He's A Thon In Their Sides

The minor leagues are often a hellish experience for Hispanic players, who suffer from culture shock, language difficulties and homesickness. Thon had it easier than most. "I had a couple of friends, Juan Carrero and Nelson Rodriguez, who had been in the minors," he says. "In the winter we'd go to the beaches and run and work out. It was like a little spring training before the real one. And they told me about conditions in the minors, so I had no visions of nice hotels."

Once in the minors, Thon advanced so quickly that not even his wife, Maria, could keep up with him. The day she arrived at Class-A Salinas in 1977, he was promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake City. And in the summer of 1979, three days after she'd joined him at Salt Lake, he was summoned to the Angels. He was 19 at the time.

After making the Angels, however, his progress stopped. "They had me on the bench most of the time, and when they did use me, it was often at second," he says. "I think they gave up on my arm."

On April 1, 1981 he was traded to the Astros for Pitcher Ken Forsch. "Dickie was the one I wanted, nobody else," says President Al Rosen. In Thon's first season with Houston he was again used as a sub, but he began the 1982 season as a starter when Reynolds came down with dizzy spells, and he eventually won out in head-to-head competition.

People close to Thon say his personality has as much to do with his success as his skills. "He sacrifices everything, practicing and practicing," says Maria.

"He was always a very stable kid," says Fred Sr., "and that comes from his father." Not to mention his grandfather. On the road Thon is a TV-watcher and a newspaper-reader; at home he plays the doting father to daughters Soleil Maria, 4, and Vanessa Cristina, nine months.

Thon has been playing on one-year contracts while establishing his market value. Rosen sounded overblown in spring training when he boasted that Thon was the best two-way shortstop in the league. Now the boast sounds prophetic—and potentially expensive. "When you're quick and fast," says Staub, "when you can play shortstop and produce runs like Dickie, you're really going to be in demand." In other words, contract negotiations could soon be a marathon for a person named Dickie.