The Birth Of A Queens Baseball Team

By RICHARD FASANELLA

The field during its construction earlier this year. Tribune Photo By Ira Cohen

We all remember the great endings.

Mookie Wilson’s grounder trickling through Bill Buckner’s legs to give the Mets the victory in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The game-winning grand slam-single by Mets third baseman Robin Ventura during game five of last year’s National League Championship Series.

But who remembers the beginnings? People like Eddie Rodriguez and, soon, the neighborhoods of Queens.

This summer the New York Mets’ newest minor league franchise — the Queens Kings — will take to the field in Queens and patrolling the dugout will be Eddie Rodriguez.

Even as the media frenzy and glory of the first ball is being planned for the St. John’s Ballfield next week, Coach Rodriguez has never seen the field which made headlines of controversy in the neighborhood. He’s still at training camp in Florida and he doesn’t even have a final roster yet for the Kings of Queens, but he knows what he wants and he knows what the players will need to turn this beginning into a major league ending.

Rodriguez told the Tribune this week that he had only worked with the full squad for a few days largely because it takes so long to sign players after they are drafted. This year’s squad consists of mostly new players who signed on as free agents or were drafted, with only six returning from last season.

The Penn League limits roster size to 30 active players, but only 25 may be in uniform and eligible to play in any given game.

"These players are just breaking in, ranging in age from 19 to 22," Rodriguez said. "They are very raw and have very little experience so in order to keep anybody from getting hurt we always keep an excessive number of players, especially pitchers."

Rodriguez said that the Kings will carry 17 pitchers to be exact, some of which already have a year or two’s experience under their belts.

"The pitching looks real good, especially since we’ve got one or two guys coming back from last season to anchor the rotation," said Rodriguez. "The bullpen also looks strong, with some of the guys having already put in nearly two years of playing time."

Among the position players, Rodriguez said that most are quite young, but that the catching looks good and the outfielders have some good speed.

The greatest challenge Rodriguez said he faces as a manager is teaching his squad to play with consistency, which he sees as the most significant difference between players at the minor and major league level.

"A pitcher in the big leagues can consistently move the ball around the plate, but in the minors not so much."

Rodriguez said that he wears many hats including those of teacher, father figure, friend and even psychologist, especially when players under his tutelage are struggling.

"Many of these guys are playing professional baseball for the first time, are away from home for the first time," said Rodriguez, adding that they often need more than just a coach available to them.

"The word manager is just a title that the organization gives you," Rodriguez said. "But I’m a teacher."

Beyond the strong bonds that are formed during a players first years at the professional level, Rodriguez said that there are also other differences between the minors and majors beyond the level of competition.

"There is a lot more intimacy in minor league baseball," Rodriguez said. "The players are feeling their way through right now. It’s tough in the beginning, but once they get to know each other over the next two or three weeks they’ll play better as a team."

Rounding out the coaching staff will be Jim Rooney and Jorge Rivera. Rooney, a southpaw who threw for the Orioles from 1981 to 1985, will help mold the young pitching rotation, while Rivera, a former catcher with the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations, will work with the rest of the position players.

Although Rodriguez has not worked with either of these coaches before in this capacity, he is confident that the team will be well prepared to compete in the NY-Penn League. The players are equally confident, especially since Rodriguez was recently named as the third base coach to the U.S. Olympic baseball team that will compete later this year at the 2000 Summer Olympics hosted in Sydney, Austrailia.

"It was a total surprise," Rodriguez said of his selection to the Olympic team. "It was a tremendous feeling just to be nominated, but to actually be chosen over the 30 third base coaches in the big leagues, I was extremely honored."

A native of Havana, Cuba, Rodriguez emigrated to the United States in 1966 at the tender age of six.

After moving around for several years from Florida to Ohio and even nearby New Jersey, the family finally settled in Miami, Florida where Rodriguez attended Miami Senior High School and starred on the baseball team.

Folowing graduation, Rodriguez just missed the June draft, so he attended Miami Dade South Junior College for a semester before tossing his name into the winter draft back in the days when Major League Baseball had two drafts every year.

An infielder, Rodriguez was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 1978 and later signed with the California Angels in 1980 as a free agent. He spent a total of seven years in the minors, making it as far as the Double AA level.

However, coaching is where Rodriguez would make his mark, first with the Angels organization and later with the Toronto Blue Jays.

"Two of the greatest thrills in my life were being called up to the Majors as a coach," said Rodriguez who served as a third base coach in 1996 with the Angels and again in 1998 with the Blue Jays.

The Kings will open up the 2000 season against the defending NY-Penn League champion, Hudson Valley Renegades, a prospect that Rodriguez said he is looking forward to.

"I feel good about this team," Rodriguez said. "Besides playing the defending champs, we’ll be playing a lot more against the southern division — a luxury we didn’t have last season. I think that will bring a lot more excitement to the season and give the players something else to look forward to on the road."

For the most part, the majority of the current players will stay at this level throughout the year-at a level where they can compete.

"Confidence plays a big part in our game," Rodriguez said. "So whatever they can learn will help them a lot in the future."

Right now, though, his attention is focused on preparing his team for their home opener on June 21 when minor league baseball makes its debut in Queens.