The Phenoms That Bloom In The Fall

As play ended in the Florida Instructional League just the other day there were candy canes and plastic holly trees along Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg and Christmas carols could be heard on the warm afternoon air. To most sports fans, the concept that men were still playing professional baseball almost a month after the World Series may be reminiscent of Dick Clark's American Bandstand television shows of the late 1950s on which knots of teen-agers seemed to be constantly dancing because nobody ever bothered to tell them to stop. But the fall of 1972 was different. Never have Instructional League players looked so good or seemed so large—and over 500 of them were at work. They were assigned to either the Florida or the Arizona League to hasten their advancement to the majors, to make up for time lost either to serious injuries or service duty or to just plain learn the fundamentals of baseball.

In the last few seasons the Instructional Leagues have been sending players into the majors in large, talented clumps. Among the graduates are Ralph Garr, Bert Blyleven, Reggie Jackson, Bobby Bonds, Steve Blass, Gene Tenace, Scipio Spinks and Vida Blue. Rollie Fingers and Tom Hall, the relief stars of the World Series, have taken Instructional instruction. After his bad 1971 season, Johnny Bench got ready for 1972 by going to Tampa to correct some flaws in his batting style while getting his head screwed back on straight at the same time. You know what happened in 1972: most National League home runs and RBIs, the Most Valuable Player award.

Any assumption that the supply of baseball players has dried up because of expansion is obviously fallacious, as will be established in the next few seasons—perhaps as quickly as April 1973. What's more, some of the finest young players are going to wind up on teams that need them the most.

Detroit, for example, appears to have a truly superior prospect in a 20-year-old second baseman named Dan Meyer. In 1972 Meyer played for Bristol, Va. in the Appalachian League and hit .396. Tiger executives, having trouble believing the .396, sent Meyer off to Dunedin, Fla. to see how he could handle advanced pitching in the Instructional League. Meyer hit .409.

In June and July the Boston Red Sox were being criticized because their farm system seemed to be producing far too few big-league players. Then, led by Carlton Fisk, the young Red Sox cut loose and moved the team into contention in the American League East. The best team in the Southern Division of this year's Florida Instructional League was Boston—and half of the Red Sox pitchers in Florida were left-handed. Whenever Boston gets a winning left-handed pitcher into Fenway Park the light goes on in Old North Church.

Two of the best hitters in the majors were in Florida working at totally different objectives. Minnesota's Tony Oliva, who played only 10 games during the season, was trying to strengthen a knee from which 100 bone chips were removed in June. Young (23) Ted Simmons of St. Louis, one of only seven men to bat .300 in each of the last two years, could be found at first base rather than behind the plate. Each morning he would field between 600 and 800 ground balls as part of a program to give the Cardinals more maneuverability in the season ahead.

Neither the Florida League nor its four-team counterpart in Arizona has received a surplus of public attention; both commence operation in mid-September, when a pennant race of one form or another is afoot in the major leagues, and continue through the playoffs and World Series as well as a good part of the football schedule and the beginnings of both the pro basketball and hockey seasons. But the importance of the Instructional Leagues has increased to such a degree that omens have begun to form around them. One is that a good Instructional League season presages a banner major league campaign the following year.

Baltimore won the Florida League race in 1965 and went on to take the World Series the next fall. The Red Sox, surprise winners of the 1967 American League pennant, were the Florida champions in 1966. The "Miracle Mets" of 1969 had won in Florida the previous year.

Many baseball people feel the modest sums of money put into an Instructional League program are the best investment made during a year because the mental aspects of the game are stressed as much as the physical. The Twins have long been aggressive proponents. Says George Brophy, Minnesota's farm-team director: "When we won the American League pennant in 1965, 22 of our 25 players had been through the Instructional League program. Of the team we had in Florida in 1970, five players had already put in a full season in the major leagues. The cost to our organization has ranged from about $45,000 to $62,000 a year, and it is money we consider well spent. A player can learn things in less than two months that would normally take a year to learn in the minors."

No player has ever become wealthy in an Instructional League; in Florida each man is given $15 a day for lodging and meals. Nor is the training light; the days are long indeed. For the most part, teams report at 10 a.m. and start working on fundamentals or game strategy. At one p.m. the games begin. On some days doubleheaders are played. Most teams keep careful count to make sure that every player gets in the same number of innings and, when possible, also gets as many at bats as his fellows.