SAME OLD JIM? : As a Person, Perhaps; but Improved Manager Fregosi Has the Phillies in First

A television technician walked through the Philadelphia Phillies’ dugout, stopped, then looked at the wad of gum he had just stepped in.

“Oh you guys and your gum,” he said to no one in particular.

Jim Fregosi’s ears perked up. His eyes lit up. He began to grin.

The man had just entered Fregosi’s kill zone.

“Oh, thoooooose players,” said Fregosi, the Phillie manager. “What am I going to do with them. Gum again. I’m terribly sorry. I’ll have a talk with them. . . . “

Some things never change with Fregosi. Some things do.

This is Fregosi’s third go-round as a major league manager. He has brought to the Phillies the same don’t-mess-with-me attitude that has been his trait through the years, as a player and manager. Writers, broadcasters and innocent bystanders approach with caution, careful of his sarcastic--sometimes caustic--tongue.

But while the person has remained the same, the manager has evolved.

Fregosi is no longer the greenhorn he was with the Angels from 1978-81. Nor is he the same manager who guided the Chicago White Sox to three consecutive fifth-place finishes from 1986-88.

There’s a bit more structure to Fregosi’s style now. A little more understanding of the job. He still allows players their freedom, but he has learned that being a “players’ manager” doesn’t mean anarchy in the clubhouse.

“You mature in any business, and hopefully, you learn from your mistakes,” said Fregosi, 51. “I’ve learned that the on-field activities are the least of your problems. It’s getting that psychological edge to be able to get the most out of your players.”

Fregosi has squeezed a lot out of the Phillies.

After finishing last a year ago, they are riding atop the Eastern Division of the National League.

The Phillies got off to a fast start. They went 17-5 in April and have been alone in first since April 11. They were 30 games over .500 on June 26 and have led by as many as 11 1/2 games.

The cushion over the St. Louis Cardinals has since slipped to three games after Saturday’s 4-2 loss at San Diego. But this group is not about to panic, not yet anyway. It’s not their manager’s style.

“He doesn’t get on us about every little thing,” shortstop Mariano Duncan said. “Even last year, when we played terrible, he would never yell at us. I’ve played for Tommy Lasorda, Pete Rose and Louie Piniella. Jim’s the best of them.”

A glowing endorsement, but hardly surprising. In Fregosi, the Phillies have someone who overlooks their oddities but keeps them focused on business.

It’s a team of free spirits, almost to a man. They’re intense and practice zero-tolerance, at least with outsiders. Much like their manager.

First baseman John Kruk and outfielder Pete Incaviglia can be surly one minute, gracious and witty the next. With catcher Darren Daulton, it’s pretty much surly all the time. And outfielder Lenny Dykstra has a playground full of mood swings.

“It’s quite a bunch of characters,” Phillie General Manager Lee Thomas said. “Some are real outgoing, some are real introverted. It goes from one extreme to the other. All of them are pretty much wacko.”

It’s a group that could drive many managers into retirement, or therapy. But not Fregosi.

“You have to treat them as individuals and not clump the together as a group,” Fregosi said. “My job is to get all those personalities working toward one goal.”

Fregosi has reached a few himself, such as proving his abilities as a manager. But who’s concerned about that? Fregosi stays as focused as his players.

“I don’t judge myself as a manager,” Fregosi said. “Some of my best jobs as a manager have been for losing teams. I just try to do everything I can to win ballgames. I’ll let others judge me.”

They have, sometimes rather harshly, in the past.

This is the second time Thomas has hired Fregosi, his longtime pal. Their friendship goes back to their playing days with the Angels; they were teammates from 1961-64.

It was Thomas who salvaged Fregosi’s managerial career after it crashed and burned with the Angels. In 1983, Thomas, then the director of player personnel with the St. Louis Cardinals, hired Fregosi to manage the club’s triple-A team in Louisville.

“Jim had a lot of pressure on him with the Angels,” Thomas said. “He was the hero going back home. That’s tough.”

Fregosi, who played 11 seasons for the Angels, returned as their manager in 1978 and led them to a second-place finish. The following season, he pushed them to their first division title.

Not a bad start for a guy who didn’t retire as a player (with the Pittsburgh Pirates) until the day he was offered a chance to go straight into a big league managing job by the Angels.

Always a favorite of owner Gene Autry, Fregosi seemed destined for a long career here. He was gone less than two years later.

