Monday, March 06, 2000

Real star of Reds is Bowden

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BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

GM Jim Bowden shields Ken Griffey Jr. from the sun in a TV commercial. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        SARASOTA, Fla. — We always wondered what Jim Bowden would do with a big-market wallet, and now we know. He's walking off a practice field with Ken Griffey Jr. He is holding an umbrella over Junior's head, shading The Natural from the sun. Junior is drinking a cold beverage from a cup.

        “Jim,” Junior says, “my ice is melting.”

        “I'll get right on it, Junior,” Bowden says.

        They're filming a commercial. It's part of the Reds advertising campaign. The team is calling the blitz, “It's a Whole New Ballgame.” You could say that.

        Tell me the names of the four Reds players on the cover of this newspaper's preseason baseball section two years ago. If you guessed Jon Nunnally, Chris Stynes, Eduardo Perez and Brett Tomko, go to the front of the Triple-A bus.

        This isn't supposed to happen in baseball, where big is big and small is ... not. Either you are the Yankees, the Braves, the Indians and a few others, or you are watching the NFL in October. Unlike football, baseball does not subscribe to the theories of Karl Marx when it comes to running its business.

        From each according to his ability. The rest goes to Steinbrenner.

Bowden worked long and hard to bring father and son together. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Jim Bowden boarded the plane with a single purpose and a bold promise. The Reds general manager left for the winter meetings last December intent of returning from California with Ken Griffey Jr.

The wonders of the wallet
        But for one sweet spring, the Reds have turned baseball's caste system on its head. At the epicenter is not Ken Griffey Jr., though he's definitely in the photo. It's Bowden, hereafter referred to as Your Royal Highness or, simply, Mr.Baseball. If Bowden had Ted Turner's wallet to live in, he'd rule the world.

        “The first big-market trade of my career. Yeah, baby,” says Mr.Baseball. It's sunny and 70. From behind the batting cage, Mr.B. is watching Junior blast line drive after line drive onto the perfect green grass. It is another good day. “This will go down as one of the biggest trades in the history of our sport,” Bowden decides. The brash young man in a hurry always had his foot to the floor. Who else would trade his Opening Day pitcher 24 hours before Opening Day? Dave Burba, we hardly knew ye.

        The problem was, Bowden was driving an Escort, destined to spend his creative energy tooling in circles around Smallmarketville.

        Griffey changed that, temporarily. In two years, Pokey Reese, Aaron Boone, Sean Casey, Scott Williamson and Danny Graves will be eligible for arbitration and tall(er) cash piles. The bills will come due, and things will get small-market iffy again.

"I traded everybody'
        That's then. Now, Bowden has orchestrated the sort of total-team make- over we haven't seen since the St. Louis Rams. It took him two years.

        “I didn't think it would be until the stadium was up,” Barry Larkin said.

        “I had hopes, but I didn't envision it coming this quickly,” Eddie Taubensee said.

        “I traded everybody,” Bowden said. “Anyone that had talent, we traded. Jeff Brantley for Dmitri Young. Jeff Shaw for (Mike) Cameron and (Paul) Konerko. Bret Boone gone. Burba for Casey, 24 hours before Opening Day. The guy's about ready to take the mound and he's traded for some minor-league first baseman.”

        Bowden's hopes for the 1998, Nunnally-Stynes Era? “Get a good draft pick. Hope your veterans are playing good so you can move them by July 31.”

        Two years hence, he's lording over a team so starry, Deion Sanders is an asterisk. Prime is just off the carnival midway, limping. As Carl Lindner would say, “Only in America.”

        What would Bowden do with big money? Now we know. He got the best player in the game. “The Willie Mays of his era,” Bowden said. “They'll be talking about (the Griffey trade) the way they talked about the Babe Ruth trade.”

        They might remember Bowden as well. Mr. Baseball wouldn't mind that. Not at all.

        Columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.

       

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