PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK / BOB NIGHTENGALE : Sheffield Figures to Field Plenty of Off-Season Requests

The phone rings incessantly in agent Jim Neader’s office in St. Petersburg, Fla., these days. He doesn’t even have to pick up the phone before he knows what they want.

They want a piece of his client, requesting his appearance at this card show, this shopping mall, this car dealership or wherever else he can help generate money.

Since Neader’s client is Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield, his phone number is quite popular.

“We’re fielding at least a call a day as far as card shows and appearances,” Neader said. “It’s been nonstop. Everyone wants him.

“Let’s put it this way, he’s going to be awfully busy this off-season.”

How much does Sheffield stand to make this off-season?

“He can basically make as much as he wants,” Neader said. “It will depend on how much he wants to do. He can pick and choose.”

Sheffield, pursuing the triple crown, said he won’t make the mistake of tiring himself out on the banquet circuit during the off-season.

He plans to spend much of this off-season in San Diego.

“I just want to get acquainted with the community,” Sheffield said. “I never really got a chance this season because I was so busy. But I’d like to feel a part of it, and do some work with kids.

“Hopefully, I can spend a long time with this organization, so I figure I might as well get to know the city.”

Although Sheffield is expected to receive at least a $2.5 million raise from his current $450,000 salary, he says his lifestyle won’t change.

“I’m still going to keep living at home with my folks, just like always,” Sheffield said. “I know guys kid me about it, but hey, I’m not changing.

“Even now, I still ask for money from my day, and my grandmother still sends me $5 every year for my birthday.

“That’s what kind of beautiful family I have.”

Padre starter Bruce Hurst, who missed his last start because of an inflamed rotator cuff, pitched for 15 minutes without pain Thursday and said he hopes to start Saturday against Cincinnati.

“I felt a lot better today than I have,” Hurst said. “I’ll make an attempt Saturday.”

The Padres are tentatively scheduled to open their 1993 season April 6 in Pittsburgh.

The only time the Padres opened the year against Pittsburgh, they won the 1984 pennant.

Padre starter Greg Harris (2-7), who is 0-3 with a 5.33 ERA since coming off the disabled list, still is having trouble regaining velocity on his pitches.

According to scouts who had the speed gun on Harris during Wednesday’s game, he was throwing 79-83 m.p.h. on the slow gun used by the Padres and 83-87 m.p.h. on the Jugs gun.

His pitch velocity is down about 5 m.p.h. from a year ago, scouts say.

The Padres have extended their working agreement with the double-A Wichita Wranglers for the next two seasons.

The Wranglers, who won the Texas League championship Thursday, have been the Padres’ double-A farm team since 1987. It was the second consecutive title for Manager Bruce Bochy. He won last year with the High Desert Mavericks.

Perhaps there’s no city in the National League that appreciates Sheffield’s accomplishments more than St. Louis--the hometown of Joe “Ducky” Medwick, the league’s last triple crown winner in 1937.

“He was the dardnest hitter I ever saw,” former Cardinal center fielder Terry Moore told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He was a great bad-ball hitter anyway, but that year there wasn’t any place you could pitch him. Not only would he hit it, but he would hit it well. His eyes were great, his reflexes were great, he was a great athlete, and he was such a great competitor.

“I kind of thought he played for himself, but he helped us win a lot of games.”

Although Medwick was considered one of the greatest hitters of the Gas House Gang, there was a another side to him.

“Joe had a real bad personality,” Moore said. “Now, in his later years, he got mellower and his personality changed. Maybe he realized he had been wrong, acting the way he had for so long. I know there weren’t too many people who liked him the way he was as a player.

“But then, I knew a lot of great players who had stinky personalities.”