Keith Comstock Is Still In There Pitching : At 33, Much-Traveled Reliever Back in Padre Organization at Las Vegas

He surfaced Saturday morning like a funny memory, greeting his surprised former Padre teammates outside their clubhouse beneath Cashman Field with laughs, hugs and insults before they finally asked the obvious question.

Just what the heck was Keith Comstock doing here?

“My Christmas card list had gotten too big,” the former Padre reliever said. “I decided I can’t play for any more new teams.”

Thus Comstock has returned, this time to the Padres’ triple-A Las Vegas team, with whom he signed a contract Friday after being released from the San Francisco Giants.

“To be honest, I never knew he was gone,” Tony Gwynn said.

This is the same Comstock who joined the Padres from those same Giants in 1987 as part of the July 4 deal that also brought Chris Brown, Mark Davis and Mark Grant to San Diego. At the time, it appeared to be a happy ending to a long journey, a story that soon captured the hearts of San Diego fans.

The Padres were Comstock’s 13th pro team in 12 years of organized baseball. But they were only his third big league team and the first that would allow him to appear in enough games to qualify as a rookie. This is a man who had been released seven times. This is a man who once was sent to the minor leagues in Japan.

When the Padres first embraced him, it appeared he had finally found a home.

But appearances were deceiving. He pitched in 26 games for the Padres at the end of the 1987, compiling a 5.50 ERA. In the spring of 1988, he was sent to Las Vegas. He was recalled for 20 days last May and in seven games had a 6.75 ERA before being sent out for good. He was so angry at then-Manager Larry Bowa for not giving him what he considered a fair chance that he stood up in the Las Vegas clubhouse upon the announcement of Bowa’s firing last May 28 and applauded.

But the change in management did him no good. Despite going 5-4 with 17 saves, a 3.14 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings for Las Vegas, he was released this winter. Not to worry. He was promptly re-signed with the Giants. But after having a good spring with them--no allowed runs in 8 2/3 innings--he was again a victim of numbers and released last Saturday.

“Commie never quits, he just gets released,” said Pat Dobson, the Padre pitching coach.

Having developed a good relationship with Las Vegas Manager Steve Smith, Comstock decided to take advantage of an offer last week and return to Las Vegas and the Padres. He is 33 years old. He smiles and says that his wife, Kathleen, is so bothered by his constant chase of his dream that she’ll no longer talk to him. But he is back and says he can’t quit. At least not until he has reached his three new goals.

First: “I want to play baseball in three decades. (He needs to play one more year).”

Second: “I want to be released by 10 teams. (He needs to be released once more).”

Third: “I want to get 100 big-league strikeouts. No, I mean 1,000 strikeouts. (He has 70 ).”

One thing he has certainly accomplished is: He has made big leaguers realize how lucky they are to be big leaguers.

“I’m not a baseball player, I’m a sampler,” he said. “I’m like something you get in the mail for free. It doesn’t seem like anybody out there will buy me, but they will take me for nothing, and I will go for nothing. I just want a chance.”

The chance he really wants, Comstock said, is to leave the game on his own terms.

“I want to be able to retire instead of end it by being released,” Comstock said. “I don’t want somebody else making the decision for me, I want to make that decision myself.”

It would not appear that he’s in the Padre plans this year--Manager Jack McKeon referred all questions about him to the team’s minor league office--but stranger things have happened. He will begin the year as one of only three left-handers on the Las Vegas staff, and of the other two, Pete Roberts is a starter, and Pat Clements is being shopped as trade bait.

“They gave me only one guarantee when I came here, the only guarantee I’ve ever gotten--if I pitch bad, I’m gone,” said Comstock, who will also make around $30,000, not bad for six months in the bush leagues. “Hopefully, if there’s no room for me with the Padres, some other big-league club can watch me pitch. All I want is a fair shake, and a chance for me--not some club official--to decide when it’s over.”

To help ease congestion near San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, Ace Parking will increase aisles, lanes and personnel for all Padres games this season.

In addition, there will be more San Diego Transit and North County Transit shuttle buses making earlier runs, and an overflow/late lot (across the street from Taft Junior High on Gramercy Drive) will be used for the first time on a regular basis.

The stadium parking lot will open at 1 p.m. and the gates at 5 for Monday’s 7:05 opener. A new customer service window is located at Gate F.

Padre Notes

The Padres finished their spring schedule Saturday with an 8-1 victory over their triple-A Las Vegas team. The team is not quite ready for Monday’s opening day game against San Francisco, though, as Manager Jack McKeon has yet to pick a starting third baseman. It’s largely ceremonial because three guys will share the position. “I’ll probably announce it tomorrow,” McKeon said Saturday, referring to today’s closed workout at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Two of the three candidates had good games Saturday: Randy Ready went three for five with a double, and Tim Flannery went three for five with two RBIS. Luis Salazar, the final candidate, went zero for three. Also finishing the spring with good memories were Mark Parent (three hits) and Carmelo Martinez, who had two hits and a seventh-inning homer would have been his record-setting eighth of the spring if games such as this, and the Padres’ 5-0 victory over San Diego State Thursday, counted in the stats. As it was, Martinez finished the spring with six homers, one shy of Kevin McReynolds’ 1984 record.

The game was marked by a couple of good minor league performances. Las Vegas starter Pete Roberts, a top left-handed talent who struggled here last year and actually finished the season at double-A Wichita, appeared ready to get serious about things again. He pitched three shutout innings, allowing two hits with two strikeouts and three walks. . . . Las Vegas also had four great outfield assists. Recently demoted right fielder Shawn Abner threw out Randy Ready at home for the first out in the sixth, and two batters later, left fielder Jerald Clark threw out Garry Templeton at the plate. Making a fine catch and tag in both instances was Sandy Alomar Jr., who added an RBI double and a single. Then in the eighth, center fielder Thomas Howard threw out Gary Green at the plate followed by a throw from Abner that nailed Roberto Alomar at third base.

In shaking down the final spring stats, which were complete as of Friday’s 8-5 loss to Seattle, the leading Padre hitter was Benito Santiago (.400), followed by Tim Flannery (.381) and Marvell Wynne (.354). Carmelo Martinez led in homers (six) and RBIs (17). The worst hitters were Gary Green (.148) and Randy Ready (.224). . . . The spring’s top pitchers were Bruce Hurst (4-1, 2.70 ERA) and Mark Davis (1-1, 1.77 ERA). The one who struggled most was Greg Booker (0-2, 9.69 ERA). . . . Lo and behold, the Padres will no longer be the only team in the National League without an indoor batting cage. One has been installed at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium and should be ready for Monday’s opener. It will be one level above the clubhouse, which has been renovated.