Long Road to Peace : Playing for 22 Pro Teams Has Given Chicago’s Fortugno Perspective

Tim Fortugno knows he can’t escape his past, an odyssey through the shadowy hinterlands of professional baseball he likes to call “my career of infamy.”

He knows he’ll always be remembered as the guy who was purchased from a Reno co-op team for $2,500 and 144 baseballs.

He knows he’ll always be remembered as the oldest rookie--30 years, three months, nine days--to make his major league debut in an Angel uniform.

He knows he’ll always be remembered as the guy who gave up hit No. 3,000 to George Brett and then picked off the future Hall of Famer as he stood next to first base basking in the glory of the moment.

He knows he’ll always be remembered as the guy who played for 22 pro teams in nine seasons of bouncing around the United States, Canada, Mexico and Venezuela.

And he knows he will always remember those nights in the summer of 1993, when he sat in a hotel room in Caracas, Venezuela, too afraid to go outside, unable to understand anything on the television, alone with his thoughts and his Bible.

“Sometimes I wish that when I talk to the media, I could accentuate the positive a little more,” he said, “but there’s no getting around it and in a lot of ways, I’m very proud of my career. I’ve not only developed perspective and a sense of humor, but I’ve survived all those trials and tribulation.

“I’ve had a lot of players tell me they would have quit if they had to go through what I did, but I use it as fuel. I’ve always had a smile on my face as long as I’ve had a uniform on my back. I just kept clinging to the belief that all things are possible in baseball. It’s a very strange game, you know.”

In Fortugno’s case, bizarre.

The literal translation of his surname is “the fortunate one,” but Fortugno, a former NAIA All-American from Southern California College who still makes his home in Huntington Beach, has had more than his share of misfortune.

Still, he’s in the big leagues right now and that makes him a lucky man.

Fortugno, 33, leads the Chicago White Sox with a 2.66 earned-run average, has not given up a run in 14 of 20 outings and is holding opponents to a .143 batting average.

“I’m sure he’s had one, but I can’t remember one bad outing he’s had this year,” Chicago Manager Terry Bevington said. “He’s been one of our most consistent and productive pitchers this year.

“His intensity level is very high, which is not surprising when you consider the determination it took to survive all those hard knocks. He obviously developed a lot of character along the way. And I don’t think he’ll ever take the game for granted.”

Fortugno has been to spring training in Florida and Arizona. He was a boy of summer across the Americas, from Bellingham, Wash., to Clearwater, Fla., from Edmonton, to Beloit, Miss., and lots of truck stops in between. He has wintered in Mexico and Venezuela.

There have been some highlights and lots of low points, but Fortugno never came closer to down-and-out-of-there than two years ago in Caracas.

“I had been released by the Angels in ’93 during spring training and released by Montreal’s triple-A team in Ottawa in July. So I went to Venezuela,” he said. “I was the only American there playing summer ball. I would look in the mirror and say, ‘You’re worthless as a ballplayer. Anybody who’s worth anything is playing somewhere in the U.S.

“It was very lonely. I spent most of my nights reading the Bible. My spiritual side grew and I started to say to myself, ‘I’m just going to have to do it again, fight my way back to the top.”

“The top” was a brief stint with the Angels after Jim Abbott had been placed on the disabled list. Fortugno was 1-1 with a 5.18 ERA in 41 2/3 innings with the Angels in 1992. But after he returned from Venezuela, Fortugno couldn’t even see the top from his vantage point.

“I came back to the U.S., signed with Seattle and was released in spring training. It was the fourth time I’d been released in about a year, but I still had peace. I knew things would work out.”

So he pressed on. Fastball. Split-finger. Curveball. Nothing fancy, nothing radical. Same delivery. Hit the spots. Get the left-handers out and survive the right-handers.

“It’s basic stuff, but he makes it work,” said Don Cooper, White Sox pitching coach. “I can only remember one time that he was called in to get a lefty and didn’t get him. Since then, he’s been spotless.

“I think the best thing you can say about anybody in this business is that they’re prepared. And you can certainly apply that to Tim. He’s prepared for every situation. He goes about his business in a very professional way.”

Fortugno’s relentless work ethic began to pay off last year. He was signed by Cincinnati as a free agent in the spring and pitched in 25 games for the Reds, compiling a respectable 4.20 ERA.

“I felt like I had a good year with the Reds,” he said, “but they wanted to sign Jack Morris and for some reason, he had to be on their 40-man roster. So they dropped me on Dec. 20 and asked me if I would sign as a free agent.

“I was pretty disappointed at first, it hurt my ego. But I felt like I would have a good chance to make the team out of spring training, so I decided to sign. But I had to pass through waivers and then these guys picked me up. So it turned out to be a sweet ending to an emotional roller-coaster ride.”

Nobody wanted him after two years of playing at Golden West College. Nobody wanted him after two years at SCC. He managed to sign with Seattle as a free agent, beginning his professional career at 24 and embarking on a journey fraught with so much rejection, it might have broken the spirit of most.

“Like a lot of other guys, all I ever wanted was a chance,” he said. “I’m just doing what a whole lot of other people probably would be able to do if they got the opportunity.”

It was that kind of thinking that got Fortugno this far. It wasn’t a lack of talent holding him back, he convinced himself, just bad timing. In the wrong place at the wrong time--a lot.

Now that he’s got his chance, is he trembling every time he takes the mound, the fear of blowing it choking off his breath?

Not exactly.

“I really feel like I have nothing to lose and everything to gain these days,” he said. “In 1987, my first full season in baseball, I was 8-2 with six saves. But every day I was punching the walls. What was I so uptight about?

“I’ve finally realized that you can’t perform up to your physical potential unless your mind is relaxed. Through all this, I’ve learned how to relax my mind.”

Not to mention how to pack a suitcase.

Fortugno slumps back in a director’s chair in the visitor’s clubhouse at Anaheim Stadium, folds his arms across his chest and tilts his head back in contemplation.

On reflection, he doesn’t want to dismiss his past.

He wants to embrace it.

It has nothing to do with strikeouts and everything to do with striking out against compromise and resignation.

It has little to do with personal satisfaction and much to do with his children, Justin, 13, and Alexandria, 7.

“It was my dream, I followed it and I achieved it,” he said, smiling. “I’m ecstatic about the way things have worked out for me, but I think it’s even more important for my kids. I guess I can say I’m a living example that perseverance and determination really do pay off.”