The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 74

D3 Sunday, June 18, 1989 The Pittsburgh Press BASEBALL Another Bailey hopes to make history PIRATES IN PERSON Sfl ffli (Fifteenth in a series) Nasist Jim Leyland. Nickname! Humperdink. When I'm dons with baaa-bsil: I will go into broadcasting. Biggsst rsgrsti I didn't attempt to switch hit. An Ideal availing: A day game, eat dinner at home on my back porch and go to the driving range.

Pavotits ballpark on the road: Busch Stadium, St. Louis. Team I would most like to ssanago If I didn't manage Pirates: Kansas City Royals or St. Louis Cardinals. Playsr I would want most if I wars starting a team: Todd Worrell.

i attention was centered on Bailey. He went 0 for 4 in his first game but then hit a three-run homer off Jack Sanford of the San Francisco Giants in his second game when the Pirates ended Sanford's streak of 16 consecutive victories. Now another generation of Baileys is in the Pirates organization. Rob Bailey will play at Welland of the Class A New York-Penn League. This is not a case of like father, like son.

"I'm a totally different player," Rob Bailey said. "He was a power hitter. I'm the perfect type of turf player." Bailey was molded by his father, who made him into a switch hitter because of his speed and who spent the last year watching his every game. In fact, Bailey is probably responsible for his son's high position in the draft "He was playing center field," Bob Bailey said. "But I talked the coach into moving him to shortstop the last 10 games of the year." "I figure he would have been an eighth- or ninth-round pick as a center fielder," said Brown, who saw Bailey when he was playing outfield.

Playing at Fullerton Junior College he hit .390 and led the state in steals with 31, good enough that the University of Texas also wanted him. "They are different," said Brown. "Bob was more a pure hitter. That was what jumped out at you. Bob was a shortstop but we knew we would move him to third.

This boy is naturally more designed for the position." The way Bailey pats it is: "When I couldn't hit any more I was through. Jim Leyland Pavorlts Pittsburgh restaurant: Piacquadio's. Pavorlts aetoraetresst Dustin HoffmanBarbra Streisand. Pavorlts all-time morie: "Sound of Music." Pavorlts TV show! "The Andy Griffith Show." If I could bo anything in ths world: I would be just what I am. Pavorlts Pittsburgh attraction: Sight of the city as you come through the Fort Pitt Tunnel.

Advice to childron: Enjoy your youth and establish your own mind. Nobody knows! I love flowers. Crasisst thing I svsr did: Bet I could hold dry ice on my hand for IS minutes. I did it and have the scar to prove it. Thing I hops to do someday: Become a scratch golfer.

Bob Hertzel Rob Bailey Third-round draft choice "It didn't get down to friendship; it got down to dollars," said Brown. "We did a good selling job. I'm not sure we offered the most money, but we were close. They liked the opportunities we presented, and we kept every promise. He was in the minor leagues just a year and a half.

He signed with the right organization. "We wanted him bad enough that (owner) John Galbreath flew out and visited. John, in his strong, quiet way was very impressive." Brown knew the bidding would be fierce the first game he scouted Bailey in high school. There were 39 scouts in the stands. Bailey reached the major leagues in 1962, along with another rookie of note, Willie Stargell.

Most of the By Dob Ilertxel Tha Pittsburgh Press The Pirates selected Rob Bailey of Long Beach, during the third round of the baseball draft June S. Few paid much attention. But everybody noticed in 1961 when the Pirates signed Rob Bailey's dad. Bob Bailey, a move that helped change the way baseball went after young talent Bob Bailey and others like him Dave Nicholson, Dick Wakefield, Paul Pettit received astronomical amounts of money to sign. Major-leaguers who played out the term of their contracts were not the free agents of that era and had no bargaining power.

The free agents were the big, strong high-school kids who could sign with the team that offered them the most The result was that the lords of baseball, faced with so much money being wasted on kids who did notpan out, went to a draft system. That eliminated reckless spending and competition. To understand what that meant in terms of money saved, all you have to do is compare the bonus Bailey received and that given Willie Greene, the Pirates' No. 1 choice in this year's draft. Greene, as Bailey was, is an 18-year-old high-school shortstop.

Greene hit .500, Bailey .475. Greene received slightly more than 115,000 1989 dollars. Bailey received 150,000 1961 dollars. "The money was well spent," Bailey said. "I played five years for the Pirates.

