Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004090067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HAL BOCK ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: HAINES CITY, FLA. LENGTH: Long
"I've learned how to hit," he said triumphantly, sounding like a scientist who has uncovered a new way to split the atom. "It took me 15 years. I'm not as smart as other guys. It took me longer to get the hang of it."
And so, having made that discovery, Boone plays on, wondering what mystery of this riveting game he'll figure out next.
He won his seventh Gold Glove last season, appearing in 131 games for Kansas City and batting .274, 20 points over his career average. He now has caught a record 2,185 games and no man in history - not Berra, not Bench, not Dickey, not Hartnett - ever strapped on shin guards, chest protector and mask more times.
How can that be? What about the wear and tear? Why hasn't he broken down?
"Intellectually, I recognize that it's physically the most demanding position," Boone said. "I don't look at it that way, though. You prepare for what you do. What I do in preparation is tougher than catching itself."
Boone has an extensive workout regimen that includes vision exercises, weights, aerobics and running. "When you work out for 16 years, it will affect you after a while," he said. "It's part of my life. It's like eating for me. When I catch, that's an extension of my workout."
There have been injuries. Catchers can not avoid them. Boone's back went out when he was 24. He would go through six hours of therapy to have it loose for a two-hour ball game. There has been torn cartilage in his knee. He played with a broken hand and a broken finger, all part of the job.
"If you're hurt, the challenge is not to show it," he said. "I say to myself, `Watch this,' and I tough it out. It hurt. It hurt a lot. It comes from within. You say to yourself, `Can I or can't I?' If you can, you just do it."
Then there is the matter of mindset.
"I have been blessed with a gift of talent that has lasted," Boone said. "I recognize it as a gift. I don't analyze it. I wring it out. I get everything I can out of myself. If I do that, I'm satisfied. Otherwise, I'm cheating myself."
So, at age 42, Bob Boone is still catching, after all these years.
"The amazing thing is it doesn't amaze you if you see what he goes through," said John Wathan, KC's manager. "Last year, he led our club in hitting with runners in scoring position."
See? Boone told you he had learned how to hit.
"Can I hit? Damn right, I can," he said. "I believe I know what it takes. Eight years ago, I didn't know what I know now. I was 34 years old and I didn't know anything. Now I know so much more. And all the things I know make me realize that I know very little."
That, Boone said, is one of the beauties of baseball. Just when you think you're getting the game down, you realize you've only begun to scratch the surface. "That's what makes the game so fascinating." he said, squinting out at a sun-baked spring training field. "My love for it grows.
"A catcher lives through the pitcher, figuring out combinations of pitches. How does this batter hit? What's he thinking? What's he looking for? How can I defeat him?"
It is a mind game, a battle of wits, the perfect job, it would seem, for a man like Boone, equipped with a psychology degree from Stanford. He laughed at that. "Psychology is like baseball," he said. "Now that I know a little about it, I know that I know nothing about it."
The original plan for Boone was medical school. He grew up as a baseball brat, the son of ex-major league infielder Ray Boone.
He completed the psych major at Stanford as well as his pre-med requirements. "I took the boards," he said. "And then I got a little sidetracked - 21 years worth."
Boone was drafted as an infielder by Philadelphia in 1969 and converted to a catcher - the opposite switch that his father made years before. His thinking was to play for a while - not two decades and longer than any other catcher in history.
There were nine years with the Phillies and seven more in California, and then in 1988, Bob Boone celebrated his 41st birthday by signing with Kansas City. The event jolted the Royals' catcher in waiting, 25-year-old Mike Macfarlane.
"I was surprised when they signed him," Macfarlane said. "I looked at myself as the starting catcher. I hoped he'd show up with a pot belly. There wasn't an ounce of fat on him. He's as solid as a rock."
For the Royals, it was a chance to have their young catcher tutored by an old pro. "It was a fantastic opportunity," Macfarlane said, "more than I expected it would be. He was like a professor with a class of one - me.
"He's like a sponge full of water with so much knowledge and information that he shared with me. We'd sit together on planes, on the bench, everywhere. I'd ask him why he did this or that on a certain batter. He'd question me about pitch selection. I felt like I picked up something every day.
"Those are the things you have to learn. How to set up a hitter. How to use a pitcher's strength against a hitter's weakness. It paid off. He said he saw a 180-degree turn with me. He made me more confident behind home plate."
Boone said he sees nothing special about what he did with Macfarlane. "We as players, maybe as people, have an obligation to share the experience, to help those who are coming behind us," he said. "It's natural. It's not a moral judgment. It's what I'm all about. It's a responsibility we all have in life."
One of those coming along behind Boone is his son, Bret, a middle infielder who is in his junior year at USC. The youngster was drafted in a low round out of high school by Minnesota but chose college instead. "He's matured a lot," Bob Boone said. "He has a chance to play in the big leagues."
It would be a natural progression. Between Ray Boone and Bob Boone, a member of this family has been in the majors for at least part of every decade since the 1940s. Would Bob stick around long enough to play in the bigs with Bret?
"Intellectually, I say there's no chance," he said. "That's what I tell you. That would make me 46. I take one day at a time, one year at a time."
by CNB