Jerry_Manuel
01-05-2002, 08:51 PM
From the Trib:
Harold Baines is 43, set for life financially and coming off a season in which he pounded out exactly 11 hits. So what's he doing this winter?
Power-snacking while working on his skills with a TV remote? Driving the family car pool? Writing his memoirs?
"He's working out every day, doing a lot of hitting," said Jack Sands, Baines' longtime agent. "He has gone up to Camden Yards to work out there and worked out a lot at home. He has kept himself 100 percent committed, the way he always has done. That's why he has played as long as he has."
The carrot driving Baines is one last crack at winning a World Series, this time with the New York Yankees. Sands has spoken to Yankees management about an invitation to spring training, where Baines would try to win a job as a pinch-hitter and part-time designated hitter.
"He has never given up on his goal to get a ring," Sands said. "If Harold was to continue playing next year, it would be with a team that had a real good chance of winning it.
"At his age, with what he can do for a club, the Yankees have to be the fit. If not, then his career would be over."
There's no way any team is going to count on production from Baines, who missed half of the 2001 season with a severely pulled groin muscle. He has hit .166 with one home run in 145 at-bats since the White Sox traded for him late in 2000, collecting only 24 of the 160 hits he needed to reach 3,000.
But Sands is trying to persuade the Yankees to take a no-risk look at him at spring training in Tampa. They're down a left-handed bat since the World Series, adding Jason Giambi and John Vander Wal while losing Paul O'Neill, David Justice and Tino Martinez. It's likely that 23-year-old Nick Johnson will fill the void, but a reinvigorated Baines could give manager Joe Torre another option.
There's no chance he'll return to Chicago.
"He would have loved to have finished with the White Sox," Sands said. "He was really impressed with the way the team played in the second half of last year. He thinks it's a terrific team for the future, but with Frank [Thomas] being healthy, it's just not going to work out."
While fans and media focused on Baines' slow march toward 3,000 hits, he always has insisted he kept playing because he wants to be part of a championship. He reached the playoffs six times, including with the Sox in 1983 and 2000, but has made it to the Series just once, when Cincinnati swept his Oakland team in 1990.
"[Sox Chairman] Jerry Reinsdorf and I are the ones who always have reminded Harold of how many hits he had," Sands said. "He has said, and it's truthful, that his total focus is on trying to win a championship. When his career is over, wherever his stats end up, they end up."
Baines one day will pose a tough question for Hall of Fame voters. Every eligible player with his level of career hits (2,866) and RBIs (1,628) has made it to Cooperstown. But some voters may penalize Baines for spending 15 of his 22 seasons primarily as a designated hitter.
If Baines does not play in 2002, he will be part of an extraordinary group of first-timers on the Hall of Fame ballot after the 2006 season. Mark McGwire, Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn could be joined by Rickey Henderson, a free agent who is unsigned.
Harold Baines is 43, set for life financially and coming off a season in which he pounded out exactly 11 hits. So what's he doing this winter?
Power-snacking while working on his skills with a TV remote? Driving the family car pool? Writing his memoirs?
"He's working out every day, doing a lot of hitting," said Jack Sands, Baines' longtime agent. "He has gone up to Camden Yards to work out there and worked out a lot at home. He has kept himself 100 percent committed, the way he always has done. That's why he has played as long as he has."
The carrot driving Baines is one last crack at winning a World Series, this time with the New York Yankees. Sands has spoken to Yankees management about an invitation to spring training, where Baines would try to win a job as a pinch-hitter and part-time designated hitter.
"He has never given up on his goal to get a ring," Sands said. "If Harold was to continue playing next year, it would be with a team that had a real good chance of winning it.
"At his age, with what he can do for a club, the Yankees have to be the fit. If not, then his career would be over."
There's no way any team is going to count on production from Baines, who missed half of the 2001 season with a severely pulled groin muscle. He has hit .166 with one home run in 145 at-bats since the White Sox traded for him late in 2000, collecting only 24 of the 160 hits he needed to reach 3,000.
But Sands is trying to persuade the Yankees to take a no-risk look at him at spring training in Tampa. They're down a left-handed bat since the World Series, adding Jason Giambi and John Vander Wal while losing Paul O'Neill, David Justice and Tino Martinez. It's likely that 23-year-old Nick Johnson will fill the void, but a reinvigorated Baines could give manager Joe Torre another option.
There's no chance he'll return to Chicago.
"He would have loved to have finished with the White Sox," Sands said. "He was really impressed with the way the team played in the second half of last year. He thinks it's a terrific team for the future, but with Frank [Thomas] being healthy, it's just not going to work out."
While fans and media focused on Baines' slow march toward 3,000 hits, he always has insisted he kept playing because he wants to be part of a championship. He reached the playoffs six times, including with the Sox in 1983 and 2000, but has made it to the Series just once, when Cincinnati swept his Oakland team in 1990.
"[Sox Chairman] Jerry Reinsdorf and I are the ones who always have reminded Harold of how many hits he had," Sands said. "He has said, and it's truthful, that his total focus is on trying to win a championship. When his career is over, wherever his stats end up, they end up."
Baines one day will pose a tough question for Hall of Fame voters. Every eligible player with his level of career hits (2,866) and RBIs (1,628) has made it to Cooperstown. But some voters may penalize Baines for spending 15 of his 22 seasons primarily as a designated hitter.
If Baines does not play in 2002, he will be part of an extraordinary group of first-timers on the Hall of Fame ballot after the 2006 season. Mark McGwire, Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn could be joined by Rickey Henderson, a free agent who is unsigned.