Baseball

OF BIRDS AND BRAVES

The Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves had each lost their first eight games when Frank Robinson thought of a solution. "Inter-league play could help us both...if we played one another," said Robinson.

On Opening Day, Robinson was a special assistant to Orioles president Edward Bennett Williams. April 12, he became Baltimore's manager, replacing the fired Cal Ripken. But Robinson could not stop the losing. After a 9-3 defeat by the Kansas City Royals dropped the Orioles' record to 0-8, Robinson was interviewed at a Baltimore TV station. Through a window in the studio he saw a building on fire. "I looked closer and saw it was the Robinson Company," he said. "That's the Robinson story—up from the ashes."

In Atlanta that night, Houston Astros lefthander Jim Deshaies threw a two-hit 4-0 shutout at the Braves. Six days earlier, Deshaies, who had stayed behind in Florida for some extended spring training, had been shelled for nine runs in six innings by Osceola of the Florida State League. Did that mean Osceola was better than Atlanta? Before winning on Sunday, the Braves had surpassed the 1962 New York Mets and all other woeful National League teams in season-opening ineptitude by losing their first 10 games.

The Braves in their Atlanta incarnation have never had the organization, not to mention the tradition, of the Orioles. But the two teams' declines stem from the same source: the decay of their scouting and development systems. The Braves haven't had a winning record since 1983, and the only everyday players they have developed since then are first baseman Gerald Perry and shortstop Andres Thomas. Even the young pitchers, Tom Glavine, Pete Smith and Kevin Coffman, whom Atlanta has rushed into its rotation, all had losing records in the minor leagues.

Since the Braves and Orioles, like most other teams, don't want to buy free agents these days, they must rebuild through minor league development, a process that takes five to seven years. Atlanta owner Ted Turner doesn't seem to be that patient. Manager Chuck Tanner, whom Turner has stuck with for two dreadful seasons, is likely to be fired before season's end. Turner reportedly wants general manager Bobby Cox to take over the club, but Cox wants to stay where he is. So, Tanner's likely successor will be either Greenville, S.C., manager Russ Nixon, Braves scout Bobby Wine or Toronto Blue Jays batting coach Cito Gaston.

The Orioles began nickel-and-diming their great scouts in the late 1970s. Soon after men like Joe McIlvaine left to take their talents to other teams, the flow of talent into Baltimore virtually stopped. Between shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. (1982) and his brother, second baseman Billy (1987), the Orioles failed to produce a regular with staying power. As a result, Ripken Sr. had no chance: Baltimore won just 11 of the last 47 games he managed.

The Braves' roster includes only one of their No. 1 draft selections—Dale Murphy (1974)—and the Orioles' has none. The only first-rate pitcher on the Orioles is Mike Boddicker, who is the last homegrown holdover from the great Baltimore staffs. Now its second and third starters are Mike Morgan (33-64 lifetime) and Mark Thurmond (35-33). They are a far cry from Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar, who teamed with Jim Palmer in the rotation back in the late '60s and early '70s. Williams began rebuilding last fall, when he replaced general manager Hank Peters with Roland Hemond. Peters and former Orioles scouting director Tom Giordano went to work for Cleveland and watched the Indians beat the O's seven times in the season's first two weeks. The first four of those victories led to Ripken's dismissal.

That made Robinson the first black manager since Robinson himself was fired by the San Francisco Giants in 1984. Says Robinson, "I just wish we'd reached the point where my hiring would center on Frank Robinson, not only on Frank Robinson, black manager."

Hemond hired Robinson because he embodies the Oriole tradition, turned losing Indians and Giants teams into winners and has been a key evaluator of talent in the Baltimore organization. Turning the Orioles around "won't be easy," says Robinson. At week's end, 0-12 Baltimore had one fewer RBI than the New York Yankees' Dave Winfield. Eddie Murray, whose contract ($10.4 million for this year plus the next three) makes him virtually untradeable, had two extra-base hits and still seemed unhappy about being in Baltimore. Cal Ripken Jr. was confused by the managerial change and also at the plate. In his last 138 games he has hit .214. Says Robinson, "The only hitting coach he's ever had is his father."