Vaughn Can’t Stay Calm in Red Sox Storm

As baseball commemorates the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Mo Vaughn conducts an ongoing testimonial.

The 1997 season is no different than any other. Every time the Boston Red Sox first baseman puts on his uniform with the No. 42, Robinson’s former number, he is paying tribute to the man who broke baseball’s color barrier.

“I celebrate him every day of every season,” Vaughn said, preparing for Wednesday night’s opener at Anaheim Stadium, where the Red Sox would score four runs in the ninth inning to celebrate a 6-5 victory over the Angels. Vaughn, the American League’s most valuable player of 1995 and architect of an even better ‘96, walked twice and had an infield single in five plate appearances.

The Robinson tribute aside, how much more celebrating Vaughn and the Red Sox do in 1997 remains to be seen.

Boston won the AL East in 1995 and rebounded from a 6-19 start to produce baseball’s best record after the All-Star break last year.

But turmoil and turnover have marked the club’s course since.

There was the firing of Manager Kevin Kennedy and departures of Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco and Mike Greenwell.

There was a spring barrage of verbal shots at the front office from veteran players.

There was the trade demand from John Valentin after new Manager Jimy Williams announced that rookie Nomar Garciaparra would be the shortstop, which bumped Valentin to second base and Wil Cordero to left field.

There was the revelation that Mike Gimbel, listed at the bottom of the club’s directory as a consultant and statistical evaluator, actually works for New York City’s Bureau of Water Supply and is a Rotisserie league devotee who has been influencing General Manager Dan Duquette’s personnel decisions since Duquette was general manager of the Montreal Expos--embarrassment for the Sox and more fodder for players unhappy with the club’s direction.

There was also a players-only meeting in Anaheim on Monday in which third baseman Tim Naehring and others asked teammates to forget about the feud with the front office and focus on baseball.

No one has been more outspoken through it all than bellwether Vaughn, one of only two Red Sox players--Naehring being the other--to open ’97 at the same positions they opened ’96.

It was Vaughn who accused the front office of lying to fans by saying the Red Sox were a competitive and not a rebuilding team.

It was Vaughn who scoffed at ownership’s contention that Boston could not support a big-market payroll and who responded to Duquette’s comments, in the wake of Clemens’ free-agent departure, that the Sox had been catering to a star system that doesn’t work by saying “you can’t win without stars . . . the greatest teams had ‘em . . . you’re going to need some dudes with a funky attitude to win.”

Clemens pitched and won Game 2 for the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday as Tom Gordon, who gave up more earned runs than any American League pitcher last year, opened for the Red Sox in Anaheim.

Vaughn chose his words carefully, reluctant to open old wounds prior to the first pitch, but he acknowledged the obvious, that every year now “we keep losing key players,” that every year now “we’re building new teams with new players.”

“I don’t know,” Vaughn said. “I thought continuity was kind of important. I mean, I’ll never agree [with allowing Clemens to leave]. I thought he should have retired [as a Red Sox]. I still think he should have. He’s the greatest pitcher in Red Sox history, and he doesn’t come back? That’s crazy.”

Steve Avery was signed to pick up some of the slack, but the rotation is devoid of a veteran stopper. The revolving door came off its hinges last year, when Boston employed 55 players and three pitching coaches.

Vaughn shakes his head, saying it has never been his intent to create controversy, that he is merely speaking from the heart as a concerned Red Sox. Duquette has invited him in at times to discuss their differences, but Vaughn said, “it’s not up to me to make him understand. I’m not trying to buck his system. I personally feel the loyalty of playing hard for the Red Sox and the guys I play for. If you’re a player, an impact player, you’re going to speak your mind at times, but all it has done is get me in trouble.

“Now it’s kind of like . . . well, I have to put that behind me and just do my job. It’s kind of not my style [to keep quiet] because I care about what happens, but that’s what I’ve got to do to keep my sanity.

“That’s what I’m going to do to stay focused and in control.”

It could be a long summer. The Red Sox are generally picked fourth in the East behind the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Blue Jays.

Vaughn, devoid of significant protection in the new lineup, said, “Every year is different, every year a team has to make up its own attitude, find its own character. We’re searching for that. The game is pitching. If we can do that, we can do a lot of things.”

If not . . . more rhetoric, more turmoil, perhaps. The perception lingers, but Vaughn said, “In here, in the clubhouse, we’re together, and that’s the important thing.”

Amid the opener’s glow, Valentin agreed. The trade request is still on the table, but Valentin has been working with Garciaparra, helping the rookie adapt and adjust, while adjusting to his own situation at second.

“This is a team that has been shuffled around a lot,” he said. “Only three or four of us have been here solid for the last few years. Can we gel? I don’t know. It’s too early to get a handle on it.”

One thing is certain: No one carries more gel than Vaughn. He is a force in the community, the clubhouse and on the field. He hit .326 last year with 44 homers and 143 runs batted in after winning the 1995 MVP with .300-39-126.

He is 29, striving for consistency, and still improving, he said, adding that he agrees with Frank Thomas that it is a golden age of young sluggers who tend to feed off each other motivationally.

“They say the balls are loaded, the bats are corked, the pitchers aren’t this or that,” Vaughn said.

“But it’s the hitters who are loaded. They’re bigger, stronger and work at what they do more than ever before.”

Vaughn does it at times in a batting cage at his house, but will he have to--or choose to--pack and move when his contract expires in two years?

Will he still have No. 42 or be the next star dimmed by the current Red Sox system?