Looks Are Deceiving When Chicago’s Thigpen Is on the Mound : White Sox: Reliever has no gimmicks or a mean stare. Instead, he has three pitches that have enabled him to tie the major league save record.

Bobby Thigpen doesn’t stomp around the mound like Al Hrabosky or glare down at hitters like Goose Gossage, and never will the Chicago White Sox right-hander be seen pumping his fist and exhorting the crowd like Tug McGraw.

Unlike many renowned relievers, Thigpen has no gimmicks, no act, just a darting fastball, a nasty slider and an outstanding changeup that have enabled him to earn 46 saves and tie the major league record set in 1986 by Dave Righetti of the New York Yankees.

“Obviously, I don’t intimidate anybody with my looks, like Hrabosky or Gossage and I don’t have Lee Smith’s physique. Tom Henke’s another guy like that,” said Thigpen, a lean and clean-cut 6-foot-3, 195-pounder who would be dwarfed by the Cardinals’ 6-6, 250-pound Smith or Toronto’s 6-5, 225-pound Henke.

“By the time guys like Smith and Henke release the ball, they’ve cut six to eight feet off the distance to the hitter. I just go out and try to do my job without having to resort to any of that. If I can make the pitches I’m supposed to make, whatever Carlton (Fisk) or Karko (Ron Karkovice) put down, I’ll be successful.”

The 27-year-old Floridian has enjoyed unprecedented success this season, keeping the White Sox in the AL West chase with a record-tying 13 saves in August, including a 1 1/3-inning stint Friday in Chicago’s 6-5 victory over the Angels at Anaheim Stadium. After tying Righetti with a save in Chicago’s 9-5 victory over the Angels Saturday, Thigpen is six saves ahead of Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley, who has 40 in 42 opportunities.

“I got 34 the last two years and 40 always seemed so impressive,” Thigpen said. “I guess this is impressive, but if I get 50 this year, what are the chances of me getting 60 next year? We have a young team that’s only going to get better and we might start winning games like Oakland (by big margins). Then you don’t have as many chances for saves . . . It’s a nice feeling but I think it’s a reflection of our team more than anything else. We’ve won a lot of ballgames and we’ve come together.”

Thigpen earned his 40th save on Aug. 19, the soonest any reliever had reached that mark. He got it in Chicago’s 118th game, 23 games and 21 days earlier than Bruce Sutter did it with the Cardinals in 1984 in recording 45 saves. In Righetti’s record season, he earned his 40th save on Sept. 15 in his 74th game, 68 of which he finished; Thigpen has finished in 61 of 64 appearances.

“The record and all those numbers mean nothing to me. If we win every game from here on out by four runs . . . that would be fine,” said Thigpen, the leader of a relief corps that includes left-handers Kenny Patterson and Scott Radinsky--whose four saves ranks second on the team--and right-handers Barry Jones, Donn Pall and Adam Peterson.

“It’s an accomplishment I’ll appreciate more when the season’s over and I have time to sit down and think back on it. I still have a job to do.”

Thigpen has done his job well enough to convert 46 of 53 save opportunities and lead the American League with 64 appearances encompassing 72 2/3 innings. In a 13-day span beginning Aug. 13, Thigpen made eight appearances and earned five saves for 10 innings’ work. He had reduced his earned-run average to 1.97 before yielding a three-run home run to Angel first baseman Lee Stevens last Saturday. His ERA is now 2.11.

“I enjoy working. I pitched in four games in a row twice this year and I felt better in the fourth than the first,” Thigpen said. “Say I have two or three days off. When I get out there again, I feel so strong physically, I tend to overthrow the ball and my fastball straightens out. When I pitch a lot and I’m a little tired, I slow myself down mechanically and I let my arm do the work and I pitch better.”

He’s pitching better because he’s pitching more often, and he’s pitching more often because the White Sox are still in a race few expected them to be in, 5 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics.

“The fact that we’re in so many games means there’s more chances for saves,” Thigpen said. “Our style of play is another reason I get in so many games. We don’t blow people out; most games we win are going to be close. I’m not that much different a person or a pitcher than before. I have the slider, but I still get guys out with what I got them out with before.