I ended up playing 17 years in the major leagues. I did Bonds regains lead role By Bob Hertsel The Pittsburgh Press ST. LOUIS As a No. 5 hitter, Barry Bonds is a very good leadoff man. Reinstated in the leadoff spot after struggling for six games in the No.

5 position, Bonds responded with an offensive game that makes you wonder why anyone wants him to hit anywhere but leadoff. Bonds walked twice, singled and doubled, scored two runs and drove in one as the Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2. "He probably is more comfortable leading off," Manager Jim Leyland said after the game. "He's been a pretty good leadoff hitter." But when you have a guy who has hit 25 home runs in a season and has the potential to hit 35, people wonder why he's being wasted in the leadoff spot.

The trouble is they are blinded by the lightning in Bonds' bat. PIRATES FARM REPORT if Bob Bailey Received $150,000 bonus absolutely as good as I could do." Joe Brown was general manager of the Pirates at the time. Being from the Southern California area, he had seen Bailey play. He also had worked Bailey out at Dodger Stadium, a workout that led pitcher Vernon Law to say, "Frankly, I wouldn't give $25,000." "That," Brown said, "is why we do not have players involved in negotiations. They are not trained to see the future, to see the potential" Brown saw the potential and knew the Pirates had close connections with the Bailey family.

Jerry Gardner, the scout who helped sign both father and son, was close to the father, Buck Bailey, a former minor-league player. Dann Bilardello scores on Collier from page Dl "I'm-the-manager-and-the-manag-er-has-to-be-ultimately-responsible" rhetoric, Leyland's public stance in this forum is a facade. If Leyland is an issue with this team, I'm a brain surgeon. He is more responsible for this year's Pirates than he is for the year's convulsions in global politics, but not by a lot. But he's fooled some of the people some of the time.

The other night on the someone actually suggested that it was finally time to call in Willie Stargell to manage the club. If that's what time it is, I gotta get a new watch on the way outta town. Stargell, we remember, helped to inspire two world championships around here in the 1970s, and though his inspirational qualities should not be (and don't worry, they never have been) understated, he also energized those two clubs with the little matter of 80 homers and 207 RBI. At 49 and perhaps a few pounds more than his playing weight, I don't see him making that kind of impact on this team. Further, he'd probably want a Mercedes to manage the first series, two of them if any trips to the mound were involved, which is a lot for a guy whose managerial potential is, frankly, modest at best.

Right there, I have devoted four paragraphs to the notion of Stargell managing the Pirates, which proves beyond all previous proof that I have absolutely, positively nothing to do. Let's get back to the non-issue at hand. How effective would you have thought Leyland would be this year if you had known the first week in April that the National League was going to expand to include Buffalo and that he would manage that He ipi or in the the (Through Thursday's games) Buffalo American Association (AAA) The Bison (39-29) are in second place in the Eastern Division, trailing Indianapolis by a half game. Infielder Jay Ball (.292) leads with eight home runs and 31 RBI. He has 11 errors after 27 games at third base and 29 at shortstop Infielder Sammy Khalifa (.289) leads with 55 hits and has only three errors after 34 games at second, 13 at third and 10 at shortstop Since being sent down by the Pirates, catcher Tom Prinea is batting .286 (6 for 21) with two doubles and three RBI.

Overall, he's batting .239 (11 for 46) with four doubles, one home run and six RBI The club's other catcher, Andy Hall is batting .278 (10 for 36) with two doubles, one triple and six RBI Outfielder Stav Handenon (.293) leads with 13 doubles. He also has 28 RBI Outfielder Raffia Williams (.266) leads with 15 stolen bases in 20. attempts Since being signed by the Bisons two weeks ago, third baseman Chris Browa has played in seven games and is batting .250 (4 for 16) and has two RBI Outfielder 'Stars Carter is batting .333 with nine doubles, three triples and 15 RBI Dora Taylor is 7-4 and has a 2 .88 earned run average. He also has four complete games in 11 starts Bob Patterson (5-3, 2.91) leads with 50 strikeouts in 86 innings Since being sent down by the Pirates, Bog or Samnola has pitched in three games, with one vie-tory and one save, and given up two earned runs in 5 Vi, innings for a 3.18 ERA. Harrisburg Eastern League (AA) The fourth-place Senators (28-28) trail first-place Albany by 13 games, second-place Canton-Akron by three games and third-place Reading by one game.

