Just Trading Places : Buechele Not Exactly a Journeyman, but He Has Made a Few Stops

LOS ANGELES â€”  Tabbing Steve Buechele as one of the National League’s best third basemen, in a class with Florida’s Gary Sheffield, San Francisco’s Matt Williams and Atlanta’s Terry Pendleton, would be a reach.

But Steve Buechele, journeyman?

Get outta here!

This is one of the game’s best defensive infielders, a guy who has prospered in relative obscurity (Texas) and toiled in the shadows of some of the game’s biggest names (Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke).

Yet, a glance at the career transactions portion of Buechele’s biography in the Chicago Cubs’ media guide reveals some mighty suspicious evidence:

* Traded from the Texas Rangers to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 30, 1991.

* Traded from the Pirates to the Cubs on July 11, 1992.

For those keeping score, that’s two trades in two years, and one third baseman who is beginning to second-guess himself.

“You start thinking, ‘Man, teams don’t want you anymore,’ � Buechele, the former Servite High School and Stanford standout, said over the weekend in Dodger Stadium. “On the other hand, maybe you’re traded because other teams want you. It’s just part of the business, I guess.�

It has been a tumultuous two years for Buechele, not only because he bounced from the South to the East to the Midwest, and from the American to the National League.

He also has managed to squeeze the high and low points of his eight-year major league career into the last two seasons.

Though Buechele, 31, was firmly rooted at third base for the Rangers--he played six seasons there and lived in Arlington, Tex., during the off-season--it was refreshing to jump from a middle-of-the-pack team to the front-running Pirates in 1991.

Buechele experienced the thrill of postseason play for the first time, batting .304 with two doubles and no errors in the Pirates’ seven-game loss to the Atlanta Braves in the 1991 NL Championship Series.

“More people knew who I was in 1 1/2 months with Pittsburgh than in six years with Texas,� Buechele said. “I’ll always have great memories of playing in that series.�

The windfall of Buechele’s most productive offensive season--he combined for a .262 average, 22 home runs and 85 runs batted in for the Rangers and Pirates--was a four-year, $11-million contract that he signed with Pittsburgh before the 1992 season.

The Pirates made a substantial investment in Buechele, and Buechele was just starting to feel at home in Pittsburgh when the Pirates, short on starting pitching during their 1992 pennant run, dealt Buechele to the Cubs for Danny Jackson.

Buechele was stunned--in one day he dropped from first to fourth in the NL East standings--and it took him the remainder of 1992 to recover.

“The trade was very disappointing,� Buechele said. “I got a taste of the playoffs, we were in first and had a good chance of winning the division. I don’t like to make excuses, but the trade hurt my mental frame of mind with the Cubs.

“Even my wife said there were times when it looked like I wasn’t having fun, that I didn’t want to be out there. For your wife to say something like that, it makes you step back and say, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’

“I played as poorly as I’ve played in the big leagues, offensively and defensively, last year with the Cubs. I look back on that and wonder what was going through my mind. It was pathetic.�

It wasn’t that bad. Buechele actually hit .276 and knocked in 21 runs in 2 1/2 months at Chicago.

But he did make seven errors in 65 games, which for him, is a lot. Buechele set an AL record for best fielding percentage by a third baseman in 1991, committing only three errors in 329 total chances for a .991 mark in 121 games with the Rangers.

And Buechele hit only one home run for the Cubs, which for him, is a little. Buechele is not known as a home-run hitter, but he’s capable of more than one in 2 1/2 months.

“This year has been much better,� Buechele said. “This is a fun group, a good bunch of guys, and my mental approach has been much better.�

Buechele’s average (.238) is a notch below his career .245 mark, but his power numbers are good. Despite spending two weeks of June on the disabled list because of Achilles’ tendinitis, the 6-foot-2, 200-pounder, who returned to the team Monday, has six home runs, 14 doubles and 26 RBIs in 57 games.

“Boo is a quality third baseman, and we haven’t had a front-line guy there since Ron Santo,� Cub Manager Jim Lefebvre said. “He’s a great defensive player and an excellent two-strike RBI guy, and that’s what we’re missing. His injury set us back.�

So have injuries to second baseman Ryne Sandberg, shortstop Shawon Dunston and starting pitchers Mike Morgan, Mike Harkey and Greg Hibbard.

Few expected the Cubs to challenge for the division championship, but even fewer expected the team, with a 36-38 record to be out of contention by the All-Star break. Chicago entered the week 16 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies.

“I don’t even know how far back we are,� Buechele said. “A lot of times I just skip over the sports section in the newspaper. Can anyone catch Philly? If they stay healthy, they may run away with it. We just have to play good baseball, and wherever we end up, we end up.�

Buechele maintains a similar approach to personal statistics. He doesn’t chart his average in the box scores or scan the lists of league leaders for his name.

“The bottom line is winning ballgames,� he said. “I’m not the type who plays to be recognized. I don’t thrive on attention. My philosophy is to go out and play hard, give it my best. Numbers are not a big concern with me.�

Except for 1991, Buechele’s numbers have not been that big, period. They’ve been respectable--Buechele has averaged 14 homers and 56 RBIs a season--but not big enough to land a major endorsement contract, catchy nickname or All-Star game berth.

But power has never been Buechele’s forte, even back to the days when he and future major league pitcher Mike Witt led Servite to the 1978 Southern Section 4-A championship. He has always been a glove man.

“For every run he drives in, he probably saves one or two with his glove,� Lefebvre said. “With Texas, he was the best-fielding third baseman in the league. It would be tough to ask him to start hitting more home runs.�

Of course, it’s home runs and RBIs that most fans dwell on these days. Few seem to appreciate great defensive players, unless you’re as flashy as Ozzie Smith.

Barring an unlikely jump into the 30-homer, 100-RBI per-season class, Buechele won’t rank among the game’s all-time great third basemen. He may never play in a World Series, and the only way he’ll make it to Cooperstown is by car, like everyone else.

But in no way does this diminish his career.

“I’ve made a living playing baseball, and not many can say that,� Buechele said. “When you’re with the guys on the road for so many days, you see so many things and can tell so many stories.

“Some day 20 years from now, I’ll be sitting on my porch, having a cold one, thinking about something that happened in baseball, and I’ll just start laughing. There are so many good memories.