While the baseball world celebrates the unprecedented home run duel between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, Chicago White Sox outfielder Albert Belle is putting together another amazing second half and another outstanding season.
And it is going all but unnoticed.
Belle has set club records for home runs (46) and RBIs (139) on the way to what might be the best all-around offensive season in the American League, but he has created such an unlikeable persona -- so much in contrast to the affable Sosa across town -- that he has become easy to ignore.
"This is going to be one of the top seasons in White Sox history, and it's not being picked up on nationally or locally," twin brother and business manager Terry Belle told the Chicago Tribune last week.
"But that's OK, because I think people in the baseball circles know. And that's what counts."
That might be true. Everyone recognizes that Belle is a huge talent, but he might find out this winter that a lot of people in baseball circles aren't willing to overlook his churlish behavior just because he can hit a baseball so well.
Belle is expected to exercise an out clause in his contract that gives him a 30-day window to test the free-agent market if the White Sox don't raise his salary by an average of $1.4 million over the final three years of his contract.
The original deal called for Belle to gain that option if three other players surpassed his average annual salary of $10 million. It kicked in when Gary Sheffield received a $7.5 million bonus from the Florida Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers to approve the deal that sent him and several other players to Los Angeles for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile.
If the White Sox decline to give him a raise, Angry Albert really has nothing to lose by testing the market.
"As of right now, I'm not going anywhere," Belle said recently, "but you never know what will happen after the season. Certain payrolls could take on big-money guys."
Trouble is, most big-money teams also are big on public relations, because they want that big money to keep coming through the turnstiles. Belle has become a caricature of the spoiled, overpaid ballplayer who turned off fans during baseball's labor troubles, and he continues to cling defiantly to his antisocial image.
The White Sox have the choice of giving him another $4.2 million over the next three years or take the chance of losing him -- and saving about $30 million.
It seems like they have the easier decision.
And another thing
If Belle stays in Chicago, he also would like to see the White Sox move the fences in at Comiskey Park to give him a better chance of competing in baseball's post-expansion home run frenzy. He lobbied for that during the past off-season, but the dimensions remained unchanged.
"We believe if they brought those fences in to the warning track, he would have 14 more homers," Terry Belle said. "They're not going to do it, but I believe that's how they'd get the 40,000 [crowds] back."
Yeah, baseball really needed somebody like Belle to turn the feel-good story of the year into a funeral march.
Sammy for MVP
No matter what happens in the final week of the home run race, Sosa should be elected the National League's Most Valuable Player. He has exceeded McGwire's run-production numbers -- albeit with quite a few more at-bats -- and he has done so in the heat of a pennant race.
Sosa got an endorsement from a respected source during the Cubs' recent four-game series against the San Diego Padres.
"If I had a vote, it would go to Sammy," future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn said recently.
"People in Chicago must think Sammy is the MVP because of how he's helped his team, and people in St. Louis are for McGwire because he carried the game for quite a while. I saw the ballot for MVP, and there are five things to consider. But No. 1 is value to his club. Really, that would have to be Sosa, wouldn't it?"
Pinstripe problem
The New York Yankees still figure to be the favorite to represent the American League in the World Series, but the troubling performance of starter Andy Pettitte has left them looking vulnerable to a postseason upset.
Pettitte has struggled badly through his last six starts, going 2-4 with a 7.25 ERA -- badly enough to endanger his place in the postseason rotation.
Manager Joe Torre still lists Pettitte as his No. 3 playoff starter, but said recently that he wants to see the young left-hander "get comfortable" in his last couple of starts.
There has been speculation that Pettitte's arm is wearing down because of his heavy use of a cut fastball, but it seems more likely that he is just going through a slump. The Yankees have to hope he comes out of it before they open the Division Series.
Wood proceeds cautiously
Cubs phenom Kerry Wood probably will test his strained elbow again today and could return to the club's starting rotation for one more regular-season start on Tuesday or Wednesday in Milwaukee, but he says that he will take no chances with his valuable arm.
