Beginning Amid Blood, Sweat, Tears : Padres’ Bowa Era Finds Bip Baffled and Garvey Battling

There’s always a little confusion on the first day, especially when you don’t understand the new terminology.

Halfway through Wednesday’s workout here, new Padre Manager Larry Bowa shouted: “Change shirts!”

Rookie Randell Byers turned to rookie Shane Mack and mumbled: “Change to what? Our white shirts?”

Said Mack: “I don’t know.”

Eventually, Byers and Mack were directed to the clubhouse, where they were given freshly laundered uniform shirts.

“See, it’s because we’re going to be sweating a lot this year,” Bowa said.

So the Larry Bowa era officially began Wednesday, as the entire Padre spring training roster reported for work. If there’s a slogan this spring, it’s got to be “Blood, Sweat and Tears.”

First, the tears. Bip Roberts, last year’s opening-day second baseman, couldn’t find his locker. “Where is it?” he asked himself. Finally, he located it.

He was out in the boonies.

He was right next to Joey Cora, his competition.

Then he saw his number--18. Last year, he wore No. 2, but now first-base coach Sandy Alomar wears it.

“I had to leave the room,” said Roberts, who was mighty upset.

The Padres had acquired Roberts in the winter of 1985. He was just a Double-A player at the time, and the Padres picked him in the minor league draft because he had a lot of speed.

But because he was a draft pick, the Padres had to keep him on their 24-man roster or Pittsburgh could take him back. Roberts wasn’t ready for the big leagues, but the Padres had no choice.

So they kept him.

He started 0 for 20 at the plate, which didn’t help. He always joked around and hung around with veterans such as Garry Templeton, which didn’t help. Templeton had been an All-Star and didn’t need to prove himself. Roberts did.

The coaches thought he didn’t work hard enough. They didn’t think he took advice very well. He ended up batting .253, but they considered him an average prospect, even though he was just 22 and still learning.

So they optioned him to Triple-A.

Roberts took this badly. The Padres never called to tell him about it. They simply mailed him a form letter. They also sent him a minor league contract, and he almost didn’t sign it. He almost quit.

The Padres invited him to spring training, so he decided to come. He figured he’d show them and win back his job.

Then he saw his number and his locker on Wednesday.

“At least I could’ve been dead and gone before they took my number from me,” he said.

Then he cried.

“If I don’t make the team coming out of spring training or if I don’t have a chance to get called up, I might quit. I might just call it a career. I’ve been at this too long.”

He’s 23 now.

“Yeah, I’m just 23,” he said Wednesday. “But I’m not even considered young anymore. When they (the Padres) talk about their young guys, they don’t mention my name.”

He has started a business in his hometown of Oakland.

“I’ve got three kids to take care of,” he said. “I need something solid and stable.”

He was very quiet Wednesday. Usually, Roberts has a high-pitched giggle. Not anymore.

Bowa saw him on the field and said jokingly: “Are you mad at me or something? You’re not smiling.”

Said Roberts: “Nothing to smile about right now. Not a thing.”

Second base is crowded. There’s Tim Flannery and Randy Ready and Cora and Roberts. Bowa has said Flannery and Ready might platoon or Cora might win it outright.

Roberts isn’t mentioned.

“I’m not a quitter, I guess,” he said. “I don’t give up. Someone will have to to take it (the second base job) from me.”

But Bowa liked the new Roberts.

“He worked hard today,” Bowa said. “He’s on a mission. Listen, the job’s wide open. There’s two ways he can go. . . . He can quit or say, ‘I’m going to show these guys!’ But nothing comes easy. You’ve got to work for it.”

Roberts has lifted weights and done push-ups. He’s added strength in his upper body.

“Is it all for nothing?” he asked Wednesday. “Or will it help me make the team?”

Now for the Blood and the Sweat. Steve Garvey, who at 38 supposedly is too old to play daily, got to the ballpark at 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

Practice didn’t begin until 9.

He came to work out on his own. For 25 minutes, he ran the stadium steps, rode the stationary bicycle, jumped rope and ran laps around the field.

Carmelo Martinez is trying to take his job away, so Garvey said: “I want to make sure I’m in the best possible shape I can be in. I’ve run extra every day. I’ve been taking batting practice for three weeks.”

He paused and laughed. “Buy youth and guarantee success, I guess.”

Bowa had come to the ballpark at 7:15 a.m., and he’d seen Garvey running.

“Here’s a guy that’s played 16, 17 years,” Bowa said. “That’s what I’m talking about when I say we want discipline. People wonder why the guy’s played a long time. That’s unbelievable! It’s 7:15, and the guy’s running around the field. . . . He knows it’s close to the end (of his career), but he wants to play.

“That’s why he’s successful. And that’s why he will be successful. When he takes the uniform off (and retires), whether it’s politics or whatever, he’ll be successful.”

Unlike Garvey, third baseman Kevin Mitchell arrived about noon. He had tried to get to Yuma Tuesday night, but there was a snowstorm in the mountains, which closed the roads. He had to turn around and try again in the morning.

Once he arrived--carrying his old New York Met duffel bag--the Padres gave him a bat and had him do some swinging.

He hit two over the fence.

“He might be our cleanup man,” Bowa said.

But spring training is spring training, no matter what.

Here were Wednesday’s sights and sounds:

--Bowa, in a clubhouse meeting, telling the players: “There better not be any screwing around!”

--Flannery laughing as pitcher Dave Dravecky covered first on a ground ball: “Dave, you looked like Richard Simmons running over there.”

--Garvey after the workout was over: “Way to go, guys. Day 1 in our quest for the championship is over.”

--Garvey, mobbed by fans, signs some autographs. One elderly lady doesn’t have a pen or paper, and Garvey says: “I’ve got something better for you, I think.”

He kisses her.

He then walks over and kisses another elderly woman, who’s standing next to two men.

“Sorry, no kisses for you guys,” he says.

Padre Notes

Ballard Smith, the Padre president, was supposed to make a contract proposal to free agent Tim Raines Wednesday but could never reach Raines’ agent, Tom Reich. “I’ll try again tomorrow,” Smith said. . . . Manager Larry Bowa graces the cover of the new Padre media guide. He’s pictured on a sailboat with a caption that says: “San Diego Padres’ Skipper Larry Bowa.” It appears to be a takeoff on Dennis Conner and the America’s Cup, but Bowa posed for the photo back in November. Padre publicist Mike Swanson had the idea.