ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702110012
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: RANDY GALLOWAY
SOURCE: RANDY GALLOWAY
On a rainy Thursday at The Ballpark in Arlington, Johnny Oates was a sunshine machine. Even the gloomy medical news on Juan Gonzalez's left thumb (he had surgery Saturday to repair a torn ligament and may be sidelined until May) did not cause Oates to cloud up.
Here, obviously, was a baseball manager ready to get going, which is why he headed to Florida for the weekend, awaiting the arrival of pitchers and catchers on Feb.14. A week later, Oates will step in front of a full squad of players in Port Charlotte to deliver his 1997 State of the Rangers address.
But one thing we know about Oates - he works ahead. My guess is this particular speech has been ready since, oh, say, Oct.6. The Rangers, you will remember, departed the American League playoffs Oct.5.
With a contingent of key players on hand Thursday in Arlington, Texas, for the annual winter baseball banquet, Oates was asked if he had a new ``team theme'' in mind. Of course, he did.
``The job is not done ... Getting to the playoffs was not enough,'' Oates said. He then added, ``but what last season gave us was a positive theme to start with, as opposed to what previous Rangers teams have had to open spring training with.''
Including February 1996, when Oates greeted his players with a pointed dose of reality - Texas had just become the only franchise in either league other than the Florida Marlins that had never experienced postseason life. ``We are going to hear that every day of the season - learn to accept it and deal with it, but also let it work to our advantage,'' he told last year's team at the start of spring training.
Oates was right on one count. The Rangers did hear it or read it basically every day, particularly after the All-Star break. Accepting it, dealing with it and letting it work to their advantage didn't exactly materialize, as Oates acknowledges.
But they did win the AL West Division. And they did have a good postseason series against the eventual World Series champions, the New York Yankees. Oates now refers to what happened last season as ``only a starting point,'' but really it was much more.
A huge stigma was removed from Arlington. Now we can safely say voodoo devils don't haunt the ballpark and that the old excuse about players being french fried in the Texas heat no longer is valid.
Oates, for one, never bought into the voodoo or heat theories, but he quickly learned that in Arlington the ``never had won'' curse was very real and very draining.
``Not to have that, not to have to think that, is like this burden the size of a mountain has been lifted,'' he said. ``When it comes August and September, and that's not a factor any longer, and you can concentrate instead on winning another one divisional title, now that will work to our advantage.''
Last season, Oates says he saw the opposite begin to unfold, not only for the players, but for himself.
``I thought the Rangers never having won in all those 25 years might be something we could use in the stretch ... a psychological lift,'' said the Virginia Tech alumnus. ``But instead, it worked against us for most of the second half.
``You could make all the alibis you wanted about none of us had been around this franchise long enough to figure into that negative history, but we were still a part of it. We are the Texas Rangers - that means it was still linked to us.
``Chips started to show up on shoulders. We saw it as an unfair association. It became a grind for all of us. You could preach all you wanted about not fighting the fans and not fighting the media, but the truth is, it impacted us all.
``Man, I'm just glad that is behind us, and I'm glad we can go about the business of finishing what we started last season. Again, the job is not done.''
Changes have come to the Rangers for 1997. One is very positive - John Wetteland. One, and maybe two, are rated as iffy.
Darryl Hamilton will be missed in center field, in the clubhouse and in the leadoff spot. Oates, like general manager Doug Melvin, has tried to do an off-season selling job to the fans and the media that Damon Buford will be as good defensively.
It is almost the same at shortstop, where Benji Gil returns to replace Kevin Elster.
Plus, Oates has to locate left-handers for the bullpen after Dennis Cook and Mike Stanton left as free agents.
``I don't care what the team, you don't stay the same from one season to the next in today's baseball world,'' Oates said. ``But I look at the 25 players we expect to open with this season, and I compare it to the 25 we opened with last season, and I say we're better off.''
Most of all, of course, the Rangers are better off because some old ghosts no longer live in Arlington.
Randy Galloway is a sports columnist for the Dallas Morning News.
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