"My ultimate goal is to pitch in the playoffs, but I don't want to just pitch one year and be done," Wood said. "If I can't go, I'm not going to go. I've been honest with them."
The club would be hard-pressed to leave Wood off the playoff roster if there is any chance that he can help during the postseason, but a tuneup start this week could determine how much of a role he will play the rest of the way.
"If we get to the playoffs, I hope I'm going to be there," he said. "I've heard people say they might be reluctant to put me in there, since I haven't thrown in a while. But if I'm ready to go, I want them to use me. I haven't been off that long yet."
Impersonal appearance
Los Angeles radio and TV broadcaster Stu Nahan recently provided a funny historical footnote to all the interest in the fate of the ball that McGwire hit for his record-breaking 62nd home run.
Nahan worked in Sacramento in the early 1960s and remembers well the circumstances surrounding the recovery of the ball that Roger Maris hit to break Babe Ruth's single-season record.
Sacramento restaurateur Sam Gordon bought the ball for $5,000 from fan Sal Durante and invited Maris to Sacramento for a presentation ceremony.
"Sam didn't want the ball for himself," Nahan said. "He sent Maris two round-trip airline tickets so he could present him with the ball in Sacramento.
"Roger and his brother flew from Fargo, N.D., to San Francisco. They rented a car and drove the 90 miles to Sacramento for the ceremonies.
"It was a big deal, so a lot of people gathered for the presentation. Well, the Maris brothers drive up to the restaurant and Roger's brother sits in the car with the motor running. Roger goes inside, shakes Sam's hand, takes the ball, goes back to the car and drives off with his brother. True story."
Mariners medical report
The Seattle Mariners have had a disappointing 1998 season, and it now appears that they will open the 1999 season with a serious handicap.
Outfielder Jay Buhner recently underwent a "Tommy John" elbow reconstruction and will need six to nine months to recuperate. That, in a worst-case scenario, could keep him sidelined until next year's All-Star break.
Several other Mariners, including first baseman David Segui and designated hitter Edgar Martinez, are expected to undergo surgery over the off-season, putting the club's prospects for 1999 under a tremendous cloud of uncertainty.
"We've got four or five guys putting off surgeries," manager Lou Piniella said. "One of the things we have to do next year is improve our depth. I've got to rest guys like Buhner, Segui, Junior [Ken Griffey], Alex Rodriguez -- they wear down."
To facilitate a quicker return for Buhner, he probably will move to first base next year, with Segui going to the outfield to make
room.
Just passing through?
Left-hander Kenny Rogers (14-8, 3.16) has enjoyed a renaissance season in Oakland this year, but that doesn't mean that he will be back in the Athletics' rotation in 1999.
Family considerations apparently could persuade him to ask the club to deal him during the off-season, even though he says he is grateful to the organization for helping him revive his flagging career.
"If my wife [Rebecca] had said at the beginning of the year that she couldn't deal with my being on the West Coast, I wouldn't be here now," said Rogers, who lives in Florida and has two small children. "I enjoy playing the game, but I don't enjoy the time away from my family.
"At the end of the season, my wife and I will sit down and talk about the future. I might ask for a trade, but it's something that we'll have to talk about after the season. If she wanted me to quit, I would. I don't think that's likely, but she's made a lot of sacrifices so that I can play here."
The A's may be in a cost-cutting mode, but they don't want to lose their top starting pitcher, especially with the Yankees set to pay half of his $5 million salary again next year."
"I owe the A's a lot," Rogers said. "They gave me a chance after New York, when other teams might not have. When we're talking about next year, I won't forget that I owe them."
Haynes fizzles
It looked two months ago as if former Orioles prospect Jimmy Haynes was on the way to a breakthrough season. He was 7-3 with a 3.90 ERA on July 12, but has won just two of his last seven decisions and watched his ERA shoot up.
"I'm having a rough time; the breaks aren't going my way," Haynes said. "I don't think I've lost any speed, but my location should be better."
A lot better. He has been scored upon in the first inning of each of his last six starts and has a 7.79 ERA over that span, but remains a big part of the A's future.
Pub Date: 9/20/98