The Long Shot : Rookie Hamelin’s Power Comes in Handy for Light-Hitting Royals

Bob Hamelin dug into the batter’s box, took a few warm-up swings and fixed his eyes on the target.

The unlucky recipient of his attention was Angel closer Joe Grahe, and Hamelin, the Kansas City Royals’ rookie slugger, waited eagerly to deliver his best shot. The occasion was a game May 19 at Anaheim Stadium; the situation of the late-inning pressure variety.

Hamelin led off the ninth for the Royals, who spent most of the previous innings returning quickly from the plate to the dugout. Kansas City managed only six hits to that point and found itself on the back end of a 5-3 score.

And Hamelin had not been exactly spectacular himself, failing to get a hit in his first three at-bats. None of that, however, mattered at the moment.

Grahe threw a fastball, which Hamelin drove about 400 feet over the right-field wall. Hamelin’s home run seemed to rejuvenate the Royals, if only momentarily.

Kansas City had two more hits in the inning, but failed to score. Despite the 5-4 loss, Hamelin’s clutch power hitting was not lost on his teammates.

“Last year, we just didn’t have a lot of real long-ball threats in the lineup,” Royal center fielder Brian McRae said. “Now, we know if we just get on base, there’s a good chance of him knocking us in.

“We haven’t had that kind of threat in awhile.”

Thanks to Hamelin’s bat, the Royals’ lineup has added punch this season. After working to overcome a career-threatening back injury, Hamelin, a former standout at Irvine High, UCLA and Rancho Santiago College, is finally enjoying the success that many in the Royals’ organization believed would be commonplace by now.

“Everything has been pretty close to what I thought it would be,” Hamelin said. “It’s been a great experience. I just hope I get to experience this for quite a few more years to come.”

Early results indicate Hamelin need not worry.

A 6-foot, 235-pound designated hitter, Hamelin is batting .259 with a team-leading 10 homers. He is second on the Royals with 31 runs batted in, and he tied a club record for RBIs in April with 21.

What’s more, Hamelin is on pace to eclipse the Royals’ rookie records for homers and RBIs in a season. Both records were established in 1987 when Bo Jackson hit 22 home runs and Kevin Seitzer drove in 83 runs.

“We had guys who were supposed to get on base trying to hit long balls last season,” said McRae, son of Kansas City Manager Hal McRae. “Him doing so well has taken a lot of pressure off of other guys in the lineup.”

Former Angel Wally Joyner is one player benefiting from Hamelin’s large presence. The veteran Royal first baseman said Hamelin is a plus for the team.

“The thing about Bob is you know he’s going to swing at some good pitches and he’s going to have good at-bats,” Joyner said. “He knows how to play the game and he knows what to do in certain situations.

“I don’t think he’s done anything to suggest that this is just a fluke.”

Hamelin set the tone with a torrid start.

After two weeks, Hamelin earned his first award in the big leagues. He was selected American League Player of the Week (April 11-17) for batting .500 (eight for 16) with four homers and 13 RBIs in six games. He was hitting .361 on the final day of April before major league breaking balls caught up with him. Although struggling through a slump that has dropped his average to .259, he is still a key player in the lineup.

While not shocked by his production, Hamelin is relieved it came sooner than later.

“Getting off to a good start is important, especially at a position like (designated hitter) because you can be replaced pretty easily,” he said. “I mean, you can’t go make a good defensive play and stay in the game.

“I’ve always thought I could hit, but this gave me a little cushion.”

Kansas City outfielder Hubie Brooks has seen few rookies with Hamelin’s presence during his 14 seasons as a major league player.

“He’s shown a great mentality for what he’s got to do,” Brooks said. “He doesn’t get too high or too low, and that’s real important.”

Royal coach Lee May is also impressed by Hamelin’s approach.

“He’s mature for a young hitter,” May said. “Usually, a young guy comes up and you have to work really hard with him to try to acclimate him to the league. But he seems to have caught on real well.”

The rookie’s sage perspective is born from a three-year battle with back pain that, he said, made some in the Royals’ organization doubt his dedication; people formerly among his supporters.

It all started in 1989. Hamelin began experiencing more than the usual discomfort of minor leaguers, who travel in rickety buses. But back trouble was something to which Hamelin was unaccustomed.

As a freshman at UCLA, Hamelin hit .364 with 14 homers. He transferred to Rancho Santiago before the start of his sophomore season because he found that being a Bruin was not as great as advertised.

