BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Once Unsung, Fielder on Verge of Making History

There is an adage in baseball suggesting that the best deals are often the ones not made.

The Detroit Tigers believe in it now, but might not have in the winter before the 1990 season.

In their pursuit of a regular first baseman, the Tigers homed in on free agent Pete O’Brien, only to come up empty and frustrated when O’Brien signed a three-year, $5.6-million contract with the Seattle Mariners.

The Tigers, with few alternatives, went the cheaper, but more uncertain route of signing Cecil Fielder, who was returning from a successful season in Japan after having spent parts of four seasons as a designated hitter and Fred McGriff’s understudy with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Now?

O’Brien hit only 36 home runs in his three seasons with the Mariners and is out of baseball at 35.

And Fielder, 29, is trying to become the first player to lead the major leagues in runs batted in for four consecutive seasons.

He and Babe Ruth, in 1919, ‘20, and ‘21, are the only players to have done it for three.

Fielder did it by driving in 132, 133 and 124 runs in his first three seasons with the Tigers.

He reached the 100 mark again last Tuesday night in Anaheim, and has a major league-leading 103, with Frank Thomas and Albert Belle close behind.

Four in a row?

“It would just show that mistakes are made in the game by the player personnel people,” Fielder said.

Call that a slap at the Blue Jays, whose general manager, Pat Gillick, referred to Fielder in a 1990 Times interview as a non-athlete and base clogger, not the type of player to play regularly in Toronto.

“If you have faith in a guy and give him a chance, there’s no telling what he can do,” Fielder said. “I mean, I definitely believe I could have done this in Toronto. But it’s happened to a lot of players over the years, not just me. I was just lucky to get another chance.

“Aside from that, to do something that’s never been accomplished before would put me above and beyond. You’d certainly have to be proud of that.”

Fielder, however, is not a student of history. At Nogales High, he thought he might become a backcourt wizard like Magic Johnson.

He was also a San Francisco Giant fan whose idols were Willie McCovey and Willie Mays.

He had heard of Ruth, of course, but the names of Hall of Famers like Hank Greenberg, Harry Heilmann and Charlie Gehringer were foreign to him until he got to Detroit.

Now he has become only the fifth Tiger, joining Greenberg, Heilmann, Gehringer and Bobby Veach, to produce four consecutive seasons of 100 RBIs, and he is the first to do it since Greenberg wrapped up the four in a row in 1940.

There is also a remarkable consistency to Fielder, who is on a pace to drive in 134 runs. He got his 100th RBI in Detroit’s 123rd games of 1990 and ‘91, in the 119th game last year, and in the 122nd game this year.

“There’s a hell of a lot of talent in the major leagues, and to be where I am again at this point of the season is an accomplishment in itself,” Fielder said. “I think it says a lot about my consistency. I also need only 11 more RBIs to have 500 in four seasons, and I think that’s a statement, too.”

Fielder isn’t looking for a pulpit. He has already said what he had to say about the most valuable player awards of the last three years going to Dennis Eckersley, Cal Ripken and Rickey Henderson.

He isn’t looking on the possibility of a fourth consecutive season as the major league RBI leader as compensation for the failure to win an MVP award. He said he only wants the respect of his peers.

However, teammate Mickey Tettleton said: “Cece is on the verge of doing something no one in baseball has done. Maybe then he’ll get the recognition he deserves.”

Tettleton and other teammates have taken up the crusade, making sure Fielder understands the importance of his pursuit.

“I think my teammates want to see it happen, and I think they’re trying to get after me to pump up the volume a little,” Fielder said. “Sometimes you need that, because sometimes you go out with the blahs thinking you’re not going to do anything positive.

“It’s a plus for me to have a guy like Tony Phillips on me all the time. When I get in a rut or something, and I start talking a little crazy, he’ll always remind me that I’m the best, and that I have to go out there and keep playing like I’m the best.”

