Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 23, 1993 TAG: 9305230054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Me? An intimidator? I can't see it," the Salem Buccaneers' shortstop said.
But . . .
"Some people look at me like somebody who can be run all over by just about anybody."
Wait a minute . . .
"It's my size, I guess."
True it is that Womack, at 5 feet 9 and 150 pounds, isn't of imposing build. Likewise, his sunny demeanor and openness to conversation with just about anybody set most folks right at ease.
Yet put the guy on first base taking his lead and watch some hat bands start to get hot and tight around the infield. The pitcher casts a squinty-eyed glance, the first baseman tenses, the shortstop shifts nervously on his toes, the catcher pounds his mitt.
Sometimes, there isn't much that can be done. Womack will be going, going, gone.
"The pitcher can't do a whole lot except keep throwing over to first," Womack said. "If anybody should be worried, it's the catcher. He's got to make that throw down to second."
Make that a long throw. Usually, three things can happen, and two of them are bad. Either you throw the guy out, which in Womack's case isn't all that likely. Or the ball sails into center field. Or he pilfers the bag cleanly, which he's done 17 times this year to hang among the league leaders. A year ago, he stole 50 bases in 102 games at Augusta.
To compound the problems Womack presents, he also can get on base with reasonable regularity. This past week, he was hitting .273 with 44 hits and 21 runs scored. The hits total includes an inside-the-park home run, an act that is enough to get any self-respecting fielder in a lather. To add to the package, Womack can field up a storm at short, taking chances and goofing up on occasion but still making a lot of plays others are incapable of.
Womack, who went to Gretna High School and is a graduate - rare at this level - of a four-year college (Guilford), says he's concentrating on his work and staying loose.
"I'm studying the pitchers and I'm studying the batters and trying to learn as much as I can," he said. "When the second half of the season is near, I want to make sure that everything is ready to fall in place for me."
So far so good, especially in the keeping-a-cool-head department.
"I used to put pressure on myself, and I even did it a little last year," he said. "But now, I just think, `Let whatever happens happen and don't worry about it before it happens.' I won't let anybody put pressure on me, why should I put pressure on myself?"
Why indeed? The guy sure has the knack of dumping most of the pressure on the opponent.
\ EXCUSE ME, SIR, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS PROVIDENT?: Liberty University baseball coach Johnny Hunton was excited about his Flames singeing Radford for the Big South Conference Tournament title this week. So excited that he celebrated the occasion by taking a flying fall from the 75-foot bungee tower at Air Boingo in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Now, it is true that he was carrying out a promise to his team that he would perform the feat should it, the sixth- and last-seeded team, win the tournament. And it is likewise so that he was following the example of Liberty president and founder Jerry Falwell, an internationally known figure who had also chosen to take a recent plunge.
Yet it strikes us as a trifle reckless that Hunton, a 66-year-old who underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery two years ago, would take a swan dive into the thick atmosphere of the Carolina Low County while protected with nothing more than a glorified rubber band.
Golly Moses! The Flames are going to the first NCAA Tournament in Liberty's Division I history! What happens if the coach's leap of faith concludes in an unfortunate manner? Who will hit fungoes? Who will make pitching changes? Who will turn off the showers and pick up the towels in the clubhouse?
Well, as once pointed out by a certain bantam rooster Philadelphia Phillies left-hander and others who do inspirational work on Sundays, ya gotta believe.
\ SO, KID, YOU WANT TO BE THE NEXT WAKEFIELD: Now that the Pittsburgh Pirates have found such success by converting former Salem Buccaneer Tim Wakefield from a position player to a flutterballer, maybe we'll be seeing more organizations in search of this version of the pitching philosopher's stone.
Among the latest to give it a try are the Oakland Athletics, who have gone to work on former Virginia Tech outfielder Mike Conte. Conte began the slow conversion last year at Class AA Huntsville, where he was used exclusively as an outfielder but worked on his pitching in his spare moments.
He batted .238 there, which may have prompted wise men to conclude that his future lay in trying to throw baseballs instead of hit them.
Conte started the current season at San Bernadino, a Class A California League independent team stocked with employees of six organizations. Working out of the bullpen, he had a 12.27 earned run average in 7 innings. An indication that he has not yet mastered the quirks of the knuckleball was his 12 walks and two strikeouts.
This week, Conte was shipped back to the extended spring training program at Scottsdale, Ariz. The cure for what ails him is more innings - something he wasn't going to get in California - so said the A's.
Once Conte gets the knuckleball somewhat under control (it's never totally under control, as anybody from Hoyt Wilhelm to Phil Niekro would hasten to tell you), he is expected to be assigned to one of the A's rookie league clubs.
\ HE MAY NEVER HAVE BEEN IN A PRO BATTER'S BOX BUT HE DOES HAVE A MAILBOX: A colleague was on the receiving end of a chain letter that allegedly passed through the mitts of Robin Ventura (Chicago White Sox), Jack McDowell (White Sox), Ed Sprague (Toronto Blue Jays), Bud Selig (acting commissioner of baseball), Paul Quantrill (Boston Red Sox), Ken Ryan (Red Sox), Dusty Baker (San Francisco Giants manager) and Phil Leftwich (Vancouver Canadians), not to mention Don Nelson (Golden State Warriors coach), and Sen. Bill Bradley.
Our guy, a helplessly fanatic Red Sox partisan but otherwise a rational thinker, is considering breaking the chain but fears the consequences for the Bostonians. The Curse of the Bambino lives.
\ RUNS IN THE FAMILY: Wayne Kirby, who seemingly has spent forever in the bush leagues, is making the most of his recent call-up to the Cleveland Indians. Kirby, the older brother of former University of Virginia running back Terry Kirby, is batting .370 (17-for-46) with nine runs scored, two doubles, a triple and a steal in 13 games. He had four hits in one of his first big-league outings this year. Kirby, 29, has spent 10 years in the minors in the Los Angeles Dodgers system and with the Indians. For all that, he has 61 big-league at-bats before this season.
by CNB