Braves’ Willard Catches Another Lucky Break on the Fly

In this, the Mark Lemke-Scott Leius-Greg Gagne World Series, it only had to figure that the wheel of fortune would eventually get around to Jerry Willard.

Was there anyone anywhere on either roster more obscure than Willard, a ping-hitting 31-year-old catcher who was out of baseball in 1988, out of the majors in 1989 and out on the field for a total of 17 big league at-bats in 1990 and 1991?

Francisco Cabrera, you say?

On the Atlanta Brave catching depth chart, Cabrera backs up Greg Olson. Willard backs up Cabrera. Cabrera appeared in 44 games for the Braves this season, batted 95 times. Compared to Willard (17 games, 14 at-bats), Cabrera is Cal Ripken.

For his first decade in professional baseball, Willard was king of the road. He broke in during 1980 in Bend, and from there it was on to Peninsula, Reading, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Maine, Tacoma, Oakland, Birmingham, Vancouver and Chicago. Since his three illustrious at-bats for the White Sox in 1990, Willard has been king of the Richmond-to-Atlanta shuttle--up and down three times in the last seven months.

He became a stowaway on the Braves’ postseason roster only by way of a lucky break and some bone chips. When the Atlanta catching corps is at full strength, Willard is no better than fifth string. Mike Heath should be here, but bone fragments in his left elbow made him a non-candidate. Damon Berryhill should be here, but the Braves traded for him after the Sept. 1 deadline, when playoff rosters are set.

Willard snuck in, not because of his batting average (.251 career), but because of his batting stance (left-handed). “I knew I had a chance,” Willard says, “because I knew they needed a third catcher and Tommy Gregg was the only left-handed hitter on the bench. I figured the odds were pretty good.”

But what of the odds late Wednesday night--that the last pitch of Game 4 of the World Series would be thrown to Willard and that Willard would pop it far enough to right field to enable Lemke to tag up and slide around a lunging Brian Harper for the tie-breaking run in Atlanta’s Series-tying 3-2 victory?

A sacrifice fly, a sacrifice of anonymity. “Whoa,” said Willard as he raised a shielding hand to his face, literally blinded by the light of the television cameras crowding his locker.

“Here we go.”

Willard couldn’t remember anything like it. And he tried. Several times he was asked to recount his previous most memorable moment. Several times, Willard answered, “I can’t think of one.”

Finally, the light bulb went off.

“Well, I had a walk against the Dodgers this year,” he managed. It wasn’t much, but it kicked off an 11th-inning rally that gave the Braves a critical 3-2 September victory. “There were a lot of reporters around me then, too, and I couldn’t understand the big deal. I guess it was a key walk.”

The Angels can top that. They remember Willard--how could they forget?--as the man who kept them out of the 1985 playoffs. Last week of the regular season in Cleveland. Angels blow a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth. In the bottom of the ninth, Willard breaks a 5-5 tie with a home run . . . and a few days later, the Angels finish the regular season one game behind Kansas City in the American League West.

Willard’s memory might have been out of shape, but once a reporter jogged it for him, Willard was off and running.

“Oh sure,” he said. “I still remember the pitch--a slider from (Stewart) Cliburn. I’ll never forget it. I’m from California, I grew up 2 1/2 hours from Anaheim Stadium and I remember how badly I wanted to beat them.

“That would’ve been my biggest moment.

“Until this.”

Again, Wednesday, Willard was the fortunate benefactor of circumstances. In the bottom of the ninth, with Lemke on third base and one out, Cox needed a left-handed pinch-hitter. With Gregg having already pinch hit, Willard was the only hand available.

He got his chance and nearly blew it. Two weak fouls to the screen, two balls to even the count--and then a mid-range fly ball to Minnesota right fielder Shane Mack, who was playing shallow.

Lemke tagged and broke for the plate, a 50-50 proposition at best. Mack’s throw home was accurate but a tad short. Harper, the Twins’ catcher, had to step up for the ball and by the time he turned to tag the runner, Lemke was squirming and contorting himself away from the ball and toward the plate. If Harper tagged Lemke with anything, it was only his left elbow.

“I thought it was going to be long enough,” Willard said of the fly ball. “At least I was hoping. I was trying to wave it goodby--’Further, further.’ And then I saw Mark get a late jump and I’m yelling ‘Go, go!’

“First I’m thinking ‘Oh no.’ And I couldn’t see the play. Then I saw the safe sign. Thank God.”

Lemke swore he wasn’t surprised to see Willard first get the call to pinch hit and then get the ball to sacrifice-fly depth. We assume Lemke to be a God-fearing, honest man, so we take him at his word.

“Jerry’s a good hitter,” Lemke said. “He’s one of the underrated hitters. I know he’s had some good seasons in the minors.”

But these are the majors--and Willard’s at-bat is as major as the majors get. Was he nervous? “No, I was smiling,” Willard said. “I was smiling at the umpire, I was smiling back at Brian. We’re friends from our days together in Tacoma. I was having fun.”

He was playing. After missing all of 1988 with a herniated disk and testing the waters of the real world--”I tried a little construction, a little everything, but I couldn’t handle the 9-to-5 thing”--he was playing again. Maine or the Main Event, the setting doesn’t matter.

“This is what I want to do,” Willard said. “How else can you make a better living and enjoy your job every day you go to work?

“Sure, you gripe about riding the buses around the minors, but you’re out there every day, playing ball. What could be better than that?”

With one 280-foot fly ball Wednesday night, Willard answered his own question.