Angels’ Infielder : Needed a Chance : Polidor’s Presence Pays Off

Doug DeCinces stood next to the batting cage in Palm Springs last March, watching Gus Polidor swing.

“Have you been watching this kid?” DeCinces asked a reporter. “He’s going to be a good one, a real good one. Keep your eye on him.”

Even for those paying very close attention, though, the first 3 1/2 months of the season didn’t provide much insight. That’s because Polidor was rarely ever in sight . He was supposed to be the Angels’ utility infielder. From Polidor’s point of view, futility would have been a better word.

Until July 16, when he replaced injured Dick Schofield at shortstop, Polidor was the Angels’ forgotten man. He had made just 21 appearances, mostly as a defensive replacement in the late innings of games that were already decided. He also had been at bat just 21 times, and, not surprisingly, had just one hit.

It’s kind of hard to find a groove when you get to hit once every three weeks. Between April 13 and May 9, Polidor had one at-bat. Between May 15 and June 8, he had three. Between June 21 and July 12, he never swung after batting practice.

When Schofield dislocated his shoulder in the last game before the All-Star break, Polidor got his chance and proved that DeCinces is a pretty good judge of talent.

Polidor has started every game during Schofield’s absence and is hitting .291 as a starter with 2 home runs and 9 RBIs.

“I have always said and I continue to say that Gus Polidor can play shortstop on a winning team,” Manager Gene Mauch said. “I’ve always felt that way.

“I’ll admit that at first I was surprised and now I’m amazed at the way he’s been able to come off the bench and hit. It’s remarkable.”

After sitting for more than half the season, Polidor was more surprised to see his name on the lineup card than he was to discover that he really could hit major league pitching.

“Everyone is surprised now, except Gus,” said Polidor, who often speaks of himself in the third person. “Before, I went to home plate and swing at everything. It’s hard when you know it could be two or three weeks until you hit again. You try too hard.

“Now, I know more pitchers. I have more confidence. I feel better. I feel relaxed.”

Funny. Not too long ago, the comfort zone seemed thousands of miles away.

Gustavo Adolfo Polidor spent most of his first 17 years playing baseball on the sandlots of Caracas, Venezuela.

It was an idyllic boyhood, but in some ways, Polidor was already a man at 17. He was married and had a 3-month-old daughter. And he was a gifted athlete whose poise and prowess on the diamond belied his youth.

For most, the maturation process is a gradual one. But Polidor can remember the exact date he believes he became a man--and it was months after his marriage and the birth of his daughter.

On Jan. 5, 1981, Angel scout Pompeyo Davalillo signed Polidor to a professional contract and handed him a one-way ticket to Holyoke, Mass.

Goodby bride, Eduvigas, and baby, Maria. Hello, clam chowder, MTV and a new language.

Polidor was not entirely ill equipped to handle his new life in America, however. He may not have spoken more than a few words of English, but his smooth fielding and strong arm said a lot in the international language of baseball.

“We were a little surprised because he really wasn’t all that raw, especially for a 17-year-old,” said Bill Bavasi, the Angels’ director of minor league operations. “He was already a pretty slick fielder, smooth, but not polished. And he showed a lot of potential as a hitter. He just needed to develop.”

Things began to develop nicely--both on and off the field--for Polidor. The Angels paid the plane fare for his wife and child to Holyoke. And he hit .248 with 42 runs scored and 46 RBIs in his first season of professional ball.

“I speak only few words (of English) then and everything was strange,” Polidor said. “But the Angels were very good to me in Massachusetts. Eighty-one was good year for me. Eighty-two was very bad year.”

Polidor, and his 1982 season, were turned upside down when he was upset trying to turn a double play.

“A guy knocked my leg out (from under him) trying to break up the play,” Polidor said. “The X-rays showed a little fracture in my (right) hip.”

The problem then was complicated when Polidor injured his back while favoring the hip.

“I end up spending 3 1/2 months in a full body cast and three more months in a cast from my chest to my waist,” he said. “For two years, I was playing at less than 100% and I lost my confidence.”

The Angels never lost faith in their prospect, though, and their patience was eventually rewarded. After disappointing years in 1982, ’83 and ‘84, Polidor blossomed in the next two seasons at Edmonton. In 1985, he hit .285 and in ‘86, he had a .300 batting average and a .410 slugging percentage that included a career-high 37 extra-base hits.

He was even more impressive in the field, setting a Pacific Coast League record for shortstops with a .986 fielding percentage after making just 7 errors in 111 games.

“My last two years at Edmonton I think I proved I could hit--to left, to right, up the middle and in the clutch,” Polidor said.

The Angels saw it pretty much the same way.

“Gus showed he could hit those two years,” Bavasi said. “We knew he was already a good, steady infielder. Then he played a lot of second and third base in winter ball. Now, you’d have a hard time finding a better utility man.”

When he first came to the United States, one of the few things Polidor could almost say in English was segunda base, second base. When he got to minor league camp in Casa Grande, Ariz., he told anyone who would listen that his postion was “segunda base.”

Nobody listened.

“Larry Himes (the Angels’ former director of scouting who is now general manager of the White Sox) told me, ‘You have good range and a great arm. We want to make you a shortstop.’ ”

Now, of course, Polidor is very happy they did.

When Polidor arrived at spring training before this season, it suddenly dawned on him that he was an indispensable part of the Angels’ plans.

“They never said, ‘You made the team,’ but on the first day of spring, when I see that (Craig) Gerber is gone, I feel more comfortable.

“There was nobody else to back up Schofield. Nobody else could play shortstop except Gus.”

It seemed like a solid deduction at the time, but a month ago, Polidor wasn’t feeling very indispensable. The Angels were about to activate pitcher Kirk McCaskill, and there was a lot of speculation that Polidor might be sent to Edmonton to make room.

Mauch indicated that second baseman Mark McLemore could fill in at short during an emergency and went so far as to say he would feel comfortable as long as a shortstop was 24 hours away.

Polidor knows it takes less than a day to get to Anaheim from Edmonton.

When McCaskill was activated July 11, Darrell Miller was moved from the 15-day to the 21-day disabled list, giving Polidor a six-day reprieve. He only needed four. Schofield hurt his shoulder in the eighth inning four days later.

“People used to say, ‘Who’s Gus Polidor?’ And other people would say, ‘I don’t know.’ Now they know,” Polidor said, flashing a boyish grin.

He’s no longer the Angel mystery man, for the time being, anyway. But when Schofield is ready to play--which could be any day now--Polidor probably will be back on the bench.

Polidor understands that and just hopes he will be used to spell the other infielders at least semi-regularly.

“I think I’m doing a good job,” Polidor said. “I hope this performance means I will get more chance to play the rest of the year than before. I just hope I play one or two games a week.”

Mauch, of course, isn’t making any decision before it is time.

“There’s nothing to be gained from speculating about something that might fall on tender feelings,” Mauch said. “I’m not going to say, ‘You’ve been doing a good job, son, but you’re on the bench as soon as Schofield comes back.’ ”

And, he’s not going to say Polidor will play more in a utility role, either.

“If I say that, then McLemore might think, ‘What the hell does that mean?’ ” Mauch said. “Sometimes, if you say something too good about one player, another might interpret it as derogatory about him.”

One fact remains, however. Polidor has proven his point.

“Now they see,” Polidor said. “Now they know. Gus can help this team.”