Baseball : Berry Weathers Bizarre Season in Minors

Bill Berry knew he was in for an entertaining season after the opening-day festivities at Everett (Wash.) Memorial Stadium.

Berry and his teammates on the San Francisco Giants’ Class-A Northwest League affiliate piled into a trolley car that rolled onto the field between home plate and the pitcher’s mound, where the players filed off one-by-one and were introduced to the crowd and a television audience.

“A monkey threw out the first ball,” said Berry, a left-handed pitcher who graduated from Chatsworth High in 1985 and signed out of Glendale College in June. “It was big league.”

Berry has come to expect the unexpected in the minor leagues.

For example, between innings of a game at Spokane, Wash., two men pulled their girlfriends onto the top of opposing dugouts and made dual marriage proposals while the stadium organist played “Here Comes the Bride.”

“It was kind of funny,” Berry said.

Certainly more light-hearted than the fate met by a bird that happened into the Everett bullpen. While the team’s pitching coach warmed up to throw batting practice before a game, a bird flew in low--apparently hunting for worms--and was struck dead by a slider midway between the plate and the mound.

Berry, 21, has posted respectable numbers this season in making the transition from starter to short reliever. He is 0-3 with a 3.90 earned-run average and two saves. He has pitched 32 innings and has 31 strikeouts and 14 walks.

“It’s been a mental adjustment,” said Berry, who was 5-4 last season at Glendale and was drafted in the 31st round. “I still like starting better, but it’s not a bad position.

“When you think about the minor leagues you think, ‘cheap hotel rooms, cheap buses and cheap food.’ But I’m having a good time.”

Endless summer: Loyola Marymount infielder Rick Allen concluded a long, successful summer by helping the Fairbanks (Alaska) Goldpanners win the championship of the U. S. International Open tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev., Aug. 13-21.

Allen, who played at Calabasas High and Moorpark College, batted .320 with nine home runs and 65 runs batted for the Goldpanners, who finished 42-17 and in second place in the Alaskan Summer League.

“We played so many games without having to go to school, it seemed like pro ball,” Allen said. “If I get a chance to play pro ball next year this has got to help.”

Short season: Scott Radinsky’s season is concluding on a positive, pain-free note--an encouraging sign to the left-handed pitcher out of Simi Valley High.

Radinsky, 20, who underwent shoulder surgery last season and has been on a rehabilitation assignment at Sarasota, Fla., the Chiago White Sox Class-A affiliate in the Gulf Coast Rookie League, has had four outings of one inning each.

“I feel real good,” said Radinsky who has given up no runs, one hit and has nine strikeouts. “My first three outings, I didn’t have all the confidence in the world. I wasn’t getting ahead of hitters. But I pitched the other day and everything felt like it came together.”

Radinsky’s season ends Sunday, but he will return to Florida in mid-September to play in the Instructional League.

“Most of the throwing I did this year was in the bullpen,” Radinsky said. “But I learned a lot about taking care of your body, working out and staying in shape. You can’t just throw.”

Decision maker: A few months ago, Don Buford was an assistant coach at USC who applied for the then-vacant head coach position at Cal State Northridge.

But just a few days after sending his resume to Northridge, Buford accepted an offer from former teammate and Baltimore Orioles Manager Frank Robinson to join him in the Oriole dugout as a coach.

On Sept. 1, Buford will make another move, this time to the Orioles’ front office where he will become the organization’s minor league director of field operations and instruction. Buford, 51, replaces Lance Nichols, who resigned earlier this month to become director of player development for the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I was really looking forward to working with the major league club and assisting Frank in rekindling the hustle, bustle, fight ‘em desire,” said Buford, who lives in Sherman Oaks. “I didn’t apply for the job.”

Buford became a candidate after a conversation with Orioles General Manager Roland Hemond and Farm Director Doug Melvin.

“I wanted to make sure the input and decision-making potential was there and they assured me it was,” Buford said. “I think this job has the potential of going back to the big leagues at some point as a manager or a farm director or general manager.”

Among the prospects who will come under Buford’s direction is his son, Don Jr., a former Harvard High and USC infielder who is a second baseman for Class-A Hagerstown and leads the Carolina League with 71 stolen bases.

Watching the detectives: The Pioneer Rookie League, which plays a 70-game schedule in 70 days, is officially called a short-season league. The only night off is for the major league All-Star game.

So how did Don Erickson and his Helena (Mont.) Brewers teammates use their free time?

“We played whiffle ball,” said Erickson, a former Kennedy High and College of the Canyons infielder who signed as a free agent with Milwaukee in July following his senior season at Florida State.

Erickson, 22, is batting .229 with one home run and 14 RBIs.

Following the season, Erickson plans to return to Florida State to complete his degree in criminology.

“I want to be a detective,” he said. “But that’s my second goal.”