However, Fielder said he can only do what he can do. He said he has to remain patient, take his walks when they are there--he is sixth in the league in that category--and remember he is operating within the context of a team still with a shot at a division title.

Fielder also said he would not be embarrassed to lose the RBI title to Thomas. He said it’s incredible how the Chicago White Sox first baseman combines power, productivity, discipline and a .300 average.

“If it ain’t me, I hope it’s him,” Fielder said.

BLUE BREW

In trying to lead the owners through a minefield of complicated and controversial issues, executive council President Bud Selig has had to cope with a nightmare of another kind.

His Milwaukee Brewers have gone from the promise of 92 victories and a second-place finish in the American League East last year to a last-place record of 49-73 through Saturday.

In a division in which five teams are still in the race, only the Brewers and Cleveland Indians aren’t.

“I’ve given up trying to figure it out,” Manager Phil Garner said of the misplaced promise. “I have no clues. It makes no sense. We’ve been consistent only in our inconsistency all year.”

The Brewers’ downfall began with what Selig calls the “harsh realities” of small-market economics and a situation that he and his associates are trying to correct through a revenue-sharing agreement with the big market-teams.

Paul Molitor and Chris Bosio headed the departure of five free agents. The Brewers could not or would not meet the competitive prices.

“We tried everything we could to keep Molitor, but we had to make some painful economic decisions,” Selig said.

“There are only so many ways a small-market team can turn. I mean, we have no way of knowing for sure what revenue will be with the new TV agreement, but it’s likely to be reduced by 50%. With that kind of uncertainty, it’s difficult to make a multiyear commitment.”

If timing is everything, this has not been the best way to win friends and influence people. In a season during which the Brewers are encouraging financial and marketing support for a stadium tentatively scheduled to open in 1995, they have not won two consecutive series.

The Brewers led the league in pitching and fielding last year and were second in team batting, their offense triggered by a major league-leading 256 steals.

Now that aggressive average of 1.6 steals a game has dropped to 0.93.

Through Friday, the Brewers were tied for last in the league in team batting, 10th with an earned-run average up more than a run from ’92 and last in saves.

UNION STANCE

When Richard Ravitch, president of the owners’ Player Relations Committee, returns Monday from a brief trip to London to visit his son, he will find a letter from Don Fehr that was delivered Friday.

Fehr, executive director of the players’ union, mentions two issues in the letter and will discuss them publicly during a news conference in New York on Monday.

The key points:

--The union, after canvassing its executive board and player reps, will agree to a no-strike pledge through the 1994 season if the owners put their own pledges--no lockout through ’94 and no unilateral introduction of a new compensation system--in the form of a binding contract.

“If we’re going to give up the right to strike, they want the owners to put their guarantees in something more than a letter,” a union official said.

--The union, whose approval is required before the playoffs can be extended and expanded to eight teams, a major component of the new TV contract, oppose the plan tentatively approved by the owners for 1994.

Meeting in Denver two months ago, the owners voted to stay with the four divisions. The champions, of course, will qualify for the playoffs, but a decision on the formula for selecting the four other teams and the playoff format was delayed until a Sept. 8-9 meeting in Boston. It was believed the owners were going to seek advice from the players in the meantime, but that has not happened.

“This was one more thing they were going to bring to us as a fait accompli ,” a union official said.

Fehr’s letter preempts that, notifying Ravitch that the players believe the integrity of the division races is compromised when the second-place team is included in the playoffs. The players favor a three-division realignment in each league, with the champions making the playoffs along with a wild-card team that has the next-best record.

The owners agree that an expanded playoff based on three divisions makes more sense, but they did not think it could be done for ’94 and they do not like the idea of four-team divisions, as the West would be in both leagues.

It is likely they will soon expand to the more easily scheduled 15 teams in each league, allowing for three divisions of five teams each and some inter-league play.

The next step would be expansion to 16 teams in each league and possible realignment into four divisions of four teams each, with a retraction of inter-league play, depending on fan reaction.