Dempsey Is Diving Into 4th Decade

First game, Kansas City, 1969. Pitcher Dave Boswell of the Minnesota Twins is going for his 20th victory of the season. The kid just up from the Class-A Wisconsin Rapids will be his catcher.

Twenty-one years later, Rick Dempsey sits on a trunk in the Dodger clubhouse, wrapped in a blue towel and baked from working four hours in the sun, remembering as though it happened an hour ago.

“It was the third hitter. I called for a fastball outside, and here comes a fastball inside,” Dempsey recalls. “I catch it, and then I can’t believe it. I thought all major leaguers threw the ball where you asked them to throw it.

“So, I jump up and go to the mound and ask Boswell, ‘Why did you throw that ball inside?’ He just looks at me and laughs. And laughs.”

And now Dempsey laughs. It is 1990: Boswell retired 18 years ago, Dempsey is about to become only the third major league catcher to play in four decades, and a lot of things are funny.

“You get older, you learn not to try things you are no longer capable of doing,” said Dempsey, 40. “Like, you try not to run too hard. And like, you stop diving into grandstands. That’s always a killer, diving into grandstands.”

Dempsey was gently reminded that just last season, he dived into the box seats in Cincinnati.

“Oh, yeah, I guess I did,” he admitted. “Like I said, I got to work on that.”

The Dodger backup catcher works on that, and other things, in following an informal set of Rules for Four Decades.

Rule No. 1: Keep Your Mask On.

It was in Baltimore, and the Orioles led Cleveland, 3-2, with Tippy Martinez pitching, Dempsey catching and the Indians’ Brett Butler on first base.

“Butler starts toward second base like he’s stealing, only just as Tippy gets ready to start his windup, he falls down,” Dempsey remembered. “I jumped up and threw off my mask and shouted for Tippy to throw to first base. . . . Then I realize it’s too late. He’s going to pitch the ball anyway, and here I am behind the batter with no mask.”

Dempsey said he did what any tough competitor would do.

“I fell down and covered my head and hoped I didn’t get killed,” he said. “The ball went all the way to the backstop, and Butler scored and tied the game.”

Dempsey has managed to wear his mask for parts of 21 years, through 1,635 regular-season games and three World Series with five teams. It is this experience that the Dodgers valued when they signed him before the 1988 season. And it is this experience that has caused the Dodgers to keep signing him every year since.

“Tell you what,” said Mickey Hatcher, one of many impressed teammates. “I just want to live (in) four decades.”

What do Jim Perry, Catfish Hunter, Mike Flanagan, Steve Stone, Jim Palmer, Steve Carlton, Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela have in common? All were Cy Young Award winners caught by Dempsey.

What do Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Dodger instructor John Roseboro and even Dodger pitching coach Ron Perranoski have in common? They played for Dempsey’s first Minnesota team.

And yet here he is, coming off a season in which he caught only 26% of the team’s innings, but during those innings the league’s top pitching staff had a 2.28 earned-run average, considerably lower than its overall 2.95 ERA. Old arm and all, opponents were successful on only 26 of 47 attempted steals against him. Just to make sure nobody would forget this arm over the winter, he threw out eight of his last 12 potential base-stealers.

His .179 batting average, the second-lowest in his career, didn’t bother the Dodgers. He is not being paid to hit, and he knows it. Talk to him after he hits a game-winning home run, then talk to him after he goes hitless but his pitcher throws a shutout. See when he’s happier.

“For me, helping a pitcher get a win is like hitting 10 home runs,” Dempsey said. “That’s the reason I’m here. For the pitchers. For wins.”

Rule No. 2: Don’t Be Cool.

Other than his arm and sense of humor, there have been a couple of other consistent aspects to Dempsey’s career. For 21 years, he has not smoked. Or drunk liquor. Or--this is the big one here--chewed or dipped tobacco. Many major leaguers can’t go 21 minutes without tobacco.

“OK, I dipped a little snuff once, with Robin Yount in a fishing boat,” Dempsey said. “I got so dizzy, I fell over the side of the boat and nearly dropped into 200 feet of water.”

Dempsey has also never worn eye black. Or wrist bands. Or anything else that young players think makes them look good.

“What does it matter how you look?” he asked. “And why should you care what everybody thinks? I remember when everybody wanted to chew tobacco, then smoke dope, then snort cocaine. I would always think, besides all that stuff being bad for you, if laying off it would give me an extra two or three years later on, it’s worth it.

“As you can see, it’s been worth it.”

Rule No. 3: It’s OK to Play Golf in the Winter, as Long as You Jog to the Golf Course.

“The thing you notice about Rick,” starting catcher Mike Scioscia said, “is what tremendous shape he keeps himself in.”

Dempsey begins off-season training the day after the season. If his dog wants to walk, he runs it. If he wants to play golf at a course 3 1/2 miles away, he runs there. Always, he returns home and lifts weights.

Around Christmas, he stays away from all exercise--”It’s supposed to be a festive time, right?” he says.

But in January, it starts again and then peaks at the start of spring training. This year, spring training started 32 days late, but Dempsey peaked anyway, and became so eager that he flew to Florida for training camp two days before the end of the lockout. It helped that his son, John, a catcher in the St. Louis organization, was playing in St. Petersburg. He watched him until camp opened.

Since arriving, he has done the usual: Play every inning humanly possible, wind down with 200 swings in the batting cage, then refuse to tell anybody he is even thinking about retiring.

“Retiring?” Rick Dempsey asked, as if it were a foreign word. “Why?”

Dodger Notes

The Dodgers have rescheduled the six home games that were wiped out because of the lockout-caused delay in opening the season. The games scheduled for April 3-4-5 against the San Diego Padres will be played October 1-2-3 at Dodger Stadium, all at 7:30 p.m. As for the San Francisco Giant series, the April 6 game will be played on April 16 at 7 p.m, the April 7 game on April 30 at 7 p.m. and the April 8 game on Aug. 1 at 7 p.m., all at Dodger Stadium. New tickets will be issued for all six games.

The Dodgers evened their spring record at 1-1 by losing to the Montreal Expos, 6-1, Tuesday at Vero Beach, Fla. Of the five Dodger pitchers, the most interesting was the No. 1 draft pick of 1987, Dan Opperman, making his first appearance with the big league team after missing all of the ’87 and ’88 seasons because of elbow operations. In two innings, he allowed three runs on six hits, and will probably start the season at double-A San Antonio. . . . The Dodger offense managed only three hits against four Montreal pitchers, scoring its only run when Alfredo Griffin singled in his first spring start.

Hubie Brooks was the first casualty of the hurried spring Tuesday, as he missed the game with a tightened left hamstring. He still did his complete workout. With Griffin and Jeff Hamilton playing Tuesday, three projected opening-day starters have yet to play in games--Mike Scioscia, Willie Randolph and Kal Daniels. All three could see their first action either today or Thursday.