Outfielder Wea Chamborlain has provided much of the offense. He leads with a .323 average, 65 hits, nine home runs and 27 RBI. He also has 12 doubles and a triple Outfielder Ed Taoopiaoof Aliquippa is batting .286 (56 for 196) and leads with 13 doubles. He also has six home runs, two triples, 25 RBI and only two errors First baseman Bddlo Bartman, who played for Seton-La Salle and IUP, is batting .200 (8 for 40) with one home run and four RBI Infielder Orlando Moreod is batting .225, but has eight doubles, three triples, two home runs, 26 RBI and eight stolen bases Infielder Jalio Poroa is batting .315 Second baseman Kevin Bardiek is batting .288 BUI Sampan is 6-3 and has a 3.01 ERA Mike York (5-4, 1.80) leads with 61 strikeouts in 75 innings. Salem Carolina League (A) The Buccaneers (31-36) are in third place in the Northern Division, trailing first-place Lynchburg by four games.

Third baseman John Wohnor of Carrick leads with a .321 average, 79 hits and five triples. He also has four home runs, 17 doubles, 33 RBI, 12 stolen bases and 16 errors Outfielder Hoiaeo Alou (.299) leads with eight home runs, 24 doubles and 36 RBI. He also has a triple and 10 stolen bases Shortstop Carlo Garcia (.260) leads with 16 stolen bases in 22 attempts. He also has 34 RBI. Augusta South Atlantic League (A) The Pirates (43-28) clinched the first-half championship in the Southern Division last week and hold a 4 game lead over Columbia, Designated hitter-first baseman Jaff Osborne leads regulars with a .308 average, 68 hits and four triples.

He also has six home runs, 12 doubles and 39 RBI Second baseman Glonn HcNabb is batting .290 Outfielder Grof Sims (.230) leads with 24 stolen bases in 36 attempts PotoBlohm (11-4, 2.40) leads with 10 complete games in 15 starts. He's also struck out 77 and walked 27 in 1 1 2 innings Monroeville's Tim MeDowou (2-3, 2.24) has struck out 38 and walked 16 in 52fs innings and has one save. Luka Krneta Jose Lind's single as Tony Pena fumbles throw He has other skills." -s Atioeiated Press Z-28. "I've told this to the team in private," Leyland said. "There are some nights when I go to the bullpen that no matter who I pull out of there, it's the wrong guy." Leyland's well-planned 1989 was based largely on the structure of his bullpen, which collapsed not only with Gott's arm, but with Jeff Robinson, who went from a potentially superior closer to the founder of a whole open-all-night chapter of Pyr-omaniacs Anonymous.

"I really believe that the game belongs to the players and I want it to be that Leyland said. "When it gets bad is if a player becomes the focus of what's wrong all the time, so if somebody has to be the focus I'd like it to be me that takes the heat. Some players can't handle seeing something bad written about them. I've told them they have to learn to take the bad with the good, but you know, they come in here every day in jeans and sneakers. They might be making a lot of money, but they're kids.

Something bad gets said about them or written about them, one of them might go into the outhouse for three weeks, and I can't have that. "But if you're asking me if I think I've become a bad manager, no." Well, that's two of us anyway. When the National League managers sat down to select the best manager in the league last fall, fully a third of them named Leyland. Of the handful of people managingcoaching pro and major college teams in this town, no one is better prepared, more resourceful, or consistently puts himself in a better position to get the maximum from his players than Leyland. If there's an issue in there somewhere, I can't find it.

club? With 99 games to play, Leyland had already experienced the dubious pleasure of managing Tom Prince, Benny Distefano, Miguel Garcia, Randy Kramer, Morris Madden, Jeff King, Dorn Taylor, Logan Easley, Scott Medvin, Roger Samuels, Jay Bell, Steve Carter. All minor-leaguers regardless of Pirates PR pap current station. He's also come to deploy Dann Bilardello and Doug Bair, both of whom had proven beyond suspicion that they were not of any baseball value. Except, I guess, to the Pittsburgh Buffaloes. Because it is beyond the capabilities of many of those persons to conjure a representative major-league performance and forget doing it two games in a row the result has been 46 different lineups 62 games.