Fregosi’s theory of having no team rules somewhat undermined his authority. And his methods of motivation were sometimes offbeat.

When pitchers complained of the heat in Texas during a series against the Rangers, Fregosi wore his jacket to prove otherwise. The Angels still lost three of four .

In the end, critics said he was rushed into the job. And that’s something that Fregosi doesn’t disagree with.

“It’s very difficult making the transition from player to a manager,” Fregosi said. “It’s a learning experience, and how long it takes is up to the individual. I would recommend to anybody that you start out managing in the minor leagues.”

At Louisville, Fregosi learned and thrived. He spent nearly four seasons there, winning two American Assn. championships. He was named the league’s manager of the year in 1983 and 1985.

“It takes manager a while to learn stuff, like handling pitchers,” Thomas said. “Working with pitchers is probably the toughest thing about managing.”

There are no complaints about his handling of the Phillie staff. Oh sure, Fregosi still wears his jacket on hot days at Veterans Stadium, but he has developed a little subtlety.

A year ago, rookie Kyle Abbott lost 11 consecutive games and finished 1-14. It was a traumatic season, but it could have been worse.

Fregosi made sure that Abbott didn’t question his own abilities as a pitcher.

“There were a couple of times when I was really down,” said Abbott, who is with the Phillies’ triple-A team in Scranton this season. “I kept asking myself, ‘What’s going on here?’ Fregosi was always there to put things in perspective for me.”

Said pitcher Tommy Greene: “He’s a friend as well as a manager. Everyone on this team knows they can go to him with a problem. It’s like one big family.”

But every one knows who the head of the household is.

Fregosi freely fraternizes with his players. He’s constantly playing cards with them, among other things. He also doesn’t lay down too many rules, but the ones that are there are strictly enforced.

“I think Jimmy handles the so-called new breed of players as well as anyone,” Thomas said. “You have to bend in the wind, but not break. He draws a line, and the players know not to cross it.”

It was what Thomas was looking for when he hired his old friend for the second time.

Fregosi had a difficult experience with the White Sox. He was hired early in the 1986 season but landed smack-dab in the middle of Ken Harrelson’s circus.

Harrelson, then the team’s vice president of baseball operations, was experimenting with new ideas, such as separate coaches for relief pitchers and starters, separate hitting coaches for sluggers and contact hitters, and so on.

The plan flopped, and Harrelson was gone a year later. Fregosi spent two more turbulent years in Chicago, then followed him into unemployment after the 1988 season.

Soon after, Thomas hired Fregosi as a special assistant to work with minor league players. But Fregosi’s main job was that of “manager in waiting.”

After Thomas fired Nick Leyva early in the 1991 season, the only call he made was to Fregosi.

“When I hired Jim, I figured that if I ever did make a change, I would go with him,” Thomas said.

The change was for the better, but took some time.

The Phillies went 74-75 under Fregosi in 1991 and finished third. But they slipped to 70-92 in 1992 and finished last for the third time since 1988.

Injuries were part of the problem, as 17 players spent time on the disabled list. Dykstra, the team’s leadoff batter, was on it three times.

Still, the lack of success in 1992 didn’t worry Fregosi too much.

“I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but one thing I’ve learned is that even the smartest guy in the world can’t win unless the players play well,” Fregosi said.

The players haven’t played well lately. The Phillies stumbled into the All-Star break, losing three of four to the San Francisco Giants. Their pitchers gave up 41 in those four games.

They have lost three games to the Padres since. But Fregosi hasn’t scolded his players or held any feel-good meetings where everything gets aired out.

“The great thing about Jim is he lets us be men,” Kruk said. “We treats him with respect and he treats us the same way. How do you not like playing for a guy like that?”

Others have enjoyed Fregosi’s presence as well. Even reporters he was often brusk with in the past have found him easier to deal with.

Fregosi has learned that it’s just another part of the job.

“I don’t think people realize how time-consuming managing in the major leagues is,” Fregosi said. “It’s not like years ago. The media exposure is so much greater. I don’t do anything different as far as running the game. But I think I’ve learned how to handle people better. It’s a people business. I’m not as big a (jerk) to the writers as I used to be.”

Even so, Fregosi still carries that handle-with-care sign.

“I was at the all-star game, and there were guys on the field with cellular telephones doing talk shows,” Fregosi said. “I couldn’t believe it. A guy handed me a phone, and I was on the air live with some one. I said to the guy, ‘Yeah, so what do you want?’ ”

Yes, some things never change.