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Wednesday, September 22
A sad goodbye to the Tiger Stadium clubhouse

By Jim Caple
Special to ESPN.com

There is so much I will miss about Tiger Stadium -- the flagpole in center field, the right-field overhang, the absolute best seats in baseball (section 421, above and behind home plate) -- but what I will miss most is the visitor's clubhouse, the one that used to have the famous sign reading, "Visitor's Clubhouse -- No visitors allowed."

That's a goofy message, but it made sense. As anyone who ever had the pleasure of stepping inside knows, there isn't any room for guests in that clubhouse. Thank God, Tommy Lasorda never managed in the American League.


	After 87 years, the final game at Tiger Stadium will be played Monday.

I don't know the exact square footage, but Detroit's visiting clubhouse is smaller than a rookie pitcher's strike zone and more cramped than a TV network executive's imagination. It's so crowded you know what your teammates ate before coming to the park.

This is a clubhouse, not a dressing room, built when players considered themselves athletes instead of entertainers, when they behaved more like ballplayers than lead dancers for the Bolshoi. When they didn't need large-screen TVs, computer game stations, hydrotherapy pools, stretching rooms and dining salons just to get ready to play a game.

Walk into modern clubhouses and you feel like you should be wearing a coat and tie. Not here. This is a Hang-Your-Clothes-on-a-Nail-and-Go-Play-Two type of place, where you got to know your teammates and where everyone from the Yankees' Murderer's Row to Charlie Finley's Athletics fought for elbow room, then went out and played ball.

That's the beauty of the place. It's so unchanged from the old days that you can practically see all the players who ever dressed there. And, on certain hot days, you would swear that you can actually smell them, too.

It doesn't take much imagination to picture Lou Gehrig here, sitting by his locker after ending his playing streak or Ted Williams studying the grain of wood before selecting his bat or Bert Blyleven whistling innocently while setting a teammate's shoelaces ablaze.

Modern clubhouses, on the other hand, are so large that players need to dial 10 digits to ring the manager's office and can go entire seasons without meeting some of the middle relievers. You want to know why teams often don't appear to have the camaraderie of old days? It's because they dress in different zip codes. Granted, the players need the extra space just to hold all the alternate jerseys and caps management issues to boost souvenir sales. And I suppose the weight rooms and video rooms help them become stronger, better players.

But all this excess also leaves the players more spoiled than appreciative. Spend a couple hundred million dollars of public money on a stadium and the players still whine that the fences are too far from home plate, or there isn't enough foul territory, or the ice isn't cold enough.

For years, Seattle fans were told that they needed to build a new ballpark to keep the Mariners in town. Now that they have, there is talk the team won't be able to keep Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez anyway. Griffey griped recently, "A new ballpark is supposed to change my mind (about leaving)?" Gosh, Junior. You're right. That is quite a lack of respect. Washington taxpayers really should have spent $1 billion to build a stadium that pays proper homage to you.

Meanwhile, after 87 years, Tiger Stadium hosts its final game in the coming week. Next season players will dress in vastly larger, more comfortable rooms, leaving only Fenway Park and Milwaukee's County Stadium with the small old clubhouses.

It's a pity. What we need are stadiums with fewer luxury suites and more cramped clubhouses that encourage players to talk about the game instead of their investment portfolios.

Box score line of the week
There are a lot of compelling stories this season, but none more so than Jim Morris, the pitcher who began the year as a high school science teacher and will end it as a Tampa Bay Devil Ray. Originally signed by the Brewers in 1983, Morris hurt his arm and retired as a player in 1989. But after his high school players dared him to try out for a major league team during the spring, he soon found himself signed again and beginning a swift trip through the minors and to a September callup last week.

Then on Sept. 17, with his wife and children watching from the stands, Morris went to the mound, threw four pitches and struck out Rangers shortstop Royce Clayton. His line:

.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Morris became the oldest rookie to make his major league debut since Minnie Mendoza played for the Twins at age 36 with the 1970 Twins (see chart below).

Lies, damn lies and statistics
Kansas City rookie Mark Quinn hit as many home runs in his first seven games (five) as Otis Nixon has hit in his past seven years. ... Not only is Ivan Rodriguez just the eighth catcher to both score and drive in 100 runs during the same season, as the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jayson Stark points out, he also has stolen almost as many bases against opponents (24) as opponents have stolen against him (32). ... Cleveland fans beware: Winning the AL Central may not mean much. Your team was 10-21 against possible postseason opponents Boston, New York and Texas this season. Make it 11-23 if you include Houston (the only possible postseason opponent Cleveland had a winning record against was Cincinnati at 4-2). ... Atlanta pitchers have hit six home runs this year -- Greg Maddux 2, Kevin Millwood 1, John Smoltz 1 and Sean Bergman 2 (both when he was with Houston, however). ... When the Twins and the Mariners played at Safeco Field over the weekend, it marked the first time those two had played outside since 1981 at Minnesota's old Met Stadium. ... Rey Ordonez is right on pace. He hit one home run in 1996, one in 1997, one in 1998 and hit his first of the year this week.

From left field
Morris may be an old rookie by today's standards, but during World War II and after the color barrier was lifted, there were a number of rookies in their mid-30s and beyond. Here is a list of rookies (albeit not necessarily definitive) who made their debuts at age 37 or older since the Depression era (age in years and months):

AGE	PLAYER	YEAR	THE SKINNY
42.00	Satchel Paige	1948	Pitched three shutout innings at 59 in 1965
41.08	Diomedes Olivo	1960	0-0 in 1960, 5-1 at age 42, 0-5 at 43
40.07	Chuck Hostetler	1944	Two seasons, no home runs
39.05	Alex McColl	1933	Two seasons, 4-4, 3.70
39.04	Quincy Trouppe	1952	10 at-bats, one hit
39.03	Les Willis	1947	0-2, 3.48
39.00	Connie Marrero	1950	Five seasons, 39-40, 3.67
38.05	Pat Scantlebury	1956	0-1, 6.63
37.11	Bob Thurman	1955	Five seasons, .246, 35 HR, 106 RBI
37.09	Joe Berry	1942	Four seasons, 21-22, 2.45
37.08	Lee Riley	1944	12 at-bats, one hit

Bar room Jeopardy
Q. Who was the oldest player to ever win the Rookie of the Year award?

A. Jackie Robinson was 28 years, two months and 15 days old the day the season began in 1947, the year he became baseball's first rookie of the year. He was not the oldest rookie, however. Sam Jethroe, another ex-Negro Leaguer, was 28 years, two months and 29 days old at the beginning of the 1950 season when he won the award. Joe Black was another narrow miss, winning the award in 1952 when he began the season at age 28 years, two months and seven days.

Jim Caple's Off Base column appears each Wednesday during the season.


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