DOUBLE PLAY : 2 Friends Make it to the Big Leagues Together : ‘Bad Trade’ Gives Bean a Shot at the Majors With Dodgers

Outfielder Billy Bean and pitcher Tim Layana were called up to the major leagues this year within weeks of each other. That’s no surprise. Their careers have paralleled each other since they were CIF high school stars.

The pair entered Loyola Marymount in 1983, roomed together and were captains of the Lions team that went to the College World Series in 1986.

Bean graduated with many school and conference hitting records, while Layana virtually rewrote the pitching record book.

Both were chosen to the All-America team in 1986.

Though now in different leagues on opposite coasts, they remain best friends. In November when Bean marries Gina Guzzo, Layana will be in the wedding party.

It’s a baseball axiom that some of the best trades are the ones never made, but in Billy Bean’s case, the trade that looked bad for him may be the one that opens up his career.

Bean, a Loyola Marymount hero when he helped lead the Lions to a College World Series appearance in 1986, spent most of the last three years trying to catch on with the Detroit Tigers. He got his first look at the majors in Detroit in early 1987--when Kirk Gibson was hurt. He was sent back to Triple-A Toledo when Gibson was healthy.

Now, through the vagaries of fate, Bean is getting another shot at the majors with the Dodgers, thanks in large part to injuries to a number of outfielders, including Mickey Hatcher, Mike Davis, Kal Daniels, Chris Gwynn and--of course--Gibson.

He became a Dodger thanks to a late July trade between the Los Angeles and Detroit organizations, and figures to stick with the Dodgers most of the way this season due to all the injuries. And he confidently expects that, while he may not make the fans forget Gibson, if he gets a chance to prove himself the Dodgers will find they got a solid ballplayer.

Bean, 25, feels he has spent enough time in the minor leagues. His burning desire these days is not just to be in the majors, but to stay. Doing it with the Dodgers would be even more exciting for a Southern California native. “It’s a dream come true,” he said last week, surveying Dodger Stadium. “In some ways (playing in your hometown) is also a lot of pressure.”

Bean, who grew up in Santa Ana, said that in the two weeks since he joined the Dodgers he has occasionally been recognized by fans in public places, and it will become a more common occurrence as he becomes a more familiar face. “That’s probably something I would love to live with for the next 10 years,” he said.

“It’s hard to make the majors but I want to stay. That’s the tough part.”

Bean had done all that had been asked of him in his three-plus years in the Tigers chain. After making the Tigers in spring training then being sent down, he was batting .300 all season at Toledo to rank with International League leaders and wondering what he had to do to be called up to a Detroit team that rapidly sank into last place in the American League East.

But then his world changed. Bean was traded to the Dodgers’ Triple-A team in Albuquerque for minor league outfielders Domingo Michel and Steve Green, setting off a whirlwind tour of America that saw him end up with the Dodgers only days later when Gibson was disabled.

“That (trade) is something you can’t anticipate. For three years I’d been looking in one direction,” he said. “I was having a great year in Toledo. I expected to be called up. When (Toledo manager John Wockenfuss) called me in that’s what I thought he was gonna tell me. Instead he was kind of upset.”

He told Bean of the trade. “I was in Toledo. I went to Las Vegas (where Albuquerque was playing) and was there two nights, then flew to Phoenix for a day and a half, then got called up by the Dodgers. The night of the 24th, I flew all night to Pittsburgh, played one game there then the team flew that night to Houston. I got in my mileage,” Bean recalled.

At first he was perplexed. He was a left-hand hitting outfielder in an organization that already had Gibson, Daniels, Davis, Gwynn and switch-hitter John Shelby. But Shelby was sent down to Albuquerque to work on his stroke and, remarkably, the other four went on the disabled list. Gibson and Daniels are probably out for the season and Mickey Hatcher was also disabled recently.

Loyola Coach Chris Smith, who was an assistant to Dave Snow when Bean was at Loyola and has also managed in the minor leagues, noted, “Billy was the most shocked guy in the world when he was called up. The major league game is that way sometimes--all of a sudden a trade that doesn’t look good for him turns out to be great. Originally you thought, ‘He’s dead.’ Billy’s been real fortunate. Four left-handed hitters ahead of you and they all go down--you couldn’t write the book any better. Now he has to be realistic and not expect more than is possible. If he can get some big hits and play the heck out of the outfield it’s not unlikely he could break camp (with the Dodgers) next year.”

Bean agreed, “The Dodgers have given me a great opportunity. I’m grateful to ‘em. I think they’re gonna get more than they bargained for. I’ve got a lot of confidence in my abilities. I just hope it can come through. Players react differently to a major league situation. I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t have jitters those first few games. It takes time to be comfortable and let it out, show what you can do. You’ve got to learn how to focus, just play baseball and let it happen.”

Bean admits he has not learned to be comfortable in a pinch-hitting role, but with Hatcher out he expects to play semi-regularly. He went into a weekend series in San Francisco hitting .136 after 22 at-bats. “It’s so hard not to press,” Bean admitted. “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done (in the minors), you start from scratch here.”

Bean said Dodger Vice President Fred Claire, who engineered the trade, greeted him when he joined the team, told him to relax and made him feel welcome.

“We had been aware of him through reports we receive,” Claire said. “We always felt he was a player clearly using 110% of his ability. We’re pleased with what we’ve seen: He makes contact, he plays all out, he’s got a good team-type attitude. Some would term Billy perhaps an overachiever, but you’ve heard that about a lot of good hitters. He’s not here by accident. He deserved it.”

Smith said, “Nobody’s gonna play harder than him. You can’t do it.”

Bean, an unremarkable physical specimen at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, has always earned the star status he has achieved, first at Santa Ana High and later at Loyola, where he still holds career records for hits, doubles and total bases and was named a third-team All-American in 1986.

“I don’t have one of those bodies born (to play baseball),” Bean said. “I’ve always had to work. I really enjoy that.”

A fourth-round choice by the Tigers in 1986, he rose rapidly through the minors. He opened the season in Detroit in 1987, earning manager Sparky Anderson’s praise for his hustle and sound fundamentals. He made the team again this year with a strong spring, but was sent down and felt stuck behind a glut of outfielders after the Tigers signed veteran Gary Ward early in the season.

“My feelings were hurt a little, I felt I’d paid my dues,” he said. “Then all of a sudden (the trade). I really feel fortunate. I don’t feel slighted or cheated. I never thought in my wildest dreams this is where I’d be in August. I almost would like to ask the Detroit front office what happened, if I was in their plans. Now I’m starting to feel more like a Dodger than a Tiger in a Dodger uniform. It’s still hard not to look at the Tigers’ box score first.”

While Bean learns to bleed Dodger blue, he is trying to maintain a coolly professional outlook despite his new celebrity status with family and friends. “I feel like I haven’t done anything yet. Everything I want to do is still out in front of me,” he said.

“I hope to play here a long time. There’s always gonna be distractions (in your hometown). I was a Dodger and Angel fan, but the Dodgers were the best team--Garvey and all those guys, they were the idols. There’s that mystique of Dodger Blue. I’ve got to separate myself from that. I’m a major league ballplayer. I’ve got to do my job first, play some solid baseball. Maybe over the winter I’ll have time to sit back and reflect on that stuff.”