Villaraigosa Goes Inside Baseball for Lesson in Leaving

Alone in his den on L.A.’s Mt. Washington, Antonio Villaraigosa took paper and pen and jotted down “positives” and “negatives,” in a manner familiar to all who have agonized over a career decision. And he wrote this down, he says: “I want to go out like Ted Williams and not Mickey Mantle.”

“Ted Williams left hitting a home run,” the Assembly speaker recalls.

Fenway Park in Boston, late September 1960. Williams’ last at bat--ever. “It was eerie and damp,” the Red Sox slugger remembered years later. A fastball. A swing. “It fought the wind and it just kept on going . . . kept going and then out.” At age 42, Williams batted .316 in his final season; averaged .344 for his career.

“Mantle went out when he wasn’t hitting anymore,” Villaraigosa notes.

The late Yankee great limped through his final season, bruised and boozing, taped and in constant pain--feet, knees, hips, shoulders. . . . He hit only .237 that year--1968--allowing his career average to slip under .300. He had been “over the hill” for two years, The Mick later admitted.

Since he’s running for mayor of L.A., Villaraigosa also could have used a Dodger as his role model: Sandy Koufax.

The star pitcher walked away from Chavez Ravine in his prime, at age 30, after winning 27 games in 1966. During an abbreviated career, he had pitched four no-hitters, including one perfect game, and won three Cy Young awards. But he’d developed an arthritic elbow and wanted to leave “while I can still comb my hair.” Said Koufax: “I don’t regret one minute of the last 12 years, but I think I would regret one minute too many.”

In some ways, Koufax’s departure from the mound is like Villaraigosa’s surrender of the speakership, to occur next April. Both could have hung on longer, but it would have been painful and caused irreparable damage--physical for Koufax, political for Villaraigosa.

The speaker wanted to “go out a winner,” he says. “Not get thrown out.”

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Villaraigosa was hearing footsteps and feeling pressure. As he sat in his den last Sunday night, giving up the Legislature’s most powerful job was pretty much a done deal. Now, he was just coming to terms with it personally.

“It’s tough,” the former barrio kid told me. “As the son of an immigrant, I’ve been honored to live in the greatest country in the world and hold one of the greatest jobs. . . . Like, I can call anybody in America and get a return call.”

Sunday afternoon, Villaraigosa, 46, had met for several hours in an L.A. airport hotel suite with his chosen successor, Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), 45. There had been tensions between the two old friends and Sacramento roommates. “Bob has been relentless” in courting supporters, says one Villaraigosa ally.

A year from now, Villaraigosa will be termed out and must leave office. Hertzberg cannot stay beyond 2002. So he’s anxious to claim the speakership with all its trappings--a historic, wood-paneled office, a big car and driver, and power over 79 other lawmakers’ lives. Plus, a seat on the UC Board of Regents, a zillion spoils appointments and potential influence over every state policy decision.

While Hertzberg has been chomping at the bit, Villaraigosa’s mayoral campaign consultants have been telling their client: Choose one. Be speaker or run for mayor. It’s hard to do both. It’s gut check time.

So Villaraigosa called Sunday’s meeting to negotiate a smooth transition. The speaker brought along two trusted Assembly allies--Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), a pal since high school cruising days, and Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica). With Hertzberg were two San Francisco Assembly Democrats--Carole Migden and Kevin Shelley. None wanted a speakership fight, a showdown vote on the Assembly floor.

They compromised on a Jan. 24 date to elect a speaker-designate and April 26 for turnover of power. Then the four spear carriers left and only Hertzberg and Villaraigosa remained.

Villaraigosa still wanted to think about it, he said. Then he drove home--thinking all the way. The next morning, he called Hertzberg and said it’s a deal.

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The next speaker will be the sixth in less than five years. During the 34 years before that, there were only five. Term limits have weakened legislative leadership and created a Capitol power vacuum, filled by the governor and special interests.

Villaraigosa has been a good speaker, especially given the debilitating effects of term limits. He has been a conciliator and hasn’t been petty. He has been a champion of the inner cities, particularly legal immigrants.

But--unlike the great ballplayers--we’ll never see Speaker Villaraigosa in his prime. He’ll never develop to full potential. Two seasons just aren’t enough.