Role Model Dibble : Ex-’Nasty’ Reds’ Reliever Says His Life Was Put in Perspective Last Year When His Infant Son Was Hospitalized in Intensive Care for Three Months

Rob Dibble doesn’t want to be baseball’s nastiest boy anymore. He wants to be its poster boy.

Yes, baseball’s hardest thrower and hottest head wants to become its role model. The Cincinnati Reds reliever has two goals this year: save 40 games and his reputation.

“As I get older, I try to carry myself better on and off the field,” he said. “Not only do I have a responsibility to myself and the team, but also to the community and the children of this country.

“I think I’ve been a bad role model for some kids for a few years, but I still get a lot of parents that speak highly of me when it comes to their kids. That’s something I need to build on as I get older so when I leave this game, I leave a good impression and not a bad one.”

What’s going on here? Why would Dibble want to tear down an image he’s nurtured over the last five years? Is the suspension-prone reliever really going straight?

He’d better. At 29, Dibble is at a crossroads.

His fastball is as good as ever--14.1 strikeouts per nine innings last year, the best ratio in history. But his suspensions-to-saves ratio is almost as unbelievable--one suspension for every 11.5 saves.

In his 4 1/2 major-league seasons, Dibble has saved 69 games and drawn six suspensions. He’s thrown fastballs by batters and at them. He’s beaned a baserunner and a grade-school teacher. He’s feuded with reporters and wrestled with a manager.

In-between, he’s made amends and promised to do better. It never worked out that way.

“I was very emotional in the past,” Dibble said. “A lot of it had to do with immaturity, a lot of insecurities.”

The Reds have defended him at every turn, brushing it off as overexuberance. They can’t do that any more.

The club traded co-closer Norm Charlton to Seattle in the off-season for Kevin Mitchell, making Dibble their only stopper. It’s a role he’s lobbied for the last few years. Now it’s his.

There’s a catch: If he winds up getting suspended again, the Reds are going to be in trouble. Their only other closer candidates are Jeff Reardon and Tim Burke, and they’ve had a rough go lately.

A lot’s riding on him being able to hold his temper as well as leads. The Reds signed Reardon in part to try to influence Dibble.

“I think they brought him over here for two reasons: to pitch and get people out, and to help me fit into their long-term goal for me, to be a closer for a few years,” Dibble said.

It’ll be interesting to see how baseball’s all-time saves leader gets along with one of its all-time suspensions leaders. Reardon has never been suspended during his 14-year career.

The two have never talked--Reardon’s been in the American League for most of Dibble’s career. But Reardon’s well aware of Dibble reputation.

“I remember seeing him on television one night ripping his shirt off after giving up a game-winning home run,” Reardon said. “I had to laugh. I felt bad for him. I said, ‘Geez, you’ve got to control yourself there.’ It’s tough to lose a game, but it’s not the end of the world.

“What he needs to learn is the more the other team knows they can get under your skin, the more they try to get to you. Although not many people have gotten to him.”

There were a few signs last year that Dibble was finally learning. He had just one suspension--down from three in 1991--for coming off the bench to fight. He also wound up wrestling former Manager Lou Piniella in the clubhouse after calling him a liar.

But hey, that’s not bad for him.

“Last year, I thought I carried myself a lot better than I did before,” he said.

The Reds saw signs of maturity, making them feel comfortable about the Charlton trade. Dibble handled himself well through a shoulder injury that disabled him for the first few weeks of the season. He didn’t gripe too much about sharing the closer’s role with Charlton, who had 26 saves to Dibble’s 25.

It was a start.

“I like what I saw of him last year,” Manager Tony Perez said. “It was a difficult year for him because he wasn’t the closer, but I saw how he handled himself through that.”

One experience seems to have affected Dibble the most. His son, Ryan, was born three months premature on May 23. Dibble talks about that often now.

“I learned a lot about life last year when my son was in the hospital in intensive care for three months,” he said. “I think it put my life in perspective, that I was putting too much emphasis on the game of baseball and not enough on the things that really mean a lot.”

A winter of reflection led Dibble to his resolution to accept losing graciously. No more tantrums.

“I’m not saying I’m going to be a saint out there, by anybody’s standards,” he said. “But I want to project myself in a more positive light. When kids come to the ballgame, I don’t want them to think that’s the way the game should be played or the way they should approach life.

“Hopefully, I can turn around my career, turn around the attitude people have about me.”