Only 20 of those have included Mike LaValliere andor Sid Bream, two superior defensemen and representative left-handed hitters (big-leaguers, people like this are sometimes called). The partial result of the serious leg injuries to those two players is that a team that last year was 61-51 against right-handed starters is 15-30. And I haven't even mentioned Jim Gott yet. How effective would you have thought Leyland would be this year if you had known the first week in April that Gott's total 1989 contribution would read: two-thirds of an inning, one hit, one walk, one strikeout? Where would you have thought Pirates would be right now? Would you take seven games out in loss column with 99 to play? Thank you very much you would. But you're right if you think Leyland doesn't have a plan.

We're beyond Plan headed toward Plan MINOR-LEAGUE SPOTLIGHT His skills make him maybe the prototype leadoff hitter, even more so than his father, Bobby, was in the 1970s. His power is an asset, not a detriment. The leadoff hitter's job is to get on base and, if his power makes a pitcher work more carefully to him and maybe walk him, what's wrong with that? Certainly nothing yesterday when Bonds' leadoff walk against Jose DeLeon started a two-run first in- ning and gave Jeff Robinson a lead. Twice Leyland has dropped Bonds to the No. 5 spot this year.

The first time Bonds seemed to do fine, getting nine hits in 33 at-bats, a .273 average that included seven doubles and one home run. This time, though, he was 4 for 25, a .160 average. "The fifth spot is tougher than the leadoff spot," said Bonds. "Batting fifth I was usually in a position where they were changing pitchers and bringing a tough left-hander in to face me. Besides, I was just struggling." A slump is a slump, whether you are hitting first or fifth and Bonds knows something about slumps and hitting streaks.

Consistency never has been his game. Entering yesterday's game he was down to .240. "I've been at .240 many times and brought myself back up. It's always just a matter of when it is going to happen." What bothers Bonds most about his slumps is he hears they are caused by trying to hit home runs. "When I'm struggling that's all anyone tells me.

But last year, when I was hitting .280 and hitting home runs all the time, no one said anything and I was doing the same thing. So far this year I've just been having a hard time. That's all. It'll come around." Leyland isn't sure what he is going to do with Bonds. He might drop him back into the No.

5 spot in the order when he plays John Cangelosi or Gary Redus, both of whom would lead off. "It doesn't matter to Barry; he just wants to hit," said Leyland. The figures seem to disagree. It seems as though it matters a lot. NOTES The Cardinals put outfielder Willie McGee on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 7, because of a sprained left wrist Morris Madden will make his second start today against Joe Magrane (2:15 p.m., KBL).

Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog hadn't been thrown out of a game in two years until he was ejected yesterday. "I was going after Gehrig's record," Herzog joked. Keith Raisanen was enjoying his best year in the Pirates' minor-league system until Tuesday. Raisanen was named Augusta's Player of the Month for May, the team won the first half championship and he got married. Unfortunately, his honeymoon turned into sick leave.

He was hospitalized Tuesday evening. "The doctor thinks it was some kind of virus or food poisoning," he said. A 6-1, 185-pound right-handed batter, Raisanen is hitting .275 with a club-high 10 home runs and 55 RBI. In his two previous seasons, he hit .222 with eight home runs and 60 RBI. "I knew the power was there it was just a matter of getting him playing every day," said Augusta Manager Stan Cliburn.

"He has a pure swing." Raisanen, a native of Annis-ton, was an outfielder at Birmingham Southern when the Pirates made him their 25th selection in the June 1987 draft. He switched to third this season. Although he has 14 errors in 60 Keith Raisanen games, he said he is starting to feel comfortable and is glad he made the switch. "We have a lot of outstanding outfielders in our organization." At 24 he is old for a Class A player, but, he said, "I'm in the best condition of my life and I feel like I'm in an 18-year-old body." Luka Krneta This date in baseball 1950 The Cleveland Indians scored 14 runs in the first inning, setting an American-League record. They beat the Philadelphia A's, 21-2.

1953 Dick Gernert's home run highlighted a 17-run, 14-hit seventh inning as the Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 23-3, at Fenway Park. Gene Stephens had three fcSSBBBBSSSBBSBBBSBBBBBBBBSBSBSSSBSBSS hits in the big inning. 1975 Fred Lynn drove in 10 runs with three home runs, a triple and a single in the Red Sox' 15-1 victory against the Detroit Tigers. Today's birthday's: Andres Galarraga 28, Dave Leiper 27. Associated Press A-.