‘Washed Up?’ Reuschel Says ‘Ha!’

Rick Reuschel, the 40-year-old Opening Day starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, has been hearing three of the nastiest words in baseball for nine springs now:

“He’s washed up.”

That’s what “they” have said since Reuschel underwent rotator cuff surgery before the 1982 season. Reuschel figures that maybe next year or the year after, “they” will be right.

“Except I’m going to trick them,” he said. “I’m not going to be here that spring when that happens. I can’t tell you how I’ll know, but I’ll know.

“I think I surprise people--not baseball people, but the press--by showing up every year. And I surprise them again by finishing out the year. To them--not all of them, but some of them--it’s incomprehensible. They don’t understand how that can be.”

Reuschel has won 36 games and been named to the All-Star Team the last two seasons. But he hasn’t won with power, the way Nolan Ryan does in his 40s. And he hasn’t won with off-speed stuff, the way Tommy John did in his 40s.

He has won quickly, throwing just 90 to 100 pitches in his better nine-inning games. He has won quietly, shunning group interviews and public appearances.

So, much as he hates having to justify his presence in the game each spring, he seems to understand why he must continue to do so.

“I don’t know if I even understand why I’ve been successful, because I don’t do anything particularly well except throw a lot of strikes and keep my teammates in the game,” Reuschel said. “It’s not attention-getting. It’s not flashy. It’s not 12 or 15 strikeouts a game. It’s not 95- and 98-m.p.h. fastballs. That’s the stuff that people like to write about and see.”

Reuschel’s teammates, who call him “Big Daddy,” like to talk about the example he sets and the motivation he inspires.

Reliever Jose Alvarez, 33 years old with but only two years in the majors, takes comfort in Reuschel’s advancing age.

Said Alvarez: “Big Daddy’s proved over and over again: It’s not age that gets people out, it’s what you have.”

“That’s nice of them to say that,” Reuschel said. “It doesn’t make me feel old. I feel old all by myself--I don’t need help.

“And I don’t worry about it. As long as I’m healthy and can go out there, I don’t worry about the age. I think health has a lot more to do with it than age--although it gets harder every year to convince people of that. So I don’t try any more.”

The proverbial critic known as “they” kept creeping into Reuschel’s conversation Sunday, as he took to the stationary bike in preparation for today’s Cactus League opener against the Cleveland Indians.

Without prompting, Reuschel answers the critics who say he’s too old or too overweight.

“I can still do the things I need to do, and I work hard at it,” said Reuschel, who is listed at 240 pounds. “I’ve definitely slowed down, and I can’t do some of the things I used to do. As far as the pitching end, I can still do all that. I can’t run the bases like I used to be able to, and I probably am not as good a fielder as I was five-six years ago--but I think I’m still one of the best. And I work hard at it. I do it because it’s important to my game to be able to help out.

“I play the game for myself and my teammates, and I don’t really give a crap what anybody else thinks.”

Reuschel is such a no-nonsense guy that he would gladly give up the Opening Day start scheduled for April 10 in Atlanta.

“It’s an honor on the one hand and a pain in the rear end on the other,” he said. “I mean, you never start on time and there’s all this other baloney going on that tries to take away from your concentration in the game. My druthers: Let somebody else deal with it.”

Manager Roger Craig, however, has not lost an Opening Day as a manager and does not intend to take his chances now. Besides, he has noticed that Reuschel looks as sharp as he did last spring, before he won 17 games, and the spring before that, before he won 19.

Reuschel would not predict similar results in 1990. He does, however, predict that he’ll be back in camp next spring--trying to justify his presence again at age 41.

“I’d like to try to stay a year ahead of them as far as when I’m going to retire,” he said. “It wouldn’t be before the end of 1991.

“Then, next spring, I’ll come in and say that I don’t intend to retire after this year, but it might be as early as the end of 1992.

“When I come to spring training, my intentions are to play for two more years, until I decide to quit. Then, I just won’t show up at spring training that year.”