CHRIS JAMES : Baseball Drives Newest Padre ‘Up the Wall’

No need to look any further than Chris James’ locker to understand the personality type of the Padres’ latest acquisition.

On the top shelf sits a large plastic bottle of antacid tablets. One hundred and fifty, when full. These days, those bottles do not last so long.

“Nerves,” James said, breaking into an easy smile that suggested quite an opposite temperament.

But such touches of light humor only mask what distinguishes James on the field. As those who have followed his career readily volunteer: When it comes to his baseball personality, James is Type A Plus.

Intense, driven, motivated and self-critical, James has pushed himself at each step. It is little wonder that at 26, he has had a stomach ulcer for six years.

That is why the antacid tablets are never far out of reach.

“Baseball gave it to me,” James said. “This game will drive you up the wall.”

At times, his intensity has been his downfall. At times, it has been his source of strength. And in times like these, it has been both.

If, in the grand design of the world, there is a time for each of us to be tested, James has found his moment. He only wishes he knew when it would end.

From friends to family to baseball, the past month has confronted James with one crisis after another.

Fans are likely aware only of the bone bruise on his right leg. It has kept him out of the lineup for the past seven games and could force him to miss a weekend series with San Francisco that starts tonight.

His odyssey began when Mike Schmidt, his Philadelphia teammate, friend and mentor, suddenly retired on May 29. A teary-eyed James quickly was annointed to replace Schmidt at third base. The beginning of a new era, Schmidt told him.

Four days later, the era ended just as abruptly. James was traded to the Padres for John Kruk and Randy Ready. The trade was announced by the Padres in Cincinnati while the Phillies were playing an extra-inning game against Montreal.

James’ wife, Natilee, learned of the trade while watching the game on television in a stadium lounge. That was at about the time her husband completed his last Philadelphia at-bat to a chorus of boos.

When James was told of the trade, and after it had sunk in that he was leaving the only organization he had played for, he cried again.

“Having Schmidt retire was like losing part of his family,” said Bill Dancy, his manager for his last three years in the Phillies’ minor league system. “And then to be traded was a blow. Chris is a hard-nosed kid, but he is sentimental, too.”

James reported to the Padres the next afternoon in Cincinnati mired in the worst slump of his career. He had gone hitless in his previous 31 at-bats. He would go another seven at-bats before a single in Houston June 5 would break the streak and start a five-for-nine run.

But whatever temporary boost that might have provided quickly evaporated when James learned that his father had been hospitalized after collapsing at the family home in Alto, Tex. He was diagnosed as having a blood clot in his kidney.

When the Padres played in Houston early this month, James spent much of his time off driving the 140 miles between Alto and Houston. When the Padres left Houston for a weekend series in San Francisco, James’ father remained in the hospital.

By the time the Padres left San Francisco three losses later, James was falling back into his slump. He was started on his way to a zero-for-14 streak. And he was starting in left field--his third position in a week with the Padres--having also played right field and third base.

Then came the latest blow.

Chasing a foul ball down the left-field line in the second inning against Cincinnati last Wednesday, James slid into the stands and hit his right leg against a metal support. He left the game on a stretcher, his hands and arms covering his face as he fought the pain.

James has not played since, and while he remains on the active roster, his return date is uncertain. He is taking batting and infield practice, but his leg remains sore and Manager Jack McKeon said James will play this weekend only if necessary.

The only piece of good news for James has been the improved health of his father, who was released from the hospital Monday.

When James does return, he will face the difficult task of simultaneously coming in cold and breaking out of a slump. Before the injury, he had only one hit in his previous 17 at-bats and had a six-for-64 streak dating back to May 23.

This from a .263 hitter who had totaled 36 home runs and 120 RBIs in his previous two seasons. This year, James is batting .203 with two home runs and 25 RBIs.

The most puzzling aspect of the current slump to James is that it has followed the best start of his career. He was hitting .356 entering the last week of April.

“My first 100 at-bats, you couldn’t get me out,” James said. “I look at those games now, and I realize I was confident. I wasn’t thinking about anything but the baseball. I could have walked to the plate blindfolded, stood in there and ‘Boom.’ But we went down to Houston, and I hit the ball hard all over the place and didn’t get hits. I let it affect me for some time. I started trying too hard to get hits. Then I went into a complete free fall, and I haven’t come out of it yet.”

The Padres had been trying to land James since the end of last season. But McKeon said the Phillies were not interested in trading him until recently. Their thinking changed after their slow start and the realization that James might find the job of replacing Schmidt more than he was ready to handle.

Schmidt’s departure affected James deeply. Despite the 13-year difference in their ages, the two had become friends, almost a big-brother relationship. Teammates even went to calling them Wally and the Beav.

The friendship with another successful professional athlete was similar to what James enjoyed growing up with his older brother, Craig, a running back with New England Patriots.

James said the friendship with Schmidt began in spring training four years ago, when James was still in the minor leagues.

