Rhoden Happy to Be in Yankee Pinstripes : Unlike Whitson, He Believes He Can Handle Steinbrenner, New York Fans

Subtlety has not been a virtue with the New York Yankees during the George Steinbrenner era, which might explain the greeting card pitcher Rick Rhoden received from his new teammates when he arrived for spring training.

It is a baseball card of Ed Whitson, who held Rhoden’s spot in the Yankee starting rotation this time last season, but not for long.

In one of the season’s more bizarre stories, Whitson told club officials that he could not handle the pressure of pitching at Yankee Stadium--his home park--and asked to pitch only on the road. Whitson presumably felt the fans were kinder to him there.

Eventually, the Yankees sent Whitson on the road for good, trading him to the San Diego Padres. Over the winter, the club set out to acquire Rhoden--a proven winner on a recent loser--from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Yankees had to give up three young pitchers for a 12-season veteran whom they hope will have the experience and confidence to succeed where Whitson failed.

Rhoden, happy to receive his long-sought ticket out of Pittsburgh, still has the Whitson card taped to his locker. Maybe he has kept it there as a conversation piece, or perhaps it is to show that he can take the pressure and keep his sense of humor.

He’ll need it. Penciled in to start for the Yankees in the American League season-opener against the Detroit Tigers on April 6, Rhoden already has suffered a slight setback.

He pulled a muscle in his lower back on Monday and had to leave after pitching one scoreless inning in an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox at Winter Haven, Fla.

An examination by Dr. Arthur Pappas, the Red Sox team physician and an orthopedic specialist, revealed that Rhoden had suffered a strained muscle. The strain does not appear to be serious, and Rhoden should be fine in a few days.

More serious is dispelling the comparisons, humorous or not, with Whitson.

“First of all, I don’t think it’s fair to compare people with other people,” Rhoden said. “Everybody’s different. For everybody who’s had problems playing here, there are 10 who haven’t.

“Everybody only talks about the ones who did (have problems). What about the other ones. Catfish Hunter came here (in 1975) from Oakland with a lot of pressure, and he didn’t have too many problems, did he?”

A few lockers away sat Hunter, now the Yankees’ spring training pitching instructor. He almost gagged on his chewing tobacco when it was suggested he didn’t have any problems in New York.

“I think I lost the first three or four games I pitched and I was scared to go out at night,” Hunter said. “I figured somebody was going to shoot me. But I kept going out with (Thurman) Munson and (Lou) Piniella, so they protected me.”

Turning serious, Hunter gave this advice to Rhoden:

“You can’t go out and think you’re going to win them all when you come to New York and get the big contract. It’s just like any other team. The only thing you can do is pitch like you are capable of and don’t change anything.”

That precisely is the way Rhoden, 33, is approaching it. He knows that Steinbrenner monitors his club closely and lets everyone know his opinions. And Rhoden knows that the two-year, $1.35-million contract extension makes him a prime target of fan and Steinbrenner attacks should he not produce.

All he can do, he says, is pitch as he has throughout his career. Even the Yankees, presumably, would be happy with those numbers.

Rhoden had a 79-73 record in his eight seasons at Pittsburgh. In the last three seasons, when the Pirates owned last place in the National League East with a winning percentage of .404, Rhoden posted a 39-36 record (.520).

“I’m just glad to be with a team that has got a good shot to win, that’s the main thing,” Rhoden said. “It just got to the point the last two years when we (the Pirates) knew we couldn’t contend. Anybody who could look past their nose knew in spring training we weren’t going to be in the pennant race.”

Amid all the losing, dissension and the drug trial of 1985, you would think Rhoden would have had trouble concentrating on pitching for the Pirates. Not so, he says.

“It was my job to pitch,” he said. “I pitch once every five days. If I can’t give two good hours every five days, something is wrong.

“Obviously, it’s a lot more fun to play when the games mean something more in the standings. (But) it was my job to do the best I can do no matter the circumstances.”

Even if he’s booed and taunted, it won’t be the first time. The few fans the Pirates drew last season frequently voiced their disapproval of Rhoden’s standing request to be traded.

But Rhoden had seen his career go virtually nowhere in recent years, and he wanted to continue it the way he had started it--on a winning team.

From 1974 to ‘78, Rhoden was a member of the Dodgers’ starting rotation. His best season was 1977, when he won 16 games, still a career high. But he was used strictly in long relief during the World Series against the Yankees.

His Dodger career, not to mention his right arm, was worn out by 1978. The Dodgers, unsure of Rhoden’s ailing right shoulder and in need of a left-handed starter, traded him to the Pirates for Jerry Reuss in 1979.

Early in the 1979 season, Rhoden underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his shoulder. The rest of that season and most of 1980 was spent in rehabilitation.

After that, Rhoden put in six solid seasons with the Pirates, contributing in both the years the club was in contention (1980 and ‘83).

It took Pirate management three years to grant Rhoden’s request to be traded. The reason for the delay was Rhoden’s contract, a lucrative five-year deal he signed in 1983.

At first, his salary scared off some prospective teams. But what finally hastened the Pirates trading him last winter was that Rhoden’s contract was due to expire after the 1987 season, and Rhoden would become a free agent. So, to receive some sort of compensation, Pittsburgh let him go for whatever it could get.

“The only reason I wanted out of Pittsburgh was that we weren’t winning, that’s all,” Rhoden said. “I told them a lot of times the last couple of years.

“I never thought (a trade) wouldn’t come about. I was pleased with it because I knew I’d be coming to a team similar to the Dodgers. Both those teams are always going to have competitive teams and good players. The team had to get my permission before they made the trade, so this is the only one they worked on that got close enough to ask me.”