VIERA, Fla. — Though it was before my time on the beat, the story has become pretty well-known.
Early in his first year with the Nationals, manager Matt Williams made a promise. If the team won 10 straight games, he would resurrect the Babe Ruth impression he did during his playing days and perform it for his players.
In August, by a combination of grit and good fortune, the Nationals won 10 in a row, including five in walk-off fashion. Williams was asked about the impression. With the Nationals in the thick of a playoff race, he said it would not be an appropriate time. He was right. So we all waited.
On Tuesday, his daily press conference was lagging toward its conclusion when a reporter asked about the impression.
“The Babe?” Williams said, turning serious. “You know, I’ve made this decision…”
He couldn’t finish he sentence without cracking into a smile.
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“I can’t even keep a straight face,” he said. “I have no idea.”
Then he delved into a hilarious but largely nonsensical analogy.
“You know, there’s some folks that speculate that it’s kind of like a fine wine, right?” he said. “So if you open that bottle of fine wine, why would you try to age it any further, because it’s already ready to drink, right? So that being said, why would you try to top what’s already been done?
“So that’s one avenue of thinking. The other avenue is, people are asking, ’When are you going to do it?’ I don’t have a clue. I’m just trying to get through spring, man. So we’ll see. We’ll just keep people hanging.”
At this point in the conversation, I recommended he put the impression on his calendar, which hangs next to his desk. Williams, as is well-known, meticulously plans out every hour of every day. It’s all on the calendar, with plenty of white space to add additional tasks when needed.
“No, no, see there’s no room on the schedule,” Williams answered with a wry grin. “The schedule’s completely filled. Maybe we can find a spot, maybe not.”
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Another reporter said he just hoped the impression wouldn’t be performed on a Field 5 at 6 a.m. Williams grinned again.
“You never know. You never know,” he said. “And it might just show up on YouTube, you never know.”
Breakfast links
— From today’s paper: How 38-year-old Matt Thornton prepared for his 18th professional season.
— Also from today’s paper: A wonderful column from colleague Thom Loverro on former Nationals manager Frank Robinson.
— Ryan Zimmerman views his move to first base as an opportunity to prove himself.
A trivia question!
In the aforementioned Thornton story, I mentioned that he will be the sixth person to play for the Nationals after his 38th birthday. The question I’ll ask you, the loyal Viera Journal reader, is this: can you name the first five?
I posed this question to TV’s Mark Zuckerman (I mean, Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington) as we walked to the minor league fields yesterday. He’s covered the Nationals since 2005, originally for the Times, and he was able to get four of the five names, including two relatively obscure ones. But he couldn’t name the fifth. Can you?
No cheating.
The answer’s at the bottom of the post.
Workout observations
— I’m continually fascinated by the aspects of baseball — or any sport, really — that you never really think about during a game. For example, say you have two outs in the ninth inning. The ball’s hit between the first and second baseman. The pitcher runs to cover first base, catches the ball and tags the bag. Easy play, right? Little do people know that plays like that are drilled relentlessly in spring training. Today, the group of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Drew Storen, Tanner Roark and Thornton went through that drill several times. It sounds relatively easy, but a few players messed it up. That’s why you practice. And that’s something you never think about in real time.
— After four days of workouts, I began wondering about their purpose. Yes, they help players shake off rust and build fundamentals. But from an evaluation standpoint, especially with bullpen sessions, is there really anything you can get out of it? Is there any point there? Williams answered. “What I can evaluate in those scenarios is are we doing it right, are we working hard enough, is everybody’s attention to detail there,” he said. “Once we get into games, we can truly evaluate guys that we have that we’re taking a look at. Right now, it’s about are we diligent about our work, and are we doing it the way we want to do it. That’s what we’re excited about right now.” Fair enough.
— Williams has a long-running history of slightly modifying a player’s name to make a nickname: Stammer, Willy, Blev, etc. Here’s one to add to the list: Heath Bell is now “Heater.”
Quote of the day
Williams, when asked about aging as a player: “You also know that you’re done when it takes more time to get prepared to play than it takes to play.”
Trivia question answer
Here are the five guys, listed alphabetically and including the year(s) they spent in Washington after their 38th birthdays:
P Miguel Batista, 2010
C Jamie Burke, 2010
C Ivan Rodriguez, 2010-2011
1B/DH Matt Stairs, 2011
P Mike Stanton, 2005-06
Mark Zuckerman didn’t get Batista. He was pretty upset.
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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