People Skills Help Flannery Score a Hit in Another Field : Media: Ex-Padre infielder adjusts to television job and relishes the chance the make people “feel better about life.”

Once again, Tim Flannery is filling an appropriate role.

Always a team-oriented man who exemplified the work ethic in his 11-year Padre career, he is a nice fit for his assignment on Channel 8’s 4:30 p.m. news.

“I do everyday stories on everyday people,” Flannery said. “And I always look for good news. Normally, people turn on the news and all they see is bad news. I try to make them feel better about life.”

Flannery, 33, who lives in Leucadia, spoke recently while on location at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, where he did a segment on that hospital’s nurse of the year, Betty Denny.

“She was a wonderful subject for a story,” Flannery said. “She has been a nurse 26 years, and she has never had any aspirations to go into administration. She wants to be with the patients.

“That’s the kind of human-interest stuff I like--stories of people who give of themselves without worrying about the rewards. Those people are inspirational.”

Flannery interviewed Denny, and a cameraman filmed her as she talked to patients. When the session was over, Flannery headed for the studio to put the piece together.

“It’s tough for me to follow the cameraman all the time, because people always stop me and talk baseball,” Flannery said. “On the other hand, I get a lot of good interviews that way.

“At the studio, we break down all the tapes, and I sit down at the computer and write what I’m going to say live on the air. Most segments last just a minute and a half, although some feature pieces run three minutes.

“When I write, I really struggle. I scratch and claw as I labor over the computer. I eat my lunch while I’m logging tape, because I don’t write as quickly as everybody else does. I usually just get the story slapped together in time.”

Jim Holtzman, station manager of Channel 8, recalled that he had approached Flannery about taking a job before the 1989 season, which turned out to be Flannery’s last as a player.

“We visited very briefly during spring training in ‘89,” Holtzman said. “I said I wanted him to be involved in some of our community projects during the season. He said he was concentrating on baseball at that time, but might have some interest in the future. I said, ‘Great. We’ll talk later.’

“In August or so, we talked again, and he told me it was his last season. I told him what I had in mind, and he agreed to join us. I’m thrilled with the way it worked out.”

When Flannery retired after the 1989 season, he left as one of the most popular Padres even though he was relegated to utility infield duty for most of his career. His season high for at-bats was 384, set in 1985 when he took over at second base for the troubled Alan Wiggins.

As intense a competitor as Flannery was, and as much of an overachiever as he was, one might think he would have trouble breaking away from baseball. Many players find the transition to the real world too much to handle.

But Flannery made the adjustment without skipping a beat. As far as he is concerned now, baseball is just something that used to be his occupation.

“I loved what I did,” he said. “I had a passion for baseball, but I had other things I wanted to do. I don’t drive around the stadium wishing I was in there every night.

“Since I played so hard, people can’t understand why I could just walk away from baseball, but I had had enough. I learned that the whole world doesn’t revolve around baseball.”

Then Flannery doesn’t miss baseball at all?

“I don’t miss the travel, and the only place I miss is Wrigley Field in Chicago,” Flannery said. “I miss the humidity and the smell and the sweat. I’m going there for a few days late in the season and visit (Cubs relief pitcher) Dave Smith. He and I are real tight.

“There are other bits and pieces I miss, but there are too many other pleasures that cover things like that. Like picking up the newspaper in the morning and not reading about somebody coming in to take my job.”

Flannery and his wife, Donna, have two children--Daniel, 6, and Virginia, 3--and another due in four weeks, so his switch to a normal home life has been a bonanza.

“Just getting to go home every night is a simple pleasure that people take for granted,” Flannery said. “Swimming lessons with the kids, barbecues in the back yard. Those are things I never had a chance to do when I was playing. Last summer was my first one at home since I was in high school in ’74.

“Of course, there can be exceptions, like taking 16 6-year-olds to a short-order restaurant. I told my wife that wasn’t one of my simple pleasures.”

Flannery struggled through the last season and a half of his career with severe pain in his right ankle. He suffered torn ligaments on May 6, 1987, when he stepped on a baseball hidden under a tarp. Surgery was performed that December, but the ankle continued to bother him.

