DON'T blame Sid Fernandez if he's going through withdrawal pains. It's the first time in 17 years that he's not at spring training in Florida. Fernandez adds a new pitch
to his repertoire"I miss it. I miss the game and the camaraderie of the guys," said Fernandez, who retired last fall after a 15-year career in the major leagues, including 10 seasons with the New York Mets.
After all, he had played baseball since he was 6 years old. And Fernandez is sure that once the season starts, he's going to miss it even more.
"I'm going to watch and see somebody I know and think, 'Is he still playing? I know I can get him out,' " he said.
Fernandez, who said he doesn't miss the travel, is keeping up with training camp news in the daily sports pages.
He read with interest about the tornado that ripped through Kissimmee, Fla., just missing the Houston Astros' facility there. He was there a year ago in what turned out to be his last spring camp.
Fernandez will never forget his first spring training in 1982. Interestingly, he always was invited to the big camp in his 17-year pro career, never having to report with the minor leaguers.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed him out of Kaiser High School in 1981, thought so highly of the young left-hander that they invited him to Vero Beach with the big club. Fernandez impressed the Dodger brass by striking out 128 batters in 76 innings at Lethbridge of the Pioneer League that summer.
"I had to throw BP (batting practice) the first day there to guys like Garvey, Cey and Dusty Baker," Fernandez recalled. "I was a young kid. I was so damn nervous, I couldn't throw a strike. They were pissed."
PITCHING coach Ron Perranoski finally got Fernandez to relax and get the ball over the plate.
Spring trainings were a lot more pleasant after that, especially when he became an established starter with the Mets. They first trained at St. Petersburg and then moved to St. Lucie.
He also spent spring at Sarasota with the Baltimore Orioles, Clearwater with the Philadelphia Phillies and Kissimmee with the Astros. St. Lucie, though, had them all beat.
"You got to like it. There are a lot of golf courses there," said Fernandez, an avid golfer.
Obviously, it's not all work at spring training.
"Veterans aren't too concerned about spring training, about how they do. Especially pitchers. As long as their arm feels good and strong, that's all they worry about," Fernandez said.
Instead of throwing pitches, "El Sid" is now making pitches as an executive assistant with Honolulu's sports industry development program.
He was hired by Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris to the $50,000-a-year post. He will help coordinate the city's plans to build a sports complex at Waiola and a soccer stadium at the Waipio Peninsula near the Ted Makalena golf course.
THE centerpiece of the proposed Waiola complex is a 6,000-seat baseball stadium to attract professional teams from Japan and South Korea to train here.
"It's not just for professional teams, but also for the public," said Fernandez, who pointed out another possible use:
"A lot of people have asked me why we can't hold national championships for youth baseball here during the summer. Most of them are in small towns in the Midwest."
Fernandez remembers when he pitched Hawaii to the American Legion World Series championship in 1980.
"We played in a nowhere town in Minnesota," he said.
And Ely, Minn., is nowhere. In the boonies, near the Canadian border.
"Hawaii would be an ideal place with our climate. Youth baseball is a big market, very viable" said Fernandez, who's obviously delivering a far different pitch these days.