Dodgers Pay the Price but Reap Profits

Somewhere in the Texas Panhandle as the sun baked the asphalt on a desolate two-lane highway, a lonely caravan carrying the Valley Dodgers’ brain trust dodged a rainstorm of small rocks. Immediately ahead, a trailer truck wobbled along the highway, kicking up a parade of pebbles as its giant wheels strayed onto the loose, roadside gravel.

When the caravan, skippered by Manager Jim Benedict and General Manager Dave Desmond, sped past the stone storm on its way back to California, the windshields of all three vans sported cracks, giving Desmond one more expense to consider.

“Just when I thought I had paid for everything, now I’ve got to worry about new windshields,” Desmond said.

Expenses--as much as hits and errors--have been a continuing story with the Dodgers, who returned this week from the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan., where they split four games and placed 11th in the 30-team, double-elimination tournament. Desmond has learned to measure success relatively, concluding that this year was a $5,000 improvement on last season. He seemed downright proud he’d spent only $5,000 out of his own pocket, rather than the $10,000 he forked out a year ago.

“Last year it cost our players $261 each to make the trip to Wichita,” Desmond said. “This year we paid for their expenses and gave them $7 a day for meal money, plus the McDonald’s coupons.”

The team received a donation of more than 300 coupons before heading East. Making fast work of a fast-food restaurant was the Dodgers’ idea of a training table. After a few visits from the ravenous players, one Wichita hamburger outlet refused to honor any more coupons.

Nutrition wasn’t the team’s only shortcoming in Wichita. The Dodgers trailed in the numbers game, fielding a 17-man squad that included only 10 position players. Chris Haslock, the team’s No. 1 reliever, became Benedict’s primary pinch-hitter.

“We were really strapped,” Benedict said. “We couldn’t move anybody around. If someone got hurt, we would have been forced to use a pitcher in the field. There were teams there that had flocks of guys. The numbers were really a downer.”

Benedict, a former pitcher in the Kansas City Royals organization who is the pitching coach at Loyola Marymount, knows about Dodger downers. He estimates he sunk about $3,000 into the team this summer.

Still, the complaint department remains uncluttered. Desmond, Benedict and the players give the experience high marks.

“I wouldn’t trade it in at all,” Benedict said about managing the Dodgers. “It was worth it, for resume purposes if nothing else. In spite of everything, we did exceptionally well in Wichita. We were a loose, enthusiastic bunch and it was an outstanding tournament.

“The drawback of the Valley Dodgers during the summer is you can’t get a team feeling. We meet on weekends, then go home and say, ‘See you on Saturday.’ During the tournament, we came together as a club.”

Second baseman Mike Cruz rates the NBC tournament among his career highlights.

“I wish I could have done this all through my college years,” said Cruz, who played for Chapman and Oxnard colleges. “My biggest memory will be the crowds. Little kids were waiting for you right after the games asking for autographs. I felt like Rocky. It was like nothing else I ever experienced.

“When I was at Royal High, the biggest crowd was when we played against Kurt Stillwell--and they were all scouts. At Chapman, we’d get about 13 people a game, unless it was a good team, then we’d get maybe 20.”

The Dodgers, making their second straight appearance in the NBC World Series, failed to match last year’s seventh-place showing. Still, they judge their season a success. The Dodgers won the Golden State League championship after finishing second last season and bettered last year’s 25-10 record with a 31-8-1 mark.

After opening the tournament with a 10-4 win over the Miami Typhoons, the Dodgers lost to Grand Rapids, 5-4, when Cruz, representing the tying run, was thrown out at home in the ninth inning. They rebounded with an 8-2 win over Greensboro, N.C., and were eliminated Sunday by Liberal, Kan., 3-1.

The Dodgers felt no shame in losing to Grand Rapids and Liberal. Grand Rapids, seeded No. 1 in the tournament, has appeared in three of the past four championship games, winning in 1983 and ’84. Liberal, the sixth seed, has been national champion three times, including in 1985.

“Grand Rapids and Liberal are always good,” Benedict said. “Losing to those teams is no slap in the face. Still, we shouldn’t have lost to them. We could have won those games.”

Said Cruz: “We faced a lot of good pitchers and didn’t get that clutch hit, but the big thing is we didn’t get blown out.”

No, but the Dodgers failed to make a big impression with the scouts. Kansas City showed interest in catcher Scott Drury and pitcher Fred Riscen, who was drafted in June by the Royals. And the Chicago Cubs approached Benedict about designated-hitter Rene Rivera.

“We could stand to improve our talent,” Desmond said. “We have a few guys who may be future pro players, but other teams have those kind of players at just about every position. Our guys get the job done, but the scouts didn’t have their eyes popping out.”

In order to attract better players, Desmond said, the Dodgers must convince college coaches that their players will improve by spending the summer as Valley Dodgers.

That means upgrading the team’s schedule, which takes money. The Dodgers will travel to Santa Maria for a five-game series next year with the Indians, who have finished in the top 10 in the NBC tournament seven of the past 11 years. Desmond also wants to schedule a swing through Kansas before next season’s NBC World Series.

So, the Dodger general manager won’t wait until the windshields are repaired before he begins fund-raising.

“It’s next year right now,” he said. “I want to hit people while we’re hot. Three months from now, people will forget who we are.”