“I was on the disabled list after I hurt the ankle,” Flannery said. “Larry Bowa was our manager then. He said he had to send Joey Cora down and asked me if I could I come off the DL and play second. I played 120 games on torn ligaments.

“If it hadn’t been for that injury, I probably could have played another year, but I’d lost a step I couldn’t afford to lose.”

The ankle still hasn’t fully healed, and Flannery can’t help but wonder if it ever will. He has to wear inserts not only in his shoes but in the wet suits he uses for surfing, his favorite diversion.

“The injury may have been a blessing in disguise,” he said. “It not only got me locked into something I enjoy, but it reminds me I can’t play anymore.”

Flannery had an opportunity to play in Italy after announcing his retirement from the Padres.

“The offer was for two years, but I turned it down,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave home.”

Flannery’s work at Channel 8 is aired under the title of the “Eight Cares Project,” and Holtzman said it is made to order for him.

“The project preceded Tim by two years,” Holtzman said. “We didn’t have a key personality at first, only a producer handling it. But Tim cares so much about people that he’s a natural for the job.

“He has a knack of finding and gravitating toward the kind of people he feels should be featured. He’s getting to be a TV pro as an on-air person, and he has a positive attitude that makes people feel better just from being around him.”

Flannery doesn’t really have a favorite story, but it sounds like he enjoys many of them.

“One that was especially memorable,” he said, “was the six-part series I did in the Fiji Islands last August. I slept in tree houses and did a lot on the Fijian people. I also went to a surfing camp, so I got to surf almost every day.

“But my favorite thing is just doing stories on everyday people, people who are rich even though they don’t make a lot of money. Like the developmentally disabled, for example. They’re as happy as can be. Sometimes I walk away and wonder who’s got problems.

“When I spend a day with these people, I come home with what I’ve learned from them. Money isn’t everything. Quality of life is everything.”

Flannery’s last statement was particularly interesting in view of the astronomical salaries being paid to so many athletes these days. Flannery never made the real big money.

“The high salaries never bothered me,” he said. “I understand how tough that type of life is. You sacrifice relationships and watching your children grow up.

“No, I don’t have any resentment. Still, I’ve learned so much about people in what I’m doing now. I’ve done a lot of high school stuff and I’ve spent a lot of time with teen-agers. This has given me a sense of hope that the kids are more together than a lot of us were at their age.”

Although Flannery’s project is not aimed at sports, he does report on athletes when he sees a subject that intrigues him.

“I had a five-part series this year on spring training, and I have a couple more baseball stories planned,” he said. “One is on Tim Burke, the Montreal relief pitcher, who has adopted kids from Korea and Latin countries. He’s a great person.”

Flannery has not been a regular at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium since his retirement. His visit last Sunday was only his second of the season.

“Dave Smith left the tickets for me,” he said, “so I was sitting with all the Cub players’ wives who were making their annual trip with the team. It was an interesting day. And just from going to that game, I got three story ideas. I’ve found so many stories out there that were right under my nose.”

Flannery said his biggest hang-up at the start of his second career was mastering the art of dealing with a computer.

“At first I was cussing and kicking the computer,” he said. “I was ready to hire my own secretary. Then all of a sudden I hit it, and I couldn’t live without it now.”

Holtzman believes Flannery has a great future in television.

“Our plans are to watch him grow in his job, and I’m sure he’s going to create more opportunities for himself,” Holtzman said. “I think he’s going to succeed in a big way.”

Of course, there is a possibility Flannery’s success could carry over into a job as a baseball color commentator. In fact, he worked 12 games last season, 10 on Channel 51 when Jerry Coleman was doing games on CBS radio and two on Cox Cable when Ted Leitner got married.

“I liked it, and I think I’m ready for it now,” Flannery said. “When I first got out, I didn’t want to be around baseball. Now if an offer comes up, I’ll talk about it. I’m going to fill in for Kurt Bevacqua on his talk show (on KFMB radio) on July 2 and 3, so that should be fun.

“But even though doing color interests me down the road, I’m not doing this to do that. I’m happy at Channel 8, and there’s no way I would do 162 games. That’s the same schedule I just got away from.”