Hoffman’s Latest Hat Is That of Manager

Glenn Hoffman spent the better part of 15 professional seasons living out of a suitcase and bouncing around the country in a pattern that probably made sense only to another baseball player.

Hoffman’s bags landed in, in no particular order, Elmira, N.Y., Winter Haven, Fla., Boston, Pawtucket, R.I., New Britain, Conn., Anaheim, Los Angeles and Albuquerque, N.M. And those were just the home ports for Hoffman, a 1976 graduate of Savanna High School.

Though he is a veteran of moves to out-of-the-way places, three weeks ago Hoffman was feeling out of sorts on two accounts.

First, he was in Great Falls, Mont., for the first time in his life.

And second, he was in charge for the first time in his career, after having been named manager of the Dodgers’ rookie league affiliate in the Pioneer League earlier this year.

“It’s a good town,” Hoffman said of Great Falls. “We’re trying to make it home. For a lot of these guys, it’s their first time away from home. And it’s my first time (as a manager), too. We’re trying to make this our home base.”

So far, so good.

Great Falls is 7-4 this season, going against teams in Idaho, Montana, Utah and Alberta, Canada. Early season home crowds at 5,000-seat Legion Field, a first-class minor league facility, according to Hoffman, have averaged 3,000.

“We’re just getting them ready for the 50,000 in Los Angeles,” Hoffman said.

In the rookie leagues, nothing is taken for granted.

For most of Hoffman’s players, it’s the first time they’ve played in front of as many fans. Most are still in their teens, fresh from their high school graduations and they have to adjust to everything imaginable.

“They’re excited,” Hoffman said. “This is their first time in pro ball and they’re gung-ho and eager to learn.”

Hoffman, who spent last season as a player/coach at the Dodgers’ triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque, is adjusting right along with his players.

So far the toughest thing to deal with is the travel. Bus rides in the Pioneer League can be brutal. By Hoffman’s estimation, the Great Falls Dodgers will travel 5,800 miles in the next 2 1/2 months. At week’s end, the team had made trips to Billings, Mont., and Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Another difficult adjustment has been sitting out the action. When things are going bad in a game, Hoffman can’t simply grab a bat or a glove and head to the field.

“I’m still in the game,” he said, “but I’m not throwing (the ball) and catching it. I’m still thinking right along with the game. There’s where you really have to make the transition. You don’t have that (physical affect on the game) anymore.”

Trivia time: At Savanna, Hoffman hit .397, committed just two errors and was named Orange County’s player of the year in 1976. Name one of the two current county high school baseball coaches who joined Hoffman as all-county infielders that year.

Two years removed from one of the all-time oddball trades in minor league history, Tim Fortugno has been promoted to the Milwaukee Brewers’ triple-A affiliate at Denver.

Yes, this is same Tom Fortugno, a pitcher from Southern California College. Who could ever forget Fortugno’s part in the April, 1989 trade between the Reno Silver Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers? The Silver Sox, an unaffiliated team in the Class-A California League, sent Fortugno to the Brewers’ organization in exchange for $2,500 in cold cash and 144 brand new baseballs.

Since then, Fortugno moved around the Brewers’ farm system before finally landing in Denver two weeks ago. After three games, he is 0-0 with a 5.68 earned-run average with nine strikeouts and two walks.

Before the move, he was 5-1 with a 2.15 ERA and three saves in 19 appearances at double-A El Paso. His strikeouts-to-walks ratio, always a strong part of his game, was 66 to 24.

Until this year, 1990 had been Fortugno’s best season. He was 8-4 with a 1.56 ERA and seven saves in 31 games for Class-A Beloit, Wis., and later 2-3 with a 3.14 ERA and two saves in 12 games for El Paso.

Add promotions: Scott Holcomb, a 1986 El Dorado High graduate, is 0-0 but has a 2.79 ERA in eight games since joining the New York Yankees’ double-A affiliate at Albany, N.Y.

He was 1-0 with a 1.26 ERA in nine games for Class-A Prince William, Va., in the Carolina League.

Trivia answer: Either Chris Pascal, Kennedy’s coach, who batted .400 as an infielder for Los Alamitos or Doug Elliott, Sunny Hills’ coach, who batted .407 for Fullerton.

Greg Hansell, Orange County’s player of the year in 1989 as a senior at Kennedy, has found the California League to his liking.

Drafted by the Boston Red Sox after posting a 13-1 record with 123 strikeouts in 96 innings at Kennedy in 1989, then traded to the New York Mets’ organization last July 27 as part of the Mike Marshall deal, Hansell landed in the Dodgers’ organization last December.

A 6-foot-4, 200-pound right-hander who was a three-sport standout at Kennedy, Hansell has a 10-4 record with a 2.80 ERA in 15 starts for the Dodgers’ Class-A affiliate at Bakersfield.

So far this season, he’s shown the same good control he had in high school, striking out 91 and walking 24 in 86 2/3 innings.