Baseball : Unlike in Recent Years, There Are Few Rookie Stars

One of the most curious aspects of a season likely to be remembered for the calling of balks, the lighting of Wrigley Field and the fifth--and last?--firing of Billy Martin as the New York Yankees’ manager is the absence of prominent rookies.

Maybe it was to be expected, particularly in the American League, which produced a glut of influential freshmen in 1986 and 1987.

Among the American Leaguers debuting in those two years were Jose Canseco, Wally Joyner, Mark McGwire, Mike Greenwell, Ruben Sierra, Danny Tartabull, Matt Nokes, Kevin Seitzer, Devon White, Pete Incaviglia, Ellis Burks and Mike Henneman.

With eight weeks to play in the 1988 season, the AL can muster only a threadbare list of rookie-of-the-year candidates.

In fact, excluding Boston Red Sox shortstop Jody Reed, who became an everyday player only when Joe Morgan replaced John McNamara as manager, there is only one bona fide regular among the AL candidates.

That would be Oakland Athletics shortstop Walt Weiss, whose candidacy is based more on the fact that he has played a critical position for a division-leading team than on his modest statistics, which include a .236 batting average, 3 homers, 28 runs batted in and 14 errors.

The AL’s other candidates would all seem to be pitchers, including Angel reliever Bryan Harvey, who has struggled a bit recently but still has a 2.43 earned-run average, 11 saves and a 4-4 record. Rookie Terry Clark, a late-blooming teammate, is 5-1, and Melido Perez of the woeful Chicago White Sox has a record of 11-7.

The National League list of influential freshmen is a tad deeper. Among the prominent NL rookies the last two years were Benito Santiago, Todd Worrell, Andres Galarraga, Rafael Palmeiro, Robby Thompson, Gerald Young, Joe Magrane and Mike Dunne.

The ’88 class is headed by Cincinnati Reds third baseman Chris Sabo, the crew cut reincarnation of Pete Rose--in Rose’s view. Sabo has a fading average of .283, 11 homers, 42 RBIs and 34 stolen bases. Atlanta Braves second baseman Ron Gant has shaken off a slump and has comparable numbers, 14 homers, 48 RBIs and a .264 average through Friday.

New York Mets shortstop Kevin Elster, who has 7 homers despite a .224 average; Chicago Cubs first baseman Mark Grace, a .300 hitter since his June recall, and Cincinnati second baseman Jeff Treadway, a .255 hitter, will give NL voters something to think about at least.

The only rookie pitcher to play a consistently pivotal role for his NL team has been the Dodgers’ Tim Belcher, whose contributions as a starter and reliever--he’s 8-4 with 4 saves--can’t be overestimated.

Overall, however, the ’88 freshman class has been ringing fewer bells than those of ’86 and ‘87, when the rookie influx may have filled many of the jobs that would otherwise have gone to the current class.

All the tears shed over the lighting of Wrigley Field may not have been shed with the Cubs in mind.

Consider: From 1900 to 1945, when all teams were playing day games, the Cubs won 10 National League pennants. They were one of the league’s most respected teams. In the 43 years since the end of World War II, when the other 25 teams have gone to a predominantly night schedule, the Cubs have won one division title.

They have been at a distinct disadvantage, playing one schedule on the road, another at home, where extra hitting often coincided with breakfast, where the Cubs could be found playing a day game after returning at midnight from a 12-game trip. The charm of 81 day games, of a routine home life, was outweighed by the impact it had on performance.

The Cubs have known that for decades, knew they had to be deeper and stronger to survive the heat of a long summer, but seldom admitted it because it meant a violation of their ivy-covered loyalty oath.

Now that may have changed. Rick Sutcliffe said of Wrigley Field:

“When I pitch here during the day, I lose 8 to 10 pounds. When I pitch at night in Los Angeles or San Diego, I lose one pound or maybe even gain a pound if I drink a lot.

“Andre Dawson has a perfect body on opening day. But by the end of the season, he’s down 10 to 15 pounds. All that day ball wears you down--as a team and individual.

“We’ll be better off because of this.”

This translates to 18 night games a season for the next 14 years, though there is already speculation that the Tribune Co., which owns the Cubs, will soon begin lobbying the Illinois legislature to lift the 18-game limit.

In the meantime, the Cubs hope to schedule the 18 games to their advantage--probably at the start of a home stand to ease the time adjustment and at the end so that their hitters can begin adapting to the darkness of the road.

“When you get home from the road real late on Sunday night, then have to get up and fight the rush-hour traffic to get to Wrigley Field for a Monday day game, it’s physically difficult,” Cub General Manager Jim Frey said.

“And when you come off 12 straight day games and head out for 12 straight at night, that’s tough, too. We think we’ll use some of those 18 night games for situations like that.”

Hadn’t Lou Piniella said he wouldn’t have returned as Yankee manager if not for the assurance he would be in full control? This was the same, obviously displeased, Piniella who acknowledged the other day that the latest change in pitching coaches wasn’t his decision.

You know who triggered the revolving door Monday, returning Clyde King as successor to Stan Williams.

Owner George Steinbrenner has employed 28 pitching coaches, though only 13 different people.

His potentially potent Yankees, meanwhile, seem gripped by a strange malaise. They have lost 8 of their last 11 games and are 32-36 since May 27 and 1-37 in games they trailed after the seventh inning. They were also 28-39 in August of the last two-plus seasons, incapable of overcoming pitching deficiencies that would baffle any pitching coach.

The injuries, ineffectiveness and inexperience of certain members of the current rotation of Rick Rhoden, Tommy John, Richard Dotson, John Candelaria and Dave Eiland has forced Piniella to conduct what he calls nightly auditions and “it’s a little late in the season” for that.

The Yankees, as part of the fallout, are definitely troubled. Said catcher Don Slaught: “I don’t think we have enough confidence to feel like we can come up with key hits when the pitching falters or vice versa.”

Added Don Mattingly: “It’s hard to hope for magic when it hasn’t happened for 100 games or so. The talking has to be over. It’s time to do it on the field.”

Quality pitching, by contrast, has enabled the Detroit Tigers to keep doing it in the East. In their last 21 games before entering a weekend series with the Red Sox, the Tigers were 13-8 despite a team batting average of .224. The earned-run average for that span was lower--2.14.

“Sparky (Anderson, the Detroit manager) loves to play the dark- horse role,” Red Sox second baseman Marty Barrett said. “Well, he’s got the best pitching staff in baseball. He’s got five guys capable of winning 15 to 20 games apiece. Give him the starting staff of the Chicago White Sox and he’d be right (to play the dark-horse).”

Can the Detroit rotation continue to carry a woeful offense? Jack Morris, emerging again as the workhorse and ace after shaking a first-half slump that he believes stemmed from mechanical flaws and a tendency to tip his pitches, said:

“I don’t know (if the pitchers can carry the load). I hope we can, but it’s asking a lot. Every pitch is a crisis for us. It’s a lot tougher pitching eight innings of a 2-1 game than a 7-2 game.”

Perhaps, but the improbable Tigers continue to meet the challenge. They have played three series this year in which the division lead was directly at stake and are 11-1 in those games. They’ve lost back-to-back series only once in their last 81.

“There are race horses and there are plow horses,” pitcher Doyle Alexander said. “We’re a plow horse.”