He’s an Oldie, but This Trade Still a Goodie

Dave Winfield for Mike Witt? This isn’t the deal of the century. It’s merely the steal of the century.

Win with Winnie--that’s our motto from now on. Welcome, David, and pick up a stick.

We thought the Angels would get next to nothing for Witt, which is just about what he was worth. Instead, the Angels got one of the truly outstanding outfielders of the game, a guy who’s got plenty of swings left in those 38-year-old arms, believe me.

We’ll take Winfield, a good man to have around and be around, any day over Witt, who had the personality of a bat rack.

Put the new guy in right field, Doug Rader, and leave him there. Put him smack dab into the middle of the batting order and leave him there. The Angels need some thump.

Even if it is only May, the season and the Oakland Athletics are slipping away.

If the Angels don’t start delivering some hits, there are going to be a lot of red-faced people in Orange County. Especially the ones who paid Mark Langston the approximate net worth of the principality of Monaco to come pitch.

Dave Winfield will be a friend indeed to our friends in need. Barring impossible-to-predict recurrences of his backache, Winfield will help those anxious Angel pitchers get some runs.

Don’t concern yourself with that benching Winfield took from Bucky Dent. That was just another experiment in psychology by the mad scientist, Dr. Frankensteinbrenner, who assumed that Winfield would have too much pride to ride the pines and would welcome a trade to, hell, Atlanta, much less Anaheim.

As usual, the owner of the New York Yankees was outwitted. Probably because he is playing short-handed.

Winfield didn’t succumb to Steinbrenner’s emotional blackmail. He waited it out. He asserted his rights. He put Mike Port and the Californians on hold, until he could work out an agreement to his complete satisfaction.

And in the meantime, if he could make Steinbrenner squirm a mite, so much the better.

What would be wonderful now is if Winfield starts bopping the baseball all over the lot. He just joined the club in Milwaukee and should be tipping his cap to the local folks next Wednesday when Toronto hits town, and when Winfield hits Toronto pitching.

Ostensibly, the Yankees yanked Winfield from their starting lineup because the old-timer couldn’t swing the bat the way he used to, having gone into an 0-for-20 spin.

Listen up here. You do not bench a 12-time All-Star at the beginning of May because he goes hitless over the course of five games. Especially when this individual has just missed an entire season with an injury and was short-changed half of his spring training. He needs the strokes to get his eye back.

Furthermore, in one of New York’s games in April, Winfield clubbed two home runs. Wow, this poor soul is really washed up, isn’t he?

We saw Winfield on television and were impressed, even when he was striking out. Nobody uncorks a swing the way Winfield does, whipping that thing around like a hammer thrower. He looked just fine up there taking his rips.

The man has hit 360 home runs. Bet he hits 400 before he’s through.

It has been a season of indignities for Dave Winfield, who was left off the All-Star ballot. Whoever makes up those ballots must have gotten slugged in the head with something from Louisville.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Yanks for their regular-as-clockwork contributions to the Angel outfield, from Reggie Jackson to Claudell Washington to Luis Polonia to Winfield. We’ll be expecting Deion Sanders any week now.

Dave Winfield, as must be obvious, is one of our favorite ballplayers. He lends class to the sport, simultaneously handling himself like a gentleman while minding his own business. He can be happy-go-lucky one moment and quiet the next, but he almost always remains eloquent and elegant in his approach to the task.

Funny how the little memories stick with you, but the image of Winfield that comes to mind for us is from the 1981 World Series, when, after 19 hitless turns at bat and considerable wailing from the Big Apple’s public and press, Winfield finally lined the little apple into left field for a hit.

At first base, he tipped his cap to the crowd and requested that the game be stopped and the ball be saved.

The Angels can use his wry humor and gentle manner, and who knows? Maybe Winfield, like Gene Autry, can finally win himself a World Series one of these years.

Meantime, if we have to endure one more word about the “leadership” Winfield will supply, we might choke like a Cub in October. The Angels do not need a leader. Men this old and this rich do not require leadership. They require hits.

Good deal, Mike Port. This was the biggest heist since the Brink’s job. This was the Bronx job.

Oh, and a word about the departing Mike Witt.

Bye.