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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spring Training Starts For Hackers, Not Players All Types Show Up In Florida, Hoping To Make It Big In Majors

Associated Press

Who were these guys? Where had they come from? The answer, in Bill Henderson’s case, was from a card buried in Rudy Santin’s Rolodex.

Santin, the Yankees’ Florida-based scout, pulled that card with Henderson’s Miami phone number, and tried his luck at dial-a-catcher on Tuesday afternoon.

“Been playing ball?” Santin asked.

“None at all, not for years,” Henderson said. “Sorry.”

Nothing to be sorry about, Santin told him. And less than 48 hours later, Bill Henderson, whose last play was a home-plate collision six years ago, was pulling up his pin-striped pants one leg at a time, just like Joe D., Mickey and the Babe.

There were 27 players in Yankees uniforms for the start of spring training Thursday, but they were not the real Yankees. They were lowlevel minor leaguers and replacement players.

The real players were on strike for the 189th straight day, and 260 of them met with their union head in Orlando. No other formal workouts were held by the other 27 teams, although pitchers and catchers did report at several other training sites.

The fans stayed away, too.

At Fort Lauderdale Stadium, despite the free admission, row upon row of seats were empty. When practice began, fewer than 50 people were there. The attendance topped out at about 75 an hour later. Normally, a couple hundred would turn out for the opening of camp.

Hot dog vendors, souvenir vendors and security guards sat around talking to each other. Nobody asked the players for autographs because practically nobody had heard of any of these guys.

The manager and coaches went through the motions, watching players with far inferior skills.

The pitchers had about 30 tosses apiece. No curveballs were allowed.

“We told them just to throw fastballs. We don’t want anybody showing up hurt tomorrow,” manager Buck Showalter said.

The batting also was substandard. During 20 minutes of batting practice, not a single ball was hit to the outfield fence or over it.

The workout lasted about 2-1/2 hours, and Showalter, the coaches and trainers left afterward to attend the union meeting in Orlando.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner also came to camp, and used the opportunity to call for an immediate resumption of negotiations.

The two sides haven’t met since spurning President Clinton’s demand for a settlement earlier this month at the White House. Acting commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr spent Wednesday testifying before Congress, which has little interest in legislation to end the strike.

The replacement players, meanwhile, were enjoying themselves.

Almost none of those at Yankees camp have major-league - or even Triple A - experience.

“I feel like I’m a Yankee right now. We’re in the uniforms and on the field,” said pitcher Pat Russo, a 27-year-old righthander who last played professionally in Venezuela in 1992.

At Orioles camp in Sarasota, minor leaguers showed up at the team hotel and bypassed the main training complex. Baltimore is the only team that is refusing to field a replacement team. Regular players would have been due to report Thursday.

At the Phillies’ complex in Clearwater, the red uniforms were hung neatly in the locker room, but the name plates on the jerseys didn’t fit with the numbers below them.

Instead of Lenny Dykstra, No. 4 has been issued to pitcher Chris Shanahan - and to pitcher Mike Linskey. Dave Hollins’ No. 15 will be worn by infielder Greg Legg, who played briefly for the Phillies in 1986 and 1987.

In fact, with the large number of players on the roster, many players will wear the same numbers. The Phillies assigned four players No. 21, while three players will wear No. 23.

In Port Charlotte, the Texas Rangers announced a 110-man spring roster that included Chuck Rainey, a 40-year-old pitcher who hasn’t played in a major-league game since 1984.

Meanwhile, journalists were so interested in the first workout of Steinbrenner’s replacement Gehrigs that they surrounded the owner, pushing closer until one newspaper reporter, tired of being elbowed from behind, suddenly began punching a stunned magazine photographer.

The reporter was so quick with his right that Steinbrenner yelled out, “Give that man a uniform!”

For once, the reporter could say he had a better job.