“He told me he was going to give me little pointers every day that would make me a better ballplayer,” James said. “He and I just got along very well. We worked a lot on hitting. We knew I wanted to make myself a better baseball player. He just took me under his wing.”

Because of their friendship, James said Schmidt confided in him two weeks before the announcement that he was going to retire. James said he tried to convince Schmidt to delay the decision for several weeks, but that Schmidt was adamant. Even knowing the decision in advance, James could not hide his emotions. Seeing Schmidt break down and sob brought him to tears. James makes no apologies for failing to hide his emotion.

“We had a very special emotional attachment to each other,” James said. “It was an emotional period in my life.”

Almost four weeks later, James said he still cannot bring himself to watch the complete tape his wife made of Schmidt’s televised announcement, especially the part when Schmidt breaks down in tears at the end.

“I fast-forwarded through all of that,” James said. “I didn’t want to see that.”

But his emotional reaction to his friend’s retirement helped precipitate the trade.

“He was very, very close to Mike Schmidt, and we figured that might be a detriment to someone trying to take over for him,” Philadelphia General Manager Lee Thomas said. “Chris is somewhat nervous and that bothered him. We figured it might better for a new guy to take over the position.”

The Padres, too, figured the change of scenery could serve James well. Getting away from the aggressive Philadelphia fans, the pressure of replacing Schmidt and the losing atmosphere around a struggling team might help James snap out of his slump.

McKeon said he hoped James would bring some power to a lineup that needs some punch to complement Jack Clark. The Padres still talk about a home run James hit off Eric Nolte in 1987 that landed in the upper deck of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. It was the last upper-deck homer there and made James one of only six players--Dick Allen, Dave Kingman, Kevin McReynolds, Ivan Murrell and Nate Colbert are the others--to accomplish the feat in 21 seasons.

“I don’t consider myself a home-run hitter, but I think I can hit 15 to 25 a year,” James said. “What I feel I can do is drive in runs. That is what I want to do.”

The results, however, have not been instantaneous, but then James has had much on his mind. Adding to the difficulty of transition is that James found himself joining the Padres at the start of their worst extended trip since 1980. James went from a team that had lost 10 games in a row to one that was on its way to losing nine of 10. But James can see a difference in the teams.

“This team knows it can win,” James said. “No one is pushing the panic button. In Philadelphia, the problem was we dug such a deep hole we tended to think the season was over. We were already down, we were already out. But these guys know in their hearts they can still win this thing.”

James just wants to do his part, but his hitting troubles have continued with his new club. He is batting .182 for the Padres with six RBIs.

“I’ve been worrying about too many things,” James said. “I’ve been trying to get that perfect mechanical swing every time, but you can’t do that. All you can do is get in the box and let the bat go.”

Trying too hard, instead of relaxing, is a common problem for James. He has always been one of those players who thinks a lot about his performance, maybe too much, according to some who have managed him.

Sometimes James gets so down on himself he needs a big boost to get him set straight.

“The best thing you can do with Chris is to keep throwing positive thoughts at him,” said Dancy, who now manages the Phillies’ Triple-A team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pa. “He needs that reinforcement.”

Roly DeArmas, his manager his first two seasons in the Philadelphia minor league system, remembers James coming to him early in his first season at Class-A Spartanburg, S.C., distressed over his slow start.

“He told me, ‘Maybe I’ve reached my peak. Maybe this is it,’ ” DeArmas recalled.

James was hitting under .200 at the time. The year before, in his first season with the Phillies after signing a free-agent contract, James hit .317, led the rookie Northwest League with 19 doubles, had 12 home runs and drove in 50 runs for DeArmas at Bend, Ore.

The story seems laughable now. But at the time, it was not.

“I couldn’t believe Chris was serious, but I realize he probably was,” said DeArmas, who now manages the Phillies’ rookie team in Martinsville, Va. “Chris is a gamer. He will give you all he has. But he is the kind of player who can get down on himself real easily. You always need to give him that pat on the back to get him going.”

McKeon said he recognized that early with James. But he figures that can be overcome. He has tried to work James in easily.

Although he envisions James as the Padres’ third baseman of the future, McKeon has played him mainly in the outfield, allowing Luis Salazar and Tim Flannery (before he was placed on the disabled list last week) to handle third.

“I know they want someone to play third base in the future,” James said. “But with Luis doing such a good job there, they can’t pull a guy off of third base who is playing as well as he is.”

McKeon also was experimenting with batting James leadoff, a spot he handled for the Phillies on occasion. Hitting there might encourage him to be more selective and take away some of the pressure that has led to the slump.

James said all he needs to do is relax and let the ups and downs wash over him.

“What I have to do is learn to accept the bad streaks and not let it affect me like this one has,” James said. “When I do that, I know I will be a much better player. I hurt myself when I get down on myself and try to change everything.

“If I just stay within myself, I will be fine. If I get my 500 at-bats a season, I know I will put some good numbers on the board.”