THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504090199
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FORT MILL, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
At an age where most pro baseball players are contemplating a second career, Bob Stoddard hopes he's catching a second wind.
Before Friday, Stoddard had not pitched in a regular-season pro baseball game since 1989. Six seasons later, Stoddard, now 38, worked an inning of the Norfolk Tides' 7-3 victory over the Charlotte Knights to continue one of the spring's more unusual replacement-player stories.
Stoddard said goodbye to his wife and two young daughters in Seattle in mid-February to join the New York Mets' replacement team. A veteran of 119 major league games from 1981 to 1987, Stoddard, despite radical shoulder surgery after the '89 season, was one of the best pitchers in anyone's camp.
And when replacement baseball was called off at the 11th hour, Stoddard, despite his age, wound up one of only two replacements - Double-A pitcher Brent Knackert was the other - offered a minor league deal by the Mets.
``I have no guarantees here,'' said Stoddard, who logged an 18-27 record and 4.03 earned-run average with the Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals. ``I'm just here to see what happens. If I get a chance to pitch, if I can get people out and have success down here, who knows what's going to happen?''
Stoddard said he spent the last few years coping with the feeling that the injury cut his career much too short. But when his arm failed to respond well and he couldn't hook on, Stoddard opened a pitching-batting cage in Seattle and coached Bellevue High School's baseball team for four seasons.
The last couple seasons, though, Stoddard pitched on a 30-and-over club and found himself dominating even the younger teams he faced. When replacement ball got going, Stoddard said he thought hard about coming back because of the separation from his family, but he's glad he did.
Still, his time could be short. Stoddard already lucked out in that the Tides' roster was expanded from 23 to 25 until mid-May. But some pitchers from the Mets' 40-man major league roster are due by April 26, so Stoddard must show something if this isn't to be his true professional end.
``It ended for me five years ago,'' he said. ``This is kind of a second chance. I don't think I ever lost the desire to play in the big leagues. If I felt my time had passed I wouldn't be here.
``There are lots of guys 38, 40, 41 pitching regularly in the major leagues. Gaylord Perry was one of my mentors when I came up with the Mariners, and when I met him I think he was 45. If I can go out and have some pretty good stuff, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be one of those players.''
BYE BYE BUCKS: Stoddard and Knackert received $10,000 for their time as replacement Mets, including the $5,000 every player would have gotten for being on the opening day roster. Tides like infielders Greg Graham and Frank Jacobs, minor leaguers who played in many replacement games, missed out on much more.
``I wish we would've gotten to play one game,'' Graham said, with good reason. Had that game been played, Graham would have gotten that first $5,000 and been guaranteed a Triple-A job at $7,000 per month, at least double his present salary, when the strike ended.
Instead, Graham, Jacobs and any other Mets minor leaguer got $2,500 for playing in spring games.
BACKLASH? Despite two gorgeous evenings in the Charlotte area, the Tides' first two games with the Knights drew paid crowds of only 4,387 and 4,184 to the Knights Castle.
Opening night attendance in Charlotte's first two Triple-A seasons was 9,767 in 1993 and 7,039 in 1994. But there was no major league strike those years.
SCHEDULE SHIFT: The Mets-Tides exhibition game slated for June 29 has been postponed because of the revamped major league schedule.
The new date being considered is Monday, Aug. 14, the Tides' only scheduled off day after July 27. That would create a string of 37 consecutive games to end the season.
Had the date stayed June 29, though, it would have given the Tides 47 scheduled games in a row from May 25 through July 10. by CNB