“Each year before this, I faltered in something, my ERA or something else because we weren’t in a lot of games and I’d go in after not pitching for four or five days. I wouldn’t go out with the same approach mentally and I’d give up four or five runs. This year, I’ve been trying to stay more focused and intense.”

The improvement of his slider, which he once threw only early in the count, has also been crucial to his success this season. Not only is it more effective, but it makes his dancing fastball--which can reach 90 to 93 m.p.h.--look better by contrast.

“I’ve thrown it at 3-and-2, 2-and-1, whenever it’s called for, and Carlton’s not afraid to call it,” Thigpen said. “I can throw it more consistently for strikes and I’m not just showing it to hitters. It’s an out pitch for me.”

Almost every pitch seems to be an out pitch for Thigpen.

“He had been very successful with just his fastball for a couple of years, but last year he started plugging in his slider a little bit and he started working on his changeup in the pen,” said White Sox bullpen coach Dave LaRoche, who holds the Angel career record of 65 saves and pitched for five teams during his 14-year major league career.

“I never said, ‘You have to have the slider,’ but more like, ‘Let’s tinker with it. If a hitter gives you trouble, why not try it?’ Now he’s got confidence in all three pitches, although I think to most hitters in the league, if one pitch is going to make the difference in the game, they’re still going to get the fastball. That’s still his bread and butter.”

Manager Jeff Torborg, who was the Yankees’ bullpen coach when Gossage pitched in New York, hopes Thigpen stays hungry for saves.

“He reminds me a lot of Goose,” Torborg said. “I used to give Goose the ball just like you would feed an animal, just put it in my palm and let him grab it. All the good ones are the same with the stomach. When the (bullpen) phone rings, they want to go into the game.”

LaRoche also sees similarities in Thigpen and Gossage.

“He’s a lot like Goose in that he’s laid-back and gentle, but once he gets to the mound he’s mean,” LaRoche said. “Goose had that Fu Manchu (mustache) and looked mean. Bobby gets revved up inside--he just gives a normal appearance . . . He has the perfect temperament for anything in life. He’s laid-back and easy going.

“He’ll have a good time as much as anybody, but he doesn’t get crazy and loud and he’s not wild and flaky like the left-handers,” said LaRoche, who serves as a sort of camp counselor to Chicago’s young and talented relief corps. “He’s perfect for me as a coach. I think the ace of your bullpen should set an example for everyone out there and if I’d have to control him, I’d have to control the whole pen.”

Thigpen knows the A’s control the AL West race. “They’ve proven they can win. We’re unproven and people are still learning what kind of team we’re capable of having,” Thigpen said. “We’re confident in what we can do, even though it seems like everyone is waiting for us to crack, waiting for us to fold . . .

“This year has been great. At this time last year, it still seemed like June, it was going too slow. This year is flying by. It’s fun to come to the park. Guys are starting to understand what it is to win and getting the feeling of winning. It’s a great attitude to have and it’s great to get this type of experience.

“I hope this isn’t a dream season. Shoot, I’d like to do this again next year. I don’t think this is a fluke, a fake. As young as we are, we can do this for a number of years and we should get even better.”

THE 40-SAVE CLUB

NAME TEAM SEASON NUMBER DAVE RIGHETTI New York Yankees 1986 46 BOBBY THIGPEN Chicago White Sox 1990 46 DENNIS ECKERSLEY Oakland Athletics 1988 45 DAN QUISENBERRY Kansas City Royals 1983 45 BRUCE SUTTER St. Louis Cardinals 1984 45 MARK DAVIS San Diego Padres 1989 44 DAN QUISENBERRY Kansas City Royals 1984 44 JEFF REARDON Minnesota Twins 1988 42 JEFF REARDON Montreal Expos 1985 41 STEVE BEDROSIAN Philadelphia Phillies 1987 40 DENNIS ECKERSLEY Oakland Athletics 1990 40