Washington Back, Makes Big Splash With Diving Catch

There were plenty of thank-yous to throw around after the Angels’ 5-0 victory over the New York Yankees Sunday.

Manager Doug Rader thanked right fielder Claudell Washington for his sprawling sixth-inning catch of a Steve Sax line drive, a Greg Louganis dive-and-slide that stretched every muscle in Washington’s 34-year-old body.

“You don’t think about it (age) when you’re taking off after the ball,” said a sore Washington afterward.

Washington then thanked Rader for showing such compassion during the right fielder’s recent personal ordeal in which Washington’s 15-year-old daughter, Camille, was nearly paralyzed after a freak domestic accident.

Washington’s appearance Sunday was his first since April 29 and his first since the accident on May 2. He was on the road when Camille was injured and immediately flew home to Orinda, Calif., to be with his daughter.

Washington rejoined the team Friday, but sat out the first two games of the series.

“She’s coming along fine,” Washington said of his daughter, who bruised her brain stem when a lamp struck her on the back of the neck. “She’s taking therapy now, and she’s going to start to swim a little bit to get her legs back, because she can’t walk from here to there without losing her balance. They figure the swimming pool will strengthen her legs. In a couple of weeks, she’ll be up and at ‘em. That’s what they say.”

The first reports weren’t as encouraging.

“It was tough,” Washington said. “We’re just happy she’s not paralyzed. That’s what they were worried about. And for four days she was.”

This, mind you, wasn’t your average household accident.

“She was making a bed, doing her regular housework,” he explained. “And she was pulling the cover up over the pillow. She was down on her knees, got caught in the (lamp) cord and pulled it down and hit her in the spinal column. It was a big dresser lamp. I was telling her that it could only happen to her. She’s so fragile. She’s an athlete, but she’s a little fragile too.”

Washington was out of the lineup for more than two weeks, but said the Angels insisted he not return until Camille was out of danger.

Washington wondered whether other teams would have showed as much compassion.

“It did surprise me,” he said. “Because I think if I’d been on the other side, in New York, well I don’t know what might have happened.”

Washington played two and a half seasons with the Yankees before signing with the Angels as a free agent over the winter.

“I’d hate to even think about it if I was still with the Yankees,” he said.

It was better just to take things out on his former teammates.

Washington, who also added a fourth-inning single in Sunday’s victory, said he stayed in frequent contact with the Angels while he was away.

“I’ve been real happy about the way they’ve handled it,” he said. “Because I was concerned. It wasn’t tough for me to come back once she got out of the hospital. I was just waiting for her to be released and for them (doctors) to tell me everything was fine. Once they did that, I was ready to come back.”

And it wasn’t a bad comeback. Washington’s catch was drawing raves around the locker room.

Washington tried to compliment left fielder Chili Davis on his fine running catch of a Tom Brookens fly ball in the second inning.

“Yours was sweeter,” Davis shot back.

And Washington couldn’t argue.

“It was a 10,” he said of his catch.

It was good to be back.