employment elsewhere.

“There’s the possibility that it may be all over for me,” he said. “But I don’t see that. I think I’m a bargain right now.”

A bargain if released, in which case he can be signed for the $60,000. Cey is hoping that the Cubs will make a move during next week’s winter meetings in Florida. He is likely to ask for his release if they have not made a move by mid-January.

Who will replace him? That’s not Cey’s concern. The fact that the Cubs have no apparent replacement is one of the curious aspects of their 1986 approach to Cey and their decision to end the relationship.

Now, if given the chance, Cey will be happy to show the Cubs they were wrong, but he refused to burn bridges. He is looking ahead, studying the situation in the American League.

“I’m not familiar with all the names, but there seem to be only three or four established DH’s,” he said. “The other teams do a lot of flip-flopping. I see a lot of opportunities based on the contributions of some of those DH’s and what I’ve been able to do throughout my career.”

Cey was asked about his future in baseball.

“If I honestly felt my career was over, I’d probably have a lot of anxiety,” he said. “But when I left on the last day of last year, I didn’t leave with the feeling that this would be my last day in a major league clubhouse.

“I kind of left with the feeling, ‘Gee, I’m really glad this (season) is over with. Now I can work hard over the winter and get ready to play with someone else.’ ”

That still depends on the Cubs, however.