Is Baseball on Way to Its Wackiest Season?

If there were a poster boy for Baseball ‘93, a symbol of the sport in its first full season without a commissioner since the Black Sox scandal and its last year of guaranteed income from network television, it would have to be Jose Canseco. Acting with the best of intentions, the man has endangered both himself and his team.

Within the span of three days, the immensely talented outfielder for the Texas Rangers played a fly ball off his head for a home run in a one-run loss to Cleveland and volunteered for an inning of relief pitching during a rout in Boston, after which he complained of a sore shoulder. How many people in the game can beat their own clubs in so many ways? Alas, the correct answer in 1993 is too many.

Just the other day, Darryl Strawberry, fresh from a rehabilitation assignment in Albuquerque, was sent to play left field for the Dodgers in San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium. He responded with a performance that had to be seen to be believed. Among the gaffes was tipping a ball over the leftfield wall for a home run although Straw knew enough to use his glove and not his cranium in the exercise.

Not to be outdone in the area of dubious achievements, Mets leftfielder Vince Coleman placed his mark on this curious season six weeks ago without leaving the clubhouse. With one swing of his trusty 9-iron, he clipped Doc Gooden on the right shoulder, forcing the team’s best pitcher to skip his start that night and leading the club into another in a series of embarrassing lies and coverups.

Perhaps the two-time defending National League champion Braves deserve a special commendation. Their third baseman, Terry Pendleton, walked off the field in the midst of a game when his pitcher declined to repay a knockdown pitch by the opposition. And outfielder Deion Sanders declined to return to the team following his father’s funeral because he hadn’t received enough playing time. For such insubordination, the man was rewarded with a three-year, $11 million contract.

The temptation for anyone who cares about baseball, of course, is to scream at the top of one’s lungs, Who’s in charge here? Unfortunately, all interested observers already know the answer: Nobody. The sport has been without a commissioner since Fay Vincent resigned under pressure last Labor Day and there is no indication that the owners are close to agreement on the parameters of the restructured office, let alone the identity of its occupant.

In the absence of real leadership, baseball has witnessed Marge Schott serving out her suspension by passing notes from her private box alongside the Reds’ dugout to her new manager, Davey Johnson. And it has watched the Padres conduct a fire sale of prized personnel. The latest victim of budget-tightening was Joe McIlvaine, replaced as general manager by Randy Smith, whose major distinction is his age. At 30, Smith is the youngest person ever to hold the position at the big-league level.

Against this clouded backdrop. there have been some achievements worthy of recognition, not the least of them the performances of the National League expansion teams. The Florida Marlins have enjoyed surprising success on the field while the Colorado Rockies are poised to set a major-league attendance record even as the team’s pitching staff threatens to further weaken the ozone layer. For a sport ostensibly on its sickbed, baseball has demonstrated a great deal of vitality, at least outside New York.

Start with the Giants, saved from a dismal dome in St. Petersburg at the 11th hour and revitalized by the arrival of Barry “Treasury” Bonds. The latter finished first in voting for Mini Valuable Player last season and is a prime candidate for a second consecutive citation, a feat achieved only once previously in the history of the Short Season Awards, honoring those who gave baseball its best and worst moments in the first two months. Now in their 14th year, they were created in 1980 under threat of a strike when there were no guarantees there would be a July and an August, let alone a September pennant race.

So cheers for John Olerud, the Toronto first baseman who has flirted with .400, and a host of long-haired, ample-waisted sluggers from Philadelphia who are following the worst-to-first scenario enacted by the Braves and Twins two seasons back. And let’s hear it for David Wells. The lefthanded pitcher, released by the world champion Blue Jays shortly before Opening Day, is leading a resurgence in Detroit and must be considered a contender for a Cy O’Nara Award -- designating the most prominent pitcher in each league. That development is no more preposterous than the Royals suddenly vaulting from the basement to the penthouse in the American League West after manager Hal McRae decided to forcefully rearrange his desk in Kansas City.

Alas, the shakeup in the Mets’ clubhouse failed to produce the same effect and that team remains loaded with challengers for the Marvin Miller Lite Award, reserved for disappointing performers best served by a strike. As in the past, comments of voters are welcome. Entertainment value as well as accuracy will be considered in selecting a prize winner or winners by the proprietor of this space.