Feeling Like the New Old Man of the Diamond

To his left is Luis Sojo, the new second baseman, the third second baseman he has neighbored since 1988.

To his right is Gary Gaetti, the new third baseman.

Behind him is Junior Felix, the new center fielder, and flanking Felix are Luis Polonia and Dave Winfield, who became the new left and right fielders 10 months ago.

Dick Schofield used to be the stop sign in the Angel infield. All Ground Balls Halt Here. Today, he feels more like the traffic signal in a busy intersection, with everyone around him either coming or going or in perpetual idle, tapping the gas pedal while waiting for the light to change.

This also makes Schofield feel a little old. He’s only 28, a veteran of seven full major league seasons, but those seven seasons were all spent under the halo, making Schofield the Methuselah of the moment at Anaheim Stadium.

Can you believe it? Little Ducky Schofield--dean of the Angels. The force-fed rookie of 1984 is now the living encyclopedia inside the Angel clubhouse, the only current Angel who can remember what it was like to play with Fred Lynn.

Of course, the way the Angels deal and discard organizational philosophies--youth movement one year, veterans on parade the next--only six can regale you with tales of Cookie Rojas and 1988: Kirk McCaskill and Jack Howell (Class of ‘85), Wally Joyner and Chuck Finley (‘86), Bryan Harvey (‘87) and Schofield.

Schofield, who broke in near the end of the 1983 season, was part of the Angel youth movement of the 1980s, which featured Mike Witt, Gary Pettis and Daryl Sconiers.

Since then, there has been Youth Movement II (Joyner-Howell-Finley), Youth Movement III (Devon White-Mark McLemore-Willie Fraser) and Youth Movement IV (Dante Bichette-Jim Abbott-Lee Stevens).

Schofield has lived through them all and now finds himself living in the same clubhouse with Dave Parker, Dave Winfield, Bert Blyleven, Floyd Bannister and industrial-strength tubs of Ben-Gay.

“Kinda strange, isn’t it?” The Dean says.

Schofield looks back on the good old days of ‘88-89 and smiles wistfully.

“We had Jack, myself, McLemore and Wally--that was going to be the infield (of the future),” Schofield says. “That changed.

“We had Devo and Dante in the outfield--and now they’re gone. These are things that are out of your control. You just try to do the best you can with the people around you and go from there.”

That and ice yourself down after shaking hands around the clubhouse.

Schofield is asked to assess the latest round of Angel transactions, but for a moment, the sensory overload overcomes him.

“What were they again?” he says.

Memory refreshed, Schofield admits to mixed feelings over the Gaetti signing, mainly because Gaetti displaces an old friend. “Gary’s a great player,” Schofield says, “but I hated to see Jack moved to whatever position they’re going to move him to.”

He likes the Parker trade. “Parker is just a plus,” Schofield says. “He is kinda like a role model, always talking, getting people going. You need that, but if you depend on someone like myself to do it, it’s probably not going to get done. I just do my thing; I’m not really into firing people up. I think Parker will help us there.”

Sojo and Felix for White and Fraser? A push. “I had a feeling Devo was going to be gone after last season,” Schofield says. “I think both teams will benefit. I know Junior just killed us when he was with the Blue Jays. Junior’s young and Luis is only 24, 25. I hope they help us like I think Devo is gonna help Toronto. I know he’s gonna be a plus.”

Schofield also had these feelings about Dick Schofield last year after sitting out more than two months with a world champion hamstring pull and then taking a total of three RBIs into the month of August.

They weren’t a plus.

“I thought maybe, if I didn’t play well the last two months, I was going to be gone,” he says. “That is, if anybody wanted me. I mean, somebody’s got to want you before they trade for you.”

The Dean’s list showed a .197 batting average for June and .176 for July. Schofield was right to worry.

His tenure was in jeopardy.

It took a heavier bat and a lighter approach to turn Schofield around. Batting coach Deron Johnson introduced both ideas during a trip through Minnesota at the end of July.

“DJ came up to me in Minnesota and said, ‘Let’s try this,’ ” Schofield says. “At the time, I probably would have gone up there left-handed if he’d suggested it. . . . The idea was to get me hitting to all fields instead of just hacking away.”

Schofield was a hacker from way back, a Cal Ripken wanna-be who, Gene Mauch used to complain, would gladly trade 10 singles for one home run.

But by late July, Schofield had nothing left to trade. It was do this or watch a batting average die a painful death, so Schofield chose to obey Johnson’s command.

He batted .313 in August, .311 after that and finished the season at a career-high .255. “It turned out to be an enjoyable year,” Schofield says, still a bit surprised.

No such remedy exists for the Killer Hamstring, which first struck Schofield as a high-school senior in 1981, so Schofield sits in everlasting fear of being forced to sit again.

“It was the same thing back then--it put me out for two months,” he says. “Nine years later, the same kind of situation.

“I hope it takes another nine years, because I don’t feel like going through that again.”

As Schofield has learned, it is one thing to be the veteran of all Angels.

It is quite another to feel like it.

* IT’S A GOOD SIGN

Angel pitcher Scott Lewis is scheduled to start Thursday, but doesn’t know if it means he’s won a spot in the rotation. C6