Batting Tips From Dad Help Cubs’ Palmeiro

When Rafael Palmeiro starts struggling at the plate, the Chicago Cubs’ batting star knows it won’t be long before he hears from the man he most respects -- his father.

“When he sees something on TV, he’ll call me up and let me know what I’m doing wrong,” says Palmeiro. “He knows the way I hit and he can see what I’m doing wrong. Then he gets it straight.”

Palmeiro led the National League in batting from mid-May until early June. By June 15, he was at .325, second to the .327 by Montreal’s Andres Galarraga, and led the league in doubles with 22.

The left-handed Palmeiro, 23, who is enjoying his first full season in the major leagues as the Cubs left fielder, credits his father, Jose, with helping him achieve his lifelong dream of playing in the major leagues.

“When I first started playing ball when I was a kid, I wanted to be a major league ballplayer,” says Palmeiro, who along with Oakland’s Jose Canseco is one of only two Cuban-born players currently in the majors. “I knew that my chances were slim but that’s what I really wanted to do. When my dad saw that I had some talent, he really pushed me.”

The pushing paid off. After growing up in Miami and attending Mississippi State University, where he was a three-time all-American with a .415 batting average, Palmeiro was selected by the Cubs in the first round of the June 1985 draft.

The next year, Palmeiro was voted the Most Valuable Player in the Eastern League after hitting .306 with 12 home runs and 95 RBI at Pittsfield. His RBI total topped the league as did his number of hits (156), total bases (225) and sacrifice flys (29). He also led the league’s outfielders with a .988 fielding percentage.

His showing earned him a trip to the major leagues on Sept. 8, 1986. He hit his first major-league homer -- a three-run shot off the Phillies’ Kevin Gross -- the next day. On Sept. 17, after he made 29 plate appearances without swinging the bat, Palmeiro homered off New York’s Dwight Gooden.

“Besides making it to the major leagues, my first home run off Dwight Gooden has been one of my biggest accomplishments,” says Palmeiro.

Last season, the 6-foot, 180-pound Palmeiro was recalled from Iowa of the American Association on June 16 and batted .276 with 61 hits and 41 homers in 84 games while switching back and forth from the outfield to first base.

Again, Palmeiro points to his father as being behind his success at the plate.

“I’ve worked really hard, especially when I was growing up and I first started playing. My dad took me to the park and he taught me the right way (to hit), and I just did it over and over again until it became easy.”

Palmeiro’s father also may be responsible for his son’s devil-may-care attitude when he steps up the plate.

“I don’t fear any pitcher,” he says. “The way I see it is they have to throw the ball over the plate. They come at different angels but I’m a good contact hitter and I usually hit the ball so I shouldn’t be scared of any of them.”

Palmeiro’s ability to pick his pitches resulted in only eight strikeouts in 246 at bats through June 15. It also is the reason Cubs’ hitting coach Joe Altobelli cites as the key to Palmerio’s success.

“Raffy, if you watch him play every day, will probably hit with less than two strikes on him and put the ball in play more often than a lot of players in the league,” Altobelli says. “A lot of times when you’re hitting with two strikes you become a defensive hitter and you’re also facing the pitcher’s best pitch. He can do almost anything he wants with you. But Raffy puts the ball in play before the second strike.”

Altobelli says if Palmeiro can continue his current work habits and keep his concentration, he could become another Don Mattingly or Eddie Murray -- a possibility with which Cubs’ Manager Don Zimmer agrees.

“He’s just been an outstanding hitter since Opening Day and he just continues to hit,” Zimmer says. “He’s a guy that hits the ball all over the ballpark. He’ll hit one down right, he’ll hit one down left and he hits up the middle. Everytime you hit the ball fair you have a chance to get a hit, and I think that’s his big asset as far as hitting for a high average.”

But Palmeiro, who says playing every day for the Cubs also has helped him at the plate, doesn’t worry whether he’ll be at the top of the NL leaders by the end of the season.