A chat with Rick Dempsey

It’s all in the family.

Glendale sports fans and civic followers are aware of the

prominent roles played by the Dempsey-Zaun families.

Bob Zaun, of the long-standing Zaun auto glass industry, is a

Glendale Police Department officer, specializing in community

policing.

His wife, Cherie Dempsey Zaun, is a teaching golf pro at Oakmont,

with competitive tours in her history.

Cherie’s brother Pat, also a Glendale resident, is among the

world’s leading long drivers in golf’s newest sidebar rage. For

several prior years he was a minor league baseball catcher.

The Zauns’ son, Gregg, a Houston Astros catcher, has just

completed his eighth major league season.

Gregg’s uncle, Rick Dempsey, now 53, has spent 36 years in

professional baseball, including an incredible 24 years as a big

league catcher.

Rick’s son, John, was in the minors for several years, also as a

catcher. That’s more than 60 years of professional catching in one

family.

A recent conversation with the very affable Rick Dempsey included

these exchanges:

CHUCK BENEDICT: Twenty-four years is quite a major league span,

especially for the physical toll that knee bends, foul balls and

longevity take on receivers. Among all-time great catchers Johnny

Bench, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Rick

Ferrell, Carlton Fisk, Gabby Hartnett, Luke Sewell and Thurman

Munson, only Fisk could match your 24.

RICK DEMPSEY: I started early. At Crespi High, as a sophomore, I

was a 4:36 miler, but in my junior year I gave up track for baseball.

However, track helped me tremendously as an athlete.

CB: It must not have taken you long to get to the majors.

RD: Jesse Flores signed me for the Minnesota Twins and I was

playing in the majors when I was 19. After four years, I was traded

to the Yankees. I was in awe of the Yankees’ No. 1 catcher, Thurman

Munson. Playing on the same team with him for four years was

exciting.

CB: Obviously he taught you how to catch at the starting player’s

level.

RD: Yes. In 1976, I was traded to Baltimore, where I was the

starter for almost 12 years. In addition to catching, I played a

little outfield. I could do that. With my track training I always was

faster than most catchers.

CB: You played in a couple of World Series with Baltimore and

later with the great 1988 world champion Dodgers. That brought you

close to home. Did you hope to stay with the Dodgers in some

capacity?

RD: Of course, and actually I did work for them. After I finished

my catching career with Milwaukee and Baltimore, I managed over 700

minor league games. I won over 200 for Dodger farm teams, including

Triple-A at Albuquerque.

CB: Did you enjoy managing, and do you think about becoming a

major league skipper?

RD: Of course. The next step was to coach in the major leagues,

and the Dodgers gave me that shot in 1999. I was the third base coach

for a season, then in 2000 I switched to being the bullpen coach. The

news media exaggerated my disappointment at the move and in

retrospect I have to say that the move made sense. Glenn Hoffman was

the bullpen guy and I had been around pitchers much more than he, so

we switched for 2000.

CB: But now you are with Baltimore.

RD: I’m happy there. But it would have been nice to stay with the

Dodgers. A new front office regime came in and decided to sweep as

clean as possible. But that’s baseball and that’s life. I’m still in

the majors and doing fine.

CB: Many baseball people say you’re well qualified to be a big

league manager.

RD: Let’s see what time brings.

By the way, I have a trivia story.

CB: Shoot.

RD: Gregg, John, Pat and I all have been catchers in the minors

and two of us in the majors. We have something rather unusual in

common. Over the years, each of the four of us has thrown out an

attempted steal by Jim Gantner, who played in the minors and 17 years

with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was fast enough to steal 137 major

league bases, but each of us threw him out in a professional game.

CB: Why did you retire as a player. Was it automatic at age 42?

RD: I just found that sitting on the bench wasn’t fun anymore.

Baseball has to be fun. Now I am on the sidelines, involved with

every play throughout the game, and I’m having fun.

Reach Chuck Benedict at 637-3200 (voice mail 974), by fax at

5499191 or by E-mail: BChuckbenedict@aol.com