Baseball : At 40, Boone Is Amazing to Others, Not to Himself

Daisuke Yamashita retired after his 14th season of professional baseball in Japan and decided to vacation in America. He was visiting Anaheim Stadium last week and, to hear him tell it, saw the eighth wonder of the world.

Turns out it was only Angel catcher Bob Boone.

“His arm is better than any catcher I’ve seen and he is how old? Forty? “ said Yamashita, who won eight gold gloves as a shortstop for Yokohama and has seen a lot of major league catchers during exhibition tours in the U.S.

“And he is hitting very good too.”

Yamashita thinks we’ve all been taking this remarkable man for granted and he wonders how much longer Boone can continue to defy nature.

How about forever?

“I’m not quitting,” Boone said. “I can’t visualize myself ever quitting. If I ever get too miserable, I’m sure the team will let me know. My mental approach to it is, I’m going to keep playing until they refuse to give me a uniform.

“I feel no different than I did 15 years ago. The only difference is, it says 40 next to my name, instead of 25.”

There is a difference, though, and it is remarkable. Boone is a better catcher now than he was when he came up to the majors with Philadelphia in 1972.

“I’ve never thought that age was taking a toll with me because my defense is still there,” Boone said. “All the retired catchers I’ve talked to tell me that defense is the first thing to go. My defensive reflexes haven’t slipped.”

Boone will admit that hitting the big four-oh puts more emphasis on hitting the baseball, however. He can’t afford to let his batting average--which is only .238 in his career as an Angel--slip too low.

“As you get older, doing poorly at the plate can mean the end and part of my goal is never having to reach the end ,” he said, smiling. “I don’t have time to struggle or have a bad year. If you’re 40 and hitting .195, that can be terminal. You recognize that and it motivates you.”

Boone, who has never hit better than .286 in the majors, is responding these days. In the last 29 games through Friday, he was hitting .392 and had raised his average 88 points, from .195 to .283, despite a stretch last week in which he went 0 for 10.

“Right now, I’m definitely swinging the bat as well as I ever have in my career,” he said. “Just don’t ask me to explain it. I’m trying not to think about it.

“But for me, it still comes down to how I catch. I’m going to be rated forever on how I catch.”

No matter how much he’d like to, Boone won’t play forever. But he might be remembered for a long time if he ends up in the Hall of Fame, as was suggested in a recent Sports Illustrated article.

“I’ve never thought of myself as Hall of Fame material,” Boone said. “I know I don’t have as much talent as most people in there. The difference with me is that I’ve just ground it out.”

And he hasn’t missed a beat. Boone has not spent a day on the disabled list during his career--he’s had four off-season knee operations--so maybe they will set aside a corner for baseball’s most durable catcher.

“I’m probably the only one who knows what it takes to do that,” he said. “I’ve always prided myself on that. The injuries I’ve had, I’ve been able to play with.

“There’s nothing else I can do with the amount of talent that’s been doled out, so I’ll just try to grind it out for as long as I can.”

And Bob Boone is one of the few guys who can go to work and say, “Back to the same old grind,” and say it with a smile.

Ozzie Smith has been considered something just slightly less than a deity in St. Louis in recent years and can probably lay valid claim to being the most popular player in the game. He was the top vote-getter in the majors during this year’s All-Star balloting.

A few chinks are beginning to show up in this knight’s armor, however.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a less-than-complimentary article recently, featuring remarks from former Cardinals Jack Clark and Andy Van Slyke.

Clark said Smith’s public image far surpassed reality and implied that Smith was a bit of a whiner. Van Slyke said Smith over-reacted and was the instigator of the brawl with San Francisco during last season’s playoffs.

And a number of trade rumors concerning the Oz have been circulating.

Now, Smith is refusing to talk to some St. Louis sportswriters.

When Toronto Manager Jimy Williams said this spring that he was considering making outfielder George Bell his designated hitter, Bell had a fit. So when Bell made his seventh error in six games Tuesday night, it was Williams’ turn to let off some steam.

Bell, voted the American League’s most valuable player last season, overthrew the cutoff man--as well as catcher Ernie Whitt--opening the door for a three-run sixth inning during Minnesota’s 6-3 victory.

“I asked him when he was going to hit a cutoff man,” Williams said. “When they make two million a year, they think they’re bigger than the club. When they get a base hit to drive in a run, everything is fine, but they can’t handle corrective criticism.

“He has no chance of playing tomorrow. He’ll play when I want him to play and I don’t know when that’s going to be.”

Bell was on the bench Wednesday and Friday. The Blue Jays had a day off Thursday. He returned to action Saturday, playing left field and going 0 for 1 against New York. Bell had no comment.

Frank Cashen, the general manager of the New York Mets, was disturbed when Manager Davey Johnson was quoted recently as saying, “I’ve been told two or three times by Frank that if we don’t win, I’m gone.”

Cashen said he has never said that or anything like it. Johnson contends that Cashen made the statement, or variations of it, once last winter and twice during spring training.

The two met Monday to discuss the problem and apparently agreed to disagree.

“I never would say anything like that,” Cashen said after the meeting. “It influences too many things.”

Said Johnson: “I wouldn’t make it up.”

They agree, however, that this was the first time Johnson’s job status has been discussed since spring training, when Cashen said Johnson wasn’t necessarily “a lame duck.”

Those close to the Met manager say he doesn’t expect to be asked to return next season regardless of how the Mets fare this time around.

Baltimore second baseman Billy Ripken said he was pleased to hear that big brother Cal Jr. had signed a three-year contract with the Orioles but quickly added: “I’ll be more pleased if I’m around for those three years.”

At the moment, there’s no indication that he won’t be. Acting manager Elrod Hendricks said he was echoing the sentiments of Manager Frank Robinson when he told Tim Kurkjian of the Baltimore Sun: “Billy is the second baseman of the future.”

The younger Ripken’s average has dipped below .200, but he insists that his solid defensive play has kept him in the lineup, not his relatives.

“All along, I felt that the reason I got here last year was not because Senior (his father, Cal Ripken) was the manager and Junior was the shortstop,” he said. “I proved it when I hit over .300 in those 50 games last season, and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind, that I wasn’t here because of Cal and Senior.

“I don’t think any decision would be made about me pertaining to whether Junior was here for three years or one. The only one who is going to keep me here is me.”

It might be just a coincidence, but Philadelphia third baseman Mike Schmidt has been on a tear since the All-Star break.

During the break, Schmidt announced that he planned to play again in 1989. The next day, Bill Giles, president of the Phillies, said that Schmidt’s contract option was a two-way street. “He has to want to come back and we have to want him back,” Giles said.

In 16 games since the All-Star respite going into the weekend, Schmidt was hitting .310 with 4 home runs and 17 RBIs. He had walked 12 times and scored 12 runs.