Feeney Would Like McKeon to Remove One of His Two Hats : But Padres’ Manager-General Manager Says He Wants to Keep Both of His Jobs

SAN DIEGO —  The juggling act that Jack McKeon has so adeptly handled since he added the job of Padre manager to his general manager duties appears to be on the verge of falling to pieces.

Conflicting wishes of McKeon and Padre President Chub Feeney could result in McKeon discarding the uniform he has worn for 34 victories in 62 games and returning to the front office full-time, leaving the Padres to search for their fourth manager in the four years since the departure of Dick Williams.

Feeney has revealed that he is in favor of McKeon returning to the Padres as manager next season, but with one catch: McKeon would have to forfeit his title of general manager.

“It is not fair to ask one person to do both jobs,” Feeney said. “I would think Jack would want to manage, and this is what I would want him to do, too. We would get somebody else to be the general manager.”

McKeon, who assumed the duties of manager May 28 when Larry Bowa was fired, has all but officially said he wants to manage next year, but with his own catch: If he does manage, he also wants to continue being general manager.

“I really enjoy managing, and if we agree that I should come back, I would hope I could keep doing both jobs,” McKeon said. “It’s worked fine so far. I’ll just need somebody to handle the negotiations and paperwork and little details in the front office, but that’s all.”

Now for the real catch: If McKeon were forced to make a choice, indications are that he would return to the front-office empire he has spent nine seasons building and, in doing so, would quit a managerial job at which he has had great success.

“I hope it doesn’t come down to a choice, but if so, I know Jack would keep that GM job,” said Tony Gwynn, the Padres’ right fielder. “I’ve talked to him. I know how much he likes both jobs. But he’s built up so much as a GM, he wouldn’t want to leave all that. He’d leave our bench first.”

McKeon, who refused to elaborate on his wishes out of respect for the good working relationship he has developed with Feeney, still left no question as to the direction in which he is leaning.

“I like being general manager, and at my age (57), I’ve got to look at where my future is,” said McKeon, who has one year left on his general manager’s contract and is operating with no contract as manager. “I enjoy managing, but I don’t need my ego stroked, just to say I was a big league manager.”

If McKeon were to depart the Padre clubhouse, it would go against the one thing the players agree upon most--that McKeon should not leave them.

“I’d say we’re more unanimous about that than anything else around here,” All-Star pitcher Mark Davis said. “Most all of us like Jack, and you’d figure the way we are playing, he would be coming back. I don’t think a lot of us can imagine him not coming back.”

Said Gwynn: “I just hope it doesn’t happen where he leaves. I don’t see why something can’t be worked out.”

Perhaps something can. The ultimate arbiter here, owner Joan Kroc, was unavailable for an interview Thursday because, according to aides, she was lunching with Feeney before a business trip. Perhaps between the warm bread and the entree, this topic came up.

Although they have talked several times in the past few days, Feeney and McKeon have yet to broach this subject. Feeney said he didn’t even plan to begin discussions until next month.

“We’ll sit down and get it done in September,” he said.

In the meantime, just when the Padres have become happy and tranquil for the first time in several years, welcome another worry.

“I like managing, but I also like being a general manager. I guess now I’ll have to make a choice,” McKeon said glumly after hearing Feeney’s comments.

The question of the day seems to be, can one man do both jobs? Feeney thinks not. McKeon thinks so. McKeon’s coaches and players think he has already proven he can.

“Things have become so complicated in this game, you need two people for those jobs,” Feeney said. “Once you get into spring training, you have to have somebody working the contracts while the manager is on the field. It’s not fair for one person to try to do both.”

McKeon says fine, hire an assistant for the contracts, but when it comes to trades and evaluating personnel, his experience as a general manager should not be wasted. And he says despite long hours, he’s not wasting it.

“I get in at 9:30 in the morning, and until 3 o’clock, I don’t think at all about managing,” he said. “Then from 3 o’clock on, I come downstairs and don’t anything about being a general manager.

“I think I’ve been able to separate the two jobs and use them to my advantage. After nine years of doing this, I’m in tune with everyone in the organization. I know it from all levels, and doing both jobs helps me make decisions on both levels. I would hate to get somebody in here who was not in tune, who broke up the continuity we have.”

To do both jobs, one would seem to need eyes in the back of his head. According to several people who work for him, McKeon does.

“Just by watching him work, you can tell--if anybody can do both jobs, Jack can,” said first base coach Greg Riddoch, who has spent time in a front office as a minor league director with the Cincinnati Reds. “The way he sits around and talks with the media and everybody, you’d never guess it, but he does not miss a thing. He knows who on this team is working hard, who is missing the cut-off men, who is here early, who stays late.

“I’ll be talking to him, and the whole time he’ll be glancing over his shoulder at a player, making some observation. It’s like he’s always doing two things at once.”

Gwynn recounts a story of a play on the just-completed home stand, when he failed to run in from right field and back up second base on a double to left. It’s a routine backup that 99% of the time is not needed.

“And for some reason this time, I didn’t do it, I just forgot,” Gwynn said. “No big deal. I’ve done it every other time. But then the next day Jack comes to my locker and says, ‘Hey, I’ve seen you play for five years, and I know you always back up that play. We can’t be forgetting those little things . . . ‘

“I can’t believe Jack noticed. That’s not the kind of thing most managers notice. Tell you what, he knows what’s happening.”

Gwynn said such perception should give McKeon an advantage in holding both jobs.

“He now knows first-hand what the club’s needs are and what other teams’ needs are, and can do something about it--an advantage most managers don’t have,” Gwynn said. “Jack wants to make a deal, he doesn’t have to go through a lot of channels; he just has to talk to Chub. I think it’s ideal for him.”

According to Davis, having one man as two bosses is ideal for the players.

“When he says something, you know two people are saying it,” Davis said. “You know that it means something. You know that he is watching you as a manager, and then going upstairs and making decisions about what he sees.

“I don’t think his wearing two caps is counterproductive. I think it would be a benefit.”

“I just know one thing,” pitcher Andy Hawkins said, “if we can’t have Jack in here next year, I just hope we can keep what we’ve got going. Somebody just like Jack.”