White Sox Sparked by an Old Battery

Angel rookie Dante Bichette got a surprise start Tuesday, but no one was talking about the Angels’ youth movement after the Chicago White Sox strolled to a 9-2 opening-day victory at Anaheim Stadium.

It was Chicago’s geriatric battery of pitcher Jerry Reuss and catcher Carlton Fisk who energized the White Sox and proved you’re never too old to beat the Angels.

Reuss, 39, and Fisk, 41, made baseball history when they took the field in the first inning, becoming the oldest battery ever to start on opening day. Pitcher Johnny Niggeling and catcher Rick Ferrell of the 1944 Washington Senators had held the record with a combined 79 years.

As old batteries go, this one dies hard.

“I don’t care about age,” said Jeff Torborg, Chicago’s first-year manager. “They’re both younger than I am. But there’s no secret to their success. Just take a look in our weight room in the spring. Reuss and Fisk are the last two guys to leave with the trainer after dark. They work as hard as anyone on this club.”

Reuss, who could find just one major league team willing to invite him for a tryout last spring, rewarded the White Sox by winning more games--he was 13-9--last year than any other starter.

Tuesday, he looked like a 20-year-old, 20-game winner after a shaky first inning when he gave up a home run to Devon White and a couple of warning-track outs. Then, using his new cut fastball with great success, Reuss retired the next 17 Angels in order before White doubled with one out in the seventh inning.

In seven innings, he allowed just those two hits, did not walk a batter and struck out three.

“I’m very pleased with Jerry,” Torborg said. “I couldn’t have asked for any more from him . . . or anyone, for that matter. He’s gone from power pitcher to finesse pitcher and made all these adjustments over the years.”

Fisk, who missed 70 games last season with a broken right hand but still managed to hit 19 homers and drive in 50 runs, has caught more American League games (1,839) than anyone in history.

Tuesday, however, he was a boy of summer again. Fisk turned a ground ball through third baseman Jack Howell’s legs into a two-base error in the second inning; lined a single to left in the fourth; slugged a towering homer to left in the sixth; and even found time for a bit of bear-hug samba with Angel catcher Lance Parrish during a ninth-inning brawl after Angel Bob McClure hit Ivan Calderon with a pitch.

“We thought it (the fight) was all over, then we pushed and shoved a little and it was all over,” Fisk said.

When a female reporter asked Fisk if it wasn’t a little early in the season for emotions to be running so high, Fisk smiled and said, “The bell has rung, sweetheart. The bell has rung.”

It rang for the 18th time for Fisk Tuesday, but he wasn’t any less intense than he was as a rookie with Boston in 1972.

The revived Reuss heard opening-day chime No. 19 Tuesday, but it was particularly special for the left-hander from La Canada.

“After I was released three times in 1987, I changed my whole outlook on the game,” Reuss said. “Now, the biggest thing for me is to go into the clubhouse and see if there’s a uniform in my locker. If there is one there, I’ll put it on and be thankful for one more day in baseball.”

Reuss might have a lot of days left if he pitches like he did Tuesday. He was rarely behind in the count, consistently nipped the inside corners against the right-handed hitters and generally sailed through seven innings before tiring.

Torborg, who said Reuss was “locating the ball really well,” intended to send him out to pitch the eighth inning before Reuss said he didn’t have “quite the same zip.”

Of course it was close to 100 degrees in Anaheim and Reuss is 39 years old. . . .

“All this emphasis on age is funny,” Reuss said. “When I’m out there, I don’t think of my birthday, or my teammates’ birthdays or my opponents’ birthdays, but I guess it makes a good story.”

If Tuesday’s performances were any indication, the Reuss-Fisk story may be told over and over for quite some time.

Reuss says he plans to take it one day at a time, slipping into that uniform every day some team will provide one.

Fisk has slightly grander plans:

“Eight or 10 more years, then I’m gonna quit.”

In the meantime, Chicago’s oldest battery will remain ever ready.