Hamelin hit .520 with a state-record 31 homers and 107 RBIs in 48 games for Rancho Santiago in 1988, which prompted the Royals to select him in the second round of the free-agent draft that June.

“The chances of making the big leagues are slim because of the numbers,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said, “but based on his offensive output at our place, and no one in the history of California did what he did, you just felt there was a pretty good chance he was destined to make it.”

Nothing happened at Hamelin’s first stop in the minor leagues to suggest otherwise. He had excellent numbers for Kansas City’s short-season Class-A team in Eugene, Ore., leading the league in homers (17) and batting .298 with 61 RBIs.

Then the sky fell in.

Because he had no history of back problems, doctors initially described rest. His pain, however, continued despite time away from the game.

In 1991, doctors diagnosed his problem as a cracked vertebra, which was fused in a operation that June. After surgery, Hamelin was inactive until June 1992.

Kansas City brought him back slowly. The 1993 season was his first full season since 1988--and he made the most of it. Hamelin batted .259 with 29 homers and 84 RBIs in 137 games for the Royals’ triple-A team in Omaha, Neb.

Hamelin was rewarded by being called up to Kansas City on Sept. 8. He hit .224 (11 for 49) with two homers and five RBIs in six games, providing a view into the future.

“I didn’t think it was going to be much when it first happened, but it turned into a pretty long thing,” Hamelin said. “It was definitely frustrating, but I always thought it would heal. They can fix just about anything, so I kept hoping.”

At 26, Hamelin is older than most rookies. Although his back injury robbed him of a probable earlier start in the major leagues, he has managed to find something positive from an otherwise horrible period.

“Some guy who’s 21 and had nothing but success might not know how to deal with things during a dry time when he’s not hitting the ball real well,” Hamelin said. “I think that is going to make me stronger for the future because I got through some tough times.”

Bob Hamelin II is not surprised by his son’s strength. He and his wife, Peggy, who still reside in Irvine, raised their four children to cope with adversity.

“Bob never complained,” said his dad. “Not being able to play ball was hard on him, but he worked very diligently to get back.”

That penchant for hard work also helped Hamelin make a name for himself on the football field. In fact, Hamelin was so good that a coach from a university in the Midwest with a fair tradition in football offered him a scholarship as a senior at Irvine.

Hamelin was honored, but he declined Lou Holtz’s offer to play linebacker at Notre Dame. Professional baseball was his dream, so he opted to slam baseballs instead of ballcarriers.

“It was very flattering, but Bob turned the scholarship down as soon as Coach Holtz told him he might not be able to play (baseball) as a freshman,” Hamelin’s father said. “Coach Holtz wrote Bob a very nice letter thanking him for his honesty.”

On a lark, Hamelin took up arm wrestling before this season. He competed in a tournament for baseball players at Las Vegas in January--and tore the tendon off the bone on his right elbow.

Fortunately for Hamelin, who bats left-handed, he was ready for spring training. Several newspaper stories have been written about the incident, casting Hamelin as somewhat reckless for having risked further injury after being plagued by back problems.

Good-natured barbs from teammates were expected, Hamelin said, but the situation has been overblown.

“It wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, and it was a little embarrassing, but the whole thing has been beaten to death,” Hamelin said. “I know it’s a good story, but I was ready to go full bore at the beginning of spring.”

Nonetheless, Hamelin’s wife of one year, Marie, made him promise to give up the sport. Agreed.

Besides, Hamelin has bigger things to wrestle with now--like 90-plus m.p.h. fastballs.

Bob Hamelin as a Professional

Year Team Avg. G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI 1988 Eugene-1 .298 70 235 42 70 19 1 17 61 1989 Memphis-2 .308 68 211 45 65 12 5 16 47 1990 Omaha-3 .232 90 271 31 63 11 2 8 30 1991 Omaha-3 .189 37 127 13 24 3 1 4 19 1992 Baseball City-1 .273 11 44 7 12 0 1 1 6 Memphis-2 .333 35 120 23 40 8 0 6 22 Omaha-3 .200 27 95 9 19 3 1 5 15 1993 Omaha-3 .259 137 479 77 124 19 3 29 84 Kansas City .224 16 49 2 11 3 0 2 5 1994 Kansas City .259 45 116 27 30 6 1 10 31

1--Class A; 2--Double A; 3--Triple A.