THE WORLD SERIES : Baseball’s Stars Seldom Shine During October

The World Series again. The best against the best, right? The .300 hitters and the 20-game winners have a field day. Display their virtuousity, right? A week of Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, Jose Canseco, Dave Parker doing the things they do best. A festival of Hall of Fame performances.

Might not be the way to bet.

You see, a World Series is often a great humbler. If past performance is an indication, you might want to make book on one or more of the following happening. Trust me. Look for:

--Will Clark to strike out with the bases loaded.

--Dennis Eckersley to give up a ninth-inning home run.

--Jose Canseco to hit more pop-ups than home runs.

--Rickey Henderson to get picked off.

--Rick Reuschel to outpitch guys half his age--and a third his waist.

It is almost a rule of thumb that World Series never belong to the superstars. In fact, over the long history of the fall classic, I can think of very few super-players who lived up to their reputations in these games at all times. Even Babe Ruth had a .143 batting average with no home runs in the 1922 classic.

Stan Musial batted only .222 in his first World Series and only .222 in his last.

Can anyone forget that Jose Canseco hit a grand slam in his first official at-bat in last year’s World Series and then never got another hit and ended up batting .053? Or that Ted Williams got only five hits in the seven games of his only World Series, all singles, for a batting average of .200?

Even the great Willie Mays had a .182 World Series in 1951. In fact, Willie’s three-year Series average was .234. The great Ty Cobb hit .200 in his first Series. So did the great Willie McCovey.

The great Rogers Hornsby was something less than overwhelming in World Series play. The man who batted .424, .403 and .401 in regular seasons batted .238 and .250 in the Series. Even the mighty Mickey Mantle had World Series in which he batted .167, .120, .133 and .200 (three times). Jackie Robinson hit .174 once and .182 another time.

October, not April, is the cruelest month. It’s no respecter of reputation.

It’s the little guy who steals the picture, upstages the star. W.C. Fields’ advice to young actors was, “Never share a scene with a dog or a baby.” Big-time baseball stars should not share the Series spotlights with banjo hitters or utility infielders.

In 1978, the World Series had Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Catfish Hunter, Steve Garvey, Dusty Baker, Reggie Smith and Tommy John. The batting leader and MVP was-- ta-da! --the immortal Brian Doyle. Surely, you remember him. He hit .438, scored four runs and drove in two more.

Brilliance in a World Series is no guarantee of immortality. Or even steady employment. Brian Doyle played in only 20 games for the Yankees the year after his Series stardom and was out of baseball in two years.

Sometimes, though, a World Series unveils a star. In 1931, the Series was taken over by a guy so little known he was barely a regular and was listed on the Cardinal roster as John Leonard Martin. He played in only six games the year before.

After he ran wild in the ’31 Series, though, he was forever after known as Pepper Martin, the Wild Horse of the Osage, and the heart and soul of what became known as the Gas House Gang.

The list is endless. Hardly anybody ever heard of Gene Tenace before he burst out of anonymity with home runs his first two times at bat in the ’72 World Series and four altogether. Tenace hit exactly five homers that year.

In 1983, in a World Series that had Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, Joe Morgan, Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt, the hitting star and MVP was Rick Dempsey, who hit .231 that year and .236 lifetime.

Pitchers do not escape the hoodoo, either. In 1954, the Cleveland Indians had two 20-game winners, a 19-game winner, and Bob Feller--and they didn’t win a game. In 1971, Baltimore had four 20-game winners but lost in five games.

Great pitchers have terrible times in World Series. Would you believe that the immortal Warren Spahn, who won 363 games lifetime, was 4-3 in the World Series? Walter Johnson, who won 413 lifetime, was 3-3 in Series play. They named an award for Cy Young, who won 509 games, but his Series record was 2-1. The great Christy Mathewson, 373-188 lifetime, was 5-5 in World Series games.

Denny McLain won more than 30 games in 1968, the last guy to do so and the first in 32 years, but he was 1-2 in the Series that year. But teammate Mickey Lolich won the World Series--three games won, none lost.

Grover Cleveland Alexander, with 374 lifetime wins, had his Series troubles, too. He was 3-2. He made baseball lore in relief in 1926 when he struck out Tony Lazzeri, but in a Series against the Yankees two years later, his earned-run-average was 19.80.

ABC would like it if the larger-than-life set, the super-heroes, would take over World Series ’89. But they better keep the cameras on the .250 hitters, just in case.

I mean, Jose Uribe, anyone? Robby Thompson? The other Henderson?

My money’s on that Oakland second baseman, Tony Something-or-other. I think it’s Phillips. But it may be Phelps. He’s a cinch.