Polonia World Tour Makes Stop in Detroit

Quick quiz: Name the last Angel to steal 50 bases in a season.

Tony Phillips? Terrific leadoff hitter, but he never stole 20, here or anywhere. Devon White? Never stole 50. Gary Pettis? He did, but he wasn’t the last Angel to do so.

Answer: Left fielder Luis Polonia, who stole 55 bases in 1993 and then departed for the New York Yankees, not by choice.

“This was home for me,” Polonia said. “I never wanted to leave this place.”

Polonia, 35, returned to Anaheim this week wearing the blue and orange of the Detroit Tigers, a triumphant chapter in a long and bizarre odyssey that included two trips to the World Series and two years in baseball exile in Mexico.

In four years in Anaheim, Polonia hit .294 and stole 174 bases, second to Pettis in franchise history. In 1993, Polonia said, his agent had discussed a four-year, $11-million contract extension with senior vice president Dan O’Brien, but O’Brien was ousted that September, and successor Whitey Herzog decided Chad Curtis could lead off for a lot less money.

The Yankees signed Polonia for a lot less money, $3 million for two years. In 1995, to clear a roster spot for Darryl Strawberry, they traded him to the Atlanta Braves, who employed him as a left-handed pinch-hitter during their World Series championship run.

Said Polonia: “Who doesn’t want to go to the World Series?”

In 1996, the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles released him. The Braves signed him, again as a pinch-hitter. Again, the Braves advanced to the Series.

He hit .419 in 22 games for the Braves that year, and he could have made a decent living as a bench player. But he longed to play every day, so he signed with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who had no players. He got his full-time job, all right--but with the Mexico City Tigres, to which the Devil Rays assigned Polonia.

The Mexican League plays during hellishly hot summers, and not in stadiums with retractable roofs, air conditioning and swimming pools beyond the outfield fence. Players take rickety buses, not charter flights. They sleep not at a Hyatt but “in a Motel 6, or lower,” Polonia said.

Many major league veterans quit rather than play in Mexico. Polonia hit .377 and .381, winning one batting title and losing another on the final day of the season. His contract included a clause that forced the Devil Rays to promote or release him should another team offer him a major league contract. None did, despite a shortage of quality leadoff men in the majors.

The Tigers invited Polonia to spring training last year, on a no-risk minor league contract.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” said Steve Lubratich, Detroit assistant general manager. “He knew he was a longshot when he got there. He was playing for the chance to keep playing.”

The Tigers sent him to the minor leagues, then promoted him in May. He got no hits in his first game, five hits in his second game, and hit .324 for the season, the only Tiger to hit .300. That earned him a major league contract this season, and the Tigers took an option for next season too.

So there he was Tuesday, leading off in Anaheim. Long way back.