Braves’ Pendleton Haunts the Padres

The phone call came to the Padre offices in November. Agent Jim Bronner was on the line. He was informing them that free-agent third baseman Terry Pendleton wanted to play for the Padres.

It was the ideal situation, Pendleton figured. Everyone knew the Padres needed a third baseman. Pendleton wasn’t returning to St. Louis. Why not consummate the marriage as quickly as possible?

“What they told me,” Pendleton said, “was, ‘Yes, we’re looking for a third baseman.’

“ ‘No, you’re not the third baseman we’re looking for.’ ”

Pendleton, sitting in the Atlanta Braves’ clubhouse Sunday after their 9-7 victory over the Padres, rolled his eyes. His face broke into an expansive smile.

“They later apologized for that comment.”

The Padres, and everyone in baseball who needed a third baseman, now look awfully silly for ignoring Pendleton.

Pendleton not only is leading the Braves with a .330 batting average with 12 homers and 54 RBIs, and not only is among the league leaders with a .522 slugging percentage, but he has emerged as one of the leading candidates for the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

“Who else is there,” said John Schuerholz, Braves general manager. “I can’t put anybody off the Dodgers in the same category as Terry.”

Said Braves Manager Bobby Cox: “I would have been happy as hell if he had hit just .260-.270, and played his usual Gold Glove defense for us. But my God, to do this, he’s just been unbelievable.”

And to think the Padres could have had Pendleton on their team, instead of shuttling back and forth seven different third basemen, still looking for someone to emerge. The Padres thought they were set with Jim Presley. They believed Scott Coolbaugh was the answer. They tried Paul Faries, Marty Barrett and Garry Templeton. Now they are platooning Tim Teufel and Jack Howell.

“How can you figure something like that,” said Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager. “His numbers never indicated he’d do this. I’m very surprised.”

Pendleton hurt the Padres once again Sunday, driving in the first run of the game in the Braves’ six-run first inning. Padre starter Dennis Rasmussen barely had worked a sweat before Ron Gant hit a three-run homer, and Francisco Cabrera followed with a two-run homer.

The Padres cut the lead to 8-6 in the top of the sixth, and looked like they were going move ahead. With runners on first and second, and two outs, Tony Gwynn hit reliever Mike Stanton’s pitch deep to left field.

“I said, ‘Yeah, it’s gone,’ “Gwynn said. “I hit that baby good. I came around first, and there was (Keith) Mitchell camped under it.

“I couldn’t believe it.”

The Padres cut the lead to 8-7 in the eighth on Jack Howell’s run-scoring single, but the Braves added a run in the bottom of the inning on Mitchell’s single, and the Padres ran out of time.

“Man, am I glad to see those guys leaving town,” Pendleton said.

Catcher Mike Heath looked at him and said, “We’ll be all right as long as you don’t leave with them.”

Pendleton has become the heart of the Braves. He was considered well past his prime went he went on the free agent market. He batted only .230 last season. He never batted higher than .286 in a full season, and his career batting average was .258. The Cardinals no longer had use for him.

When Pendleton and Bronner started calling, they learned that many teams agreed with the Cardinals. The only ones who showed any interest were Schuerholz and Gene Michaels, Yankee general manager.

“Those were the only two GMs in the world who showed interest in me,” Pendleton said. “The rest of them didn’t think I could even play the game. There were managers, coaches and players in the league that thought I could play, but no GMs.”

Pendleton chose Atlanta for its lifestyle. He said the beaches in San Diego would have been ideal--his off-season home is in Oxnard. But when a team doesn’t want you, what are you going to do?

“Thank God he came to us,” said Ron Gant, Braves center fielder. “He’s brought leadership to the team which we haven’t had the last couple of years.”

Said Lonnie Smith, Braves left fielder: “The man’s meant everything to us, and we can thank Dal Maxvill (Cardinal general manager) for that. If he wasn’t so stingy, he’d still be there. He’s more concerned about saving money than he is about fielding a good club. What an idiot.”

The Cardinals had little interest in retaining Pendleton. They were upset when he won his arbitration award in the winter of 1990, receiving $1.85 million. And in September, they moved catcher Todd Zeile to third base, preparing for Pendleton’s departure.

“When I filed for free agency, my agent told me, ‘We’ll still keep the door open for the Cardinals,’ “Pendleton said. “I said, ‘No, you don’t. Don’t you dare. I’ll take a pay-cut before I come back to this team.’

“I told Maxvill, ‘You’ve basically been screwing me for six years. You personally. And I’m not going to take it anymore.’

“So you see, that was easy to walk away from.

“And man, what a situation I’ve walked into.”

The Braves, despite losing two of three games to the Padres over the weekend, have moved to 3 1/2 games of the division-leading Dodgers. Atlanta, once a lethargic baseball community, has embraced the team. The situation is ideal.

“It would have been nice playing for the Padres,” Pendleton, “but maybe it was fate they didn’t want me. Right now, I couldn’t be happier.”

Unfortunately for the Padres, they can’t say the same.