He’s Shagging Balls Even in Retirement

This is the first time in 17 years Tim Wallach hasn’t spent the summer playing major league baseball.

And for someone who played the game as well and for as long as Wallach did with the Montreal Expos, the Dodgers and the Angels, it’s never easy to walk away.

“I decided when I retired that I was going to take a year off and be with the kids, and that’s really been nice,” Wallach said.

Wallach has three sons--Matt, Brett and Chad, who range in age from 11 to 5--and all three are into baseball.

“I wasn’t able to see hardly any of their games when I was playing,” Wallach said. “In the Little League where they play, it’s almost all night games, and even when I wasn’t on the road, I was at the [major league] ballpark.”

So Wallach is quickly making up for some lost time.

Wallach and some of his friends, all former Cal State Fullerton players, decided they’d put together their own youth baseball team, which would include their sons, to play in an AAU traveling league for 11-year-olds.

Wallach is the manager, and the other three former Titans--Greg Sporrer, Joe Martelli and Tim Matz--coach various phases of play.

“Tim’s the boss,” Sporrer said. “He won’t let me do anything with the hitters, though. He knows that’s why I never got higher than double A.”

Since Wallach has been riding around in a golf cart at some recent practices, Sporrer says he and his buddies have been kidding Wallach by calling him “Tommy Junior.”

Lasorda would have been happy with this team’s results. The Yorba Linda Aztecs are 21-1 and have qualified for an AAU national tournament in their age group in Orlando beginning Saturday.

“You can tell that Tim is enjoying this as much as the kids are having him as their coach,” Martelli said. “This has been a great escape for him from any depression he might have had from not playing this season. He loves the game so much.”

Wallach’s wife, Lori, says she could tell in March her husband was growing a bit restless at times.

“I didn’t even realize it was time for spring training,” she said. But she noticed her husband suddenly was surfing the television channels, trying to find a screen full of green grass with white lines.

“And he was a little grumpy there for a while,” said Sporrer, his longtime friend and golfing buddy.

But Wallach, 39, got past that emotional hump, and he’s certain now that he made the right decision when he retired at the end of last season. His career included 13 years with the Expos, 3 1/2 seasons with the Dodgers and a half-season with the Angels.

“Right about the end of spring training was probably the hardest for me,” Wallach said. “You know exactly what everyone is doing then, and opening day is such a great feeling. You can’t help but miss that.”

Wallach had a sparkling career that included more than 2,000 hits, 260 home runs, three Golden Glove awards and five appearances in the All-Star game.

“The only thing really missing was that I never got to a World Series,” Wallach said. “But I don’t really feel like I have a void from that. The last couple of years were really fun, getting to the playoffs.

“The toughest part for me now is being away from the competition. I really miss that, and being around the guys. But I guess I’m fine with it all now.”

Wallach also has stayed busy by playing golf about three times a week as well as practicing occasionally on the two greens in his back yard. Wallach has played golf since he was 9 and has a seven handicap, but it doesn’t inspire the same passion in him that baseball does.

Playing softball, however, is out. “Even when I was playing baseball, I’d play some softball in the off-season,” Wallach said. “But this year I thought it would remind me too much of what I’d be missing.”

Wallach says he wants to remain involved with baseball in the years ahead.

The Dodgers talked to Wallach last winter about working in their minor league organization. Wallach decided to pass on their offer at the time, but recently decided to help out as a hitting instructor with the Class-A San Bernardino team in the California League for the final month of the season.

“I knew I didn’t want to go to spring training this year,” Wallach said. “I wanted to stay home and spend the time with my family. And I’m really glad now that I did that.”

One of the questions, of course, is whether Wallach, who played only 1 1/2 seasons in the minors with Memphis in 1979 and Denver in 1980 before he moved up to the Expos, would be comfortable going back to the minors for an extended period of time to perhaps someday manage or coach in the majors.

“I really haven’t sat down and thought about it,” Wallach said. “If it’s not something I really want to do, then I’m not going to get back into it. I want it to be something I can go into full force.”

Wallach is confident he’s learned enough baseball through the years to be successful as either a manager or coach.

“I think I know the game and what it takes to win,” he said. “That’s the key, knowing what you have to do to win games. It’s not all about having the best players. It’s all about playing the game the right way.”

Wallach says one other possibility down the road might be working with George Horton as an assistant at Fullerton, rather than returning to the pros. That would give him the full summer to spend with his family.

Horton would be happy to have Wallach, but the NCAA limits the number of assistants--even those who are volunteers--and Horton has no vacancy on his staff now.

“I’m more than willing to help out there in any way I can,” Wallach said. “That might be a good scenario for me because I really don’t know yet whether I want to get back into pro ball. I like working with young players because they really want to learn. I’ve had a lot of fun working with the 11-year-olds this summer.”

Wallach retains a strong loyalty to the Titan program. He helped put it on the map as a college power when he led Coach Augie Garrido’s team to the first of Fullerton’s three College World Series championships in 1979. He won the Golden Spikes Award as college baseball’s top player that season.

Wallach believes his two seasons at Fullerton played an important part in his success in the majors.

Wallach, who played at University High and then at Saddleback College, says he’s thankful he wasn’t drafted out of high school.

“If that had happened, I probably would have signed in a heart beat, and I probably never would have made it,” he said. “I really learned the game in college. That’s where I learned how to play it. In the minor leagues, you don’t get the teaching you get in college. It’s hard to get that kind of one-on-one there.”

Wallach was drafted in the eighth round by the Angels after his first year with the Titans, but decided to return to Fullerton, then was drafted in the first round as the 10th pick overall by Montreal.

Even if he doesn’t help coach the Titans in the future, Wallach already is committed to helping raise money for the program. He’s lending his name to a golf tournament to be held Oct. 27 at Alta Vista Country Club that will benefit the program.

Wallach says he feels “blessed” to have the playing career he did.

“I love the game, and I feel pretty sure my future will have something to do with it,” he said.