PADRE NOTEBOOK : Tony Gwynn’s Impatience Becomes Weariness

Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn kept pacing back and forth. He’d sit down a few minutes, start talking, look at the clock, and start pacing again.

“I’ve waited all winter for this; let’s get going,” Gwynn said. “I can’t stand it.”

Finally, 30 minutes late because of photo day, the Padres took the field, showing off their new uniforms.

Nearly four hours later, Gwynn was back at his locker, trudging to the showers, and muttering to himself why he had looked forward to such abuse.

“I never had a first day like this,” Gwynn said, groaning. “There was no standing around at all. No killing time. Nothing. The only free time you had was when you were standing on-deck.”

Well, did the first day of hitting off pitchers make up for the fatigue?

“You know something,” Gwynn said, “I worked hard over the winter, I really did. But I wasn’t quite ready for Eddie Whitson. I’m telling you, he was in mid-season form.

“For this first time this winter, the word adjustment came to mind.”

Padre left fielder Jerald Clark, who stayed in San Diego during the off-season instead of returing to Crockett, Texas, decided along with his wife that they would buy a home in San Diego.

They hired a real estate agent, found the perfect house for their liking, signed an agreement to buy the house and filed for a loan application.

Clark told the loan agent that he played for the Padres, earned about $80,000 last season with his split-contract, and is expected to make more than $100,000.

Everything looked good . . . until the loan agent telephoned the Padres to verify employment.

Well, yes, the Padres confirmed that Clark currently is employed.

Yes, he has been a loyal employee for the past six years in the organization.

But, sorry, the Padres said, they can not guarantee he’ll be around this season.

“I guess that’s life in the big leagues,” Clark said.

The house will wait.

While the crowd gasped watching Fred McGriff rip a few pitches over the right-field fence, and cheered when Bip Roberts took his hacks, the loudest response occurred when Whitey Wietelmann’s golf cart ran out of power while picking up balls at second base.

The Padre practice certainly couldn’t go on with a golf cart sitting in the middle of the infield, so second baseman Marty Barrett and infielder Bip Roberts came to the rescue. They managed to push the cart off the field, much to the delight of the fans.

Padre Notes

The Padres, spurning Rawlings as their uniform manufacturer, might have to pay the price. The company they used, Goodmans, is going out of business. The Padres believe they ordered enough uniforms, however, to last the season. . . . The Padres finally were able to obtain a visa for pitcher Rafael Valdez out of the Dominican Republic, and he’s expected to report early next week. . . . The Padres will play an intrasquad game against their mini-campers at 12:05 p.m. (PST) today. Candy Sierra, Rich Rodriguez and Rickey Bones are expected to pitch for the Padres. . . . Padre pitcher Andy Benes has a stiff back and was unable to pitch Saturday, but the injury is not considered serious.