Charmed Existence

Kent Mercker is one of 14 players in baseball history to pitch a no-hitter and hit a grand slam, and he also has accomplished the feat of collecting two hits in the same inning.

Mercker won a World Series ring with the Atlanta Braves in 1995, he played with Baltimore iron man Cal Ripken in 1996, and he was a teammate and friend of Mark McGwire during that magical 1998 season in St. Louis, when McGwire shattered Roger Maris’ record with 70 home runs. That was the season Mercker hit his grand slam, connecting off Jesus Sanchez Sept. 2 at Florida.

Adding another layer of icing to his athletic career, Mercker, a 6-handicap golfer, had his first hole-in-one last year when he aced the 144-yard 12th hole at Sunset Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

“I tell you what,” Mercker said, sizing up his first 10 years in the big leagues, “it would be tough to trade my career with anyone.”

Mercker hopes Chapter 11 doesn’t turn into an epilogue, though. That’s why he’s now in camp with the Angels, trying to win a spot in the rotation and bring some veteran stability and productivity to a rotation in dire need of both.

“When you go to a club where they’re counting on you, it puts you mentally in an area you want to be,” Mercker, 32, said. “It’s not like being the fifth guy in Atlanta’s rotation, where they didn’t really need you. It’s not like you can flip the ball out there and just have fun. . . . This team has a good offense and defense. Pitching is where they needed help.”

Mercker can help, but only if his fastball returns to its 1995 form, when the left-hander regularly hit 91 mph on the speed gun and helped the Braves win a championship.

Mercker has never had arm problems in the big leagues, although he had elbow surgery in 1987, his second minor league season. But for some reason his fastball dipped to the 81-mph range in 1996, and he turned into a Baltimore bust, going 3-6 with a 7.76 earned run before the Orioles traded him to the Indians for Eddie Murray in July of that year.

So began a five-year odyssey in which Mercker, who pitched his no-hitter in Dodger Stadium on April 8, 1994, wore the uniform of six teams.

“It was weird and frustrating because there was no pain,” said Mercker, who stopped in Cincinnati, St. Louis and Boston before signing a minor league deal with the Angels this winter.

“I tried to change my mechanics a bit, and I was overusing my change-up and slider. In my mind, I was still pitching like a guy who throws 90 mph. If you have a power mentality with finesse stuff, it’s not going to work.”

Mercker’s velocity began to improve in 1997 (8-11, 3.92 ERA for the Reds) and 1998 (11-11, 5.07 ERA for the Cardinals), and he began hitting 88 mph regularly last season in St. Louis and Boston (combined 8-5, 4.80 ERA).

“Then one game last year, bang, I hit 92 mph,” Mercker said. “The good thing is that through all that, I learned how to pitch a little better. . . . I feel like now, I’m at a point where my best years are coming, maybe not stuff-wise, but as far as being a complete package.”

This package came with a relatively cheap price tag for the Angels. If Mercker is on the opening day roster, he’ll receive a base salary of $850,000, and he can earn up to $1.75 million more in incentives if he starts 30 games and throws 200 innings. That’s a bargain by today’s standards.

With Ken Hill’s durability hampered by an arthritic elbow condition and Tim Belcher out until early May because of elbow surgery, Mercker could provide a huge boost if he can start 30 games or so and go .500 or better.

“My key is command,” said Mercker, who has a 62-58 career record with a not-so-impressive strikeouts (683) to walks (459) ratio. “I’m not wild, but I’m not a control pitcher, either. If I can go 0-1 instead of 1-0 [in the count], the odds of getting that guy out go up tremendously.

“I have to get ahead, work ahead, work fast, change speeds and make pitches. You don’t have to make great pitches to get hitters out. Make a good pitch, and sometimes the hitter will get himself out.”

That’s what happened on that memorable night in Los Angeles, when Mercker pitched his no-hitter. Though he struck out 10, Mercker wasn’t overpowering, relying on a well-placed fastball and his change-up, and he worked ahead in the count all night.

“It was just one of those nights, man, when everything went right,” Mercker said. “That’s the only way to explain it. I made some good pitches and got away with some bad ones. Just to say I threw a no-hitter on the same mound Sandy Koufax pitched on was awesome. There are a lot of great pitchers I admire, but he tops my list.”

These were the types of accomplishments many expected of Mercker, who was the fifth overall pick in the 1986 draft. Mercker pitched three no-hitters as a senior at Dublin (Ohio) High School, he had a few 18-strikeout games, and he was such a hot prospect that he was named National High School Player of the Year in 1986.

The runner-up was some kid named Ken Griffey Jr.

“Boy, what a bad decision they made, huh?” Mercker said. “I was a left-hander throwing 95 mph in high school. I guess there weren’t many of those back then.”

Mercker turned down scholarship offers to Ohio State, Michigan and Stanford to sign with the Braves and reached the big leagues for good in 1990, His formative years in Atlanta were on a rotation that included eventual Cy Young Award winners Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, and Mercker went 31-25 in six years with Atlanta.

But with Mercker eligible for free agency after making $2.25 million in 1995, the Braves couldn’t justify paying their fifth starter $3 million or more, so they traded him to the Orioles for pitchers Joe Borowski and Rachaad Stewart.

Mercker has lived the life of a baseball nomad ever since, but he doesn’t view his many address changes as a negative.

“Baltimore traded me because I was terrible, but I chose to leave Cleveland and Cincinnati [as a free agent],” Mercker said. “Boston needed a left-hander for the playoffs last year, so that was a good trade for me.

“Yeah, it’s my seventh team, but I’ve only been traded twice. Was it a negative when [David] Cone got traded every year before the playoffs? No.”

Nor does Mercker view being in the Angels’ camp as a negative, even though he turned down a $1.75-million option to return to Boston and wound up with a minor league contract and no guarantees in Anaheim.

“I didn’t have people knocking down my door this winter, but I had a few offers,” Mercker said. “I just feel if I’m healthy and do what I’m capable of doing, this is a real good opportunity for me.”

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A Rare Double

Major league baseball players who have pitched a no-hitter and hit a grand slam, with the years each feat was accomplished:

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Player No-hitter Grand slam Larry Corcoran 1880, ‘82, ’84 1882 Tom Lovett 1891 1889 Jack Stivetts 1892 1890 Chick Fraser 1903 1897 Deacon Phillipe 1899 1910 Walter Johnson 1920 1914 Wes Ferrell 1931 1936 Don Larsen 1956 1956 Bob Gibson 1971 1965, ’73 Earl Wilson 1962 1966 Rick Wise 1971 1971, ’73 Burt Hooton 1972 1972 Bob Forsch 1978, ’83 1986 Kent Mercker 1994 1998

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Source: Lyle Spatz, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)