If It Were Dempsey’s Call, He’d Get Left-Hander

Rick Dempsey has been around too long not to say what he thinks. He always keeps his thinking cap on, although sometimes he wears it backward.

You mention to Dempsey that the Dodgers sure do seem to be doing quite nicely, and he certainly agrees. Yet, at the same time, he gives you the most honest, straightforward evaluation a player can give.

“We’re not the best team. We know we’re not the best team,” Dempsey says. “We’re playing very well.

“On paper, you can probably find a couple of teams better than the Dodgers. But, we’re playing very well together as a ballclub, and that’s when you become . . . I won’t say unbeatable, but you’re going to win more than other teams.”

You also mention to Dempsey that the Dodgers have called up an outfielder to replace their only left-handed starting pitcher, Fernando Valenzuela, who has gone onto the 21-day disabled list with a messed-up shoulder. Some players would nod and offer no contrary advice to General Manager Fred Claire or Manager Tom Lasorda, but Dempsey says what he believes--not in dissension, just simply in discussion.

“Well, I would think at this point they would probably go out and make an acquisition for a left-hander,” he says. “We’re going to need a left-hander against teams like Pittsburgh and the Mets. These decisions are up to Fred and Tommy, but that’s my personal hope, that they go out and buy a good lefty.

“That’s just what I’m hoping, remember. It’s nothing I’ve heard.”

By day’s end, you mention to Dempsey that he must be glad that he called on Claire last winter, looking for work.

He replies, tongue in mask: “Hey, I’m glad for Fred Claire that I did that.”

The man’s the catcher, and you can’t shake him off.

So, OK, Rick. Agreed. It was a hire that turned out well for both sides.

Dempsey has added punch and punch lines to the Dodger cause, ever since earning his keep in spring training. Even though he will turn 39 years old in a few weeks and should have his 1,000th career hit by then--he needs 12 more--Dempsey is still the eager-beaver receiver he always was, and can’t wait for the next left-hander who gets thrown at the Dodgers, which will reserve his place in the division leaders’ lineup.

The backup backstop, who caught Orel Hershiser’s five-hit, 6-1 win over the Houston Astros Sunday, is a good guy to have around, mask on or mask off. He’s capable, he’s candid and he’s comical--although now that Dempsey lives full-time in California, he doesn’t get much chance to do his famous, make-’em-laugh, wet-tarp rain dance.

Five years ago, when he was about to become the most valuable player of the 1983 World Series, Dempsey loved Baltimore and Baltimore loved him, come rain or come shine. When he played, he played well. When the game was delayed, he took the field anyway and did his Dempsey At the Bat pantomime, belting one against a make-believe pitcher, then circling the bases and sliding headfirst into home plate on a water-logged tarp.

One year ago, baseball was no longer that much fun. Sixty games into a lost season in Cleveland and batting .177, Dempsey got involved in a crash at home plate. Bo Jackson was the crasher, and Dempsey the crashee. Result: Broken left thumb for the catcher. Long-term result: The Indians didn’t want him back.

Dempsey needed a job. The Dodgers already had decent catching, with Mike Scioscia and Alex Trevino, but Dempsey tried anyway. He even dropped in on Claire one day, with no appointment, to make his pitch.

“He called me up, so I told him to go see Fred,” Lasorda said. “I always thought he was a hell of a catcher. Well, he came to camp, and we thought so much of him, we ate Trevino’s contract.”

Dempsey has been doing his bit in the Dodger pennant drive ever since. Trevino did try to give his former team some regrets on Saturday with a home run, but Dempsey came right back the next day with a run-scoring double and a sacrifice fly.

He also caught Hershiser, who reminds him of Mike Flanagan, who is just the sort of left-hander the Dodgers could use around now.

“He’s very much like Flanagan,” says Dempsey, who caught Flanagan in their Oriole days. “They’re both pitchers who know what they’re doing, who don’t overpower you, but can make the ball do pretty much anything they want it to do.”

Dempsey can see Hershiser stepping into Valenzuela’s shoes as team leader, at least temporarily. It was Dempsey who recently referred, in typical candor, to Valenzuela’s obvious loss of velocity, at a time when few Dodgers dared say a discouraging word.

Sunday, Dempsey wanted to emphasize that he was in no way knocking Fernando.

“I never intended for anyone to think I was giving my opinion about Freddie losing 7 to 10 miles per hour off his fastball. I want to make it clear, now that I have the opportunity, that I was just repeating what other players around the league had told me, after facing him.

“To me, the guy’s just fantastic, because he can make it through ballgames on knowledge alone. He won 5 or 6 ballgames for us, and he’s not even throwing very well.

“You’ve got to have a guy like Freddie, and you know he’s coming back. He’s young enough, and he’ll find some way. He’ll get over this injury, he’ll straighten himself out and he’ll be a 20-game winner again.”

Dempsey, of course, will be there for him, somewhere close to home.