Goliath Getting the Most Out of Davey’s Weapon

They were chatting at first base during a pitching change Wednesday night at Busch Stadium--Tony Gwynn, who had just singled; St. Louis Cardinal first baseman Mark McGwire, and San Diego Padre coach Davey Lopes, who was actually the subject of the conversation between the two renowned hitters.

“Mark was telling Tony how he has always used my model bat,” Lopes said later, “and Tony couldn’t believe how a guy that’s as big and strong as McGwire would use a bat used by a guy barely 5 foot 9.”

It started in the winter of 1984. Lopes, the former Dodger second baseman, had just been traded from the Oakland Athletics to the Chicago Cubs. McGwire, having just completed his first professional season in the A’s farm system, was in the Arizona Instructional League and out of bats, although he had a working agreement with Rawlings. The A’s shipped him a few until he got his own, and the first he picked up was a Lopes model. In his first at-bat with it, of course, he homered, and he has been homering with it ever since--with a slight modification.

McGwire added half an inch to make it 34 1/2 inches long and half an ounce to make it 32 1/2 ounces--still very light for a power hitter of his 6-foot-5, 240-pound size.

“Ryne Sandberg [the former Cub second baseman] also used my model,” Lopes said. “Two Hall of Famers. Sandberg should be voted in in about four years [when he’s first eligible] and McGwire will be going in five years after he retires. Just goes to show that it’s not the bat but the man using the bat.”

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As he approached 3,000 hits, Gwynn said he was proud to be the first National Leaguer to reach the milestone since Lou Brock in 1979. Seven American League hitters--Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, George Brett, Robin Yount, Rod Carew and Carl Yastrzemski--reached 3,000 between Brock and Gwynn. And the last three--Molitor, Murray and Winfield--had taken advantage of the designated hitter position to extend their careers.

Of Gwynn’s total, only six hits were collected as a designated hitter in interleague games.

“If you want to do it in the National League, you have to play a position,” he said. “It’s been 20 years since anybody has been able to do it. That tells you how tough it is to do it in this league.”

Gwynn played right field well enough earlier in his career to have won a Gold Glove.

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Maybe it was lingering bad blood from the Charlie Hayes-Todd Stottlemyre fight when the San Francisco Giants visited Arizona in April, but when the Giants returned for a three-game battle of division leaders last week, there was a war of words ignited by Diamondback Manager Buck Showalter suggesting the Giants like to “toot their horns” about how they win despite injuries. Frankly, he said, he didn’t want to “hear about other people’s problems” and “how tough they are. Our guys have been playing with bumps and bruises all year. They just don’t go around tooting their horns. . . .”

Said Giant Manager Dusty Baker: “If you’ve got something to say to me, say it to me. If they ain’t got the guts to say it to me, then the best thing is to stay quiet. No one on this team has made excuses. We ain’t said anything [about injuries] all year.”

Showalter ultimately phoned Baker in an attempt to clear the air, and Baker said, “I don’t know him well enough to dislike him.”

Added San Francisco second baseman Jeff Kent, currently on the disabled list because of a foot injury: “Tell Buck to manage a team that doesn’t have a $100-million payroll and then come and cry about injuries.”

The Diamondbacks don’t have a $100-million payroll, but they signed $118.9 million worth of free agents during the winter.