‘Grover’ was systematic as big leaguer

PEORIA, Ariz. – He’s known as “Grover,” an affectionate twist of his last name.

In his playing days in the 1970s and ‘80s, Mike Hargrove was baseball’s “Human Rain Delay,” a nickname applied by a deadline-weary sportswriter who watched as Hargrove dragged out at-bats with a lot more than his ability to work the ball-strike count.

Hargrove’s routine was infamous. He would back away from home plate after each pitch and go through a series of adjustments – fiddling with his batting gloves, his pants, his sleeves, his lips and his hat – until he was comfortable enough to step back in.

“Everyone thought I was compulsive or trying to get into the pitcher’s mind,” said Hargrove, the Seattle Mariners’ new manager. “That wasn’t it at all.”

Hargrove’s pitch-by-pitch routine began in Class A ball in 1972 when he went 6 for 7 in one game “and got jammed on every one of them so bad that I bruised the inside of my thumb.”

He fashioned a padded ring that he wore during at-bats to protect the bruise, and got into the habit of pushing it down over his thumb between swings so it wouldn’t fall off.

One habit led to another.

“I was in an all-star game in A ball when something was bothering me. It felt like my pants were falling down,” Hargrove said.

“The pitcher threw me a pitch that I should have hit 14 miles, but I hit the highest fly ball I’d ever hit. I should have stepped out before that pitch and fixed my pants, and I decided then that I would never let something like that distract me again.”

When he began wearing batting gloves, he’d pull them tight between every pitch so he wouldn’t feel a wrinkle between his hand and the bat. Then he’d feel some moisture on the corners of his lips, so he’d take a hand and wipe his mouth. He would adjust his sleeve, then the hat, and the pants …

Hargrove said he only had a problem once with an umpire who wanted him to get both feet back into the batter’s box.

“The umpires were pretty good about giving me time, except for one guy, Bill Kunkel,” he said. “I had my head down and one foot out of the box when the pitcher threw a pitch, and the ball went right under my nose.

“He called it a ball. I told him what the pitcher did was not right, and he told me to get in the box. Then I told the catcher to tell the pitcher never to do that again. There were guys then who didn’t like it. I wouldn’t like it, either.”

Notes

Closer Eddie Guardado’s shoulder has felt fine so far, but he has battled problems with his mechanics that have frustrated him, pitching coach Bryan Price said. “Today, though, was the best he has thrown and he was really encouraged,” Price said. … Pitchers threw their final round of “live” batting practice to the Mariners’ hitters Saturday. Their next action with hitters at the plate will come Wednesday in a “B” game against the San Diego Padres.