Neff Still Knocking Around, Enjoying the Ride

Not all baseball roads lead to fame or fortune. Some only lead to a good time.

That is the path now traveled by Marty Neff of the St. Paul Saints, a Class-A team in the independent Northern League.

Under normal circumstances, Neff would be having the kind of season one needs to be considered a potential major leaguer.

Neff, batting .360 with seven home runs and 37 runs batted in, was leading the league in hits with 59. He was fifth in the league in hitting and in RBIs. All this while learning a new position; he came to St. Paul (in an off-season trade with Sioux City) as an outfielder but was shifted to first base.

“It wasn’t as difficult as it seemed,” Neff said. “I had played a little first base last winter in Hawaii. I do miss the outfield, which I’d played since high school, but they haven’t talked to me about going back out there.”

Still, Neff, 26 and in his sixth minor league season, may have gone from being a prospect to a roster-filler. Major league teams rarely show interest in players Neff’s age who have never been called up.

Increasing the difficulty is that, being in an independent league, St. Paul has no affiliation with a major league team. It would have to buy Neff’s contract outright, the way the Yankees bought Darryl Strawberry’s contract a week ago.

“For myself, I don’t think I have a future in getting somewhere else,” Neff said. “I know I had my window of opportunity and not sure it will come again.”

Neff, an Anaheim native, was referring to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who signed him out of the University of Oklahoma in 1991. Neff also had success at Magnolia High and Rancho Santiago.

The Pirates released Neff after the 1994 season. He joined Sioux City, another independent team, in 1995; he batted .295 that season with 17 home runs and 64 RBIs.

“I thought I had the kind of power numbers they liked in the Pittsburgh organization, but I never really got an opportunity to play [in the majors],” Neff said. “Now I’m basically playing for the love of the game. You don’t make a great deal of money in A-ball; at least not enough that you can sit around during the winter and do nothing.”

Neff said he will play as long as he can. He thoroughly enjoys St. Paul--”they have the best fan support of most minor league teams,” with a league-high average attendance of 6,315--and holds a slim hope that he may still get a taste of the major leagues.

Besides, Neff said, he can’t imagine a better life.

“My experience with baseball has been great. I can’t complain,” he said. “I’d much rather have a chance to play somewhere than be getting up at 8 in the morning and going to work.

“Independent leagues like this one are an opportunity to play if you still have something left. So I just try and come out to play, and help the team win. If I do get picked up by another organization again, so be it.”

Those considering a pro career should weigh all options carefully, Neff says.

“I had a buddy who was in a situation where he could sign or go to school,” Neff said. “He signed and it was not a wise choice.

“If you have a chance to go to school, even for a year, that often is in your best interests. I’m glad I went to college instead of coming straight out of high school. Going to college made me a better player, by far.”

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Let’s party: Members of the Boise Hawks, an Angel Class-A team, let off some steam after their 8-2 victory over Spokane July 8. The victory was the team’s 18th in 21 games.

Team members damaged eight hotel rooms during an all-night party, according to hotel officials.

“I came to work at 6:30 in the morning, and I couldn’t believe it, what I was seeing,” hotel manager Dave McClure was quoted in an Associated Press story last week. “When I came in the courtyard, it was littered with beer bottles and pizza boxes. They had [been doing] cannonballs from the second floor into our pool.”

The initial report said players left holes in walls and doors of rooms and broke off the metal corner of a dishwasher in one room. The ruckus brought complaints from other guests, but players ignored repeated requests by security to quiet down, McClure said.

Damages were estimated at $157, according John Taffin, the hotel’s regional director. Taffin said the Hawks would be welcomed again.

“The team [officials] have been very helpful and damages have been paid,” Taffin said. “It really wasn’t so bad. Besides, we have [the rock band] KISS coming here in a couple months.”