Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 13, 1994 TAG: 9402120086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The development of professional baseball players, never an exact science and always difficult, may be more challenging now than ever.
Instructive testimony in that regard comes from Bob Humphreys, the coordinator of player development for the Milwaukee Brewers.
"Just like in football and basketball, the players you get are bigger and stronger than they ever have been with all the weight training and so forth," he said. "But they don't have the work ethic that players used to have. They don't know how to work.
"And the players now are so insecure. They're so used to having Mama and Daddy do everything for them, mostly Mama."
Humphreys, now 55, was a good athlete and knew how to work. That's how he pitched his way out of his childhood home in Villamont and spent nine seasons with five major-league teams.
On Sunday night, Humphreys will be one of five inductees to the Roanoke-Salem Baseball Hall of Fame. They will be honored at the annual Hot Stove Banquet at the Salem Civic Center. The featured speaker will be Tommy Henrich, who played for the New York Yankees from 1937-50.
The other inductees are:
Pablo Cruz, the Pittsburgh Pirates' scouting supervisor for Latin America and one of the most popular Salem Pirates players in the first two decades of the club.
Jack Dame, the former general manager of Salem's Appalachian League team and the president of the Salem Athletic Club. Dame also is a former manager of the Salem Civic Center.
Boyd "Hawkbill" Hall, an influential contributor to baseball in Franklin County since the 1920s.
Charlie Maxwell, a 14-year major-leaguer who won the Piedmont League's triple crown in 1949 as a member of the Roanoke Red Sox.
Humphreys said some of the problems he sees in today's young baseball players mirror those of society as a whole.
"Every election year you hear the politicians talking about how bad it is," he said. "Just go to a high school and drive around the parking lot and see all the cars these kids have. They go home and they've all got TVs and VCRs and their own telephones. That's how bad it is?"
It may not be bad for young people, but it is for those trying to tap their potential.
"You'd be amazed at the number of kids who we work with and they go for about an hour and say, `Coach, I'm worn out.' When I was growing up, I worked all day pushing a cement buggy to build the parking garage on Jefferson Street in Roanoke and then went to play ball after that. Thought nothing of it.
"Today you'll get guys saying, `I'm just too tired to play.' You say, `Well what have you been doing.' He'll say, `I've been down at the convenience store working.' `So,' you say, `you've been standing up working a cash register. Oh.' "
Humphreys doesn't despair that the big leagues will be running out of respectable prospects any time soon, though.
"You'll always have dedicated guys who have what it takes to make it. The good players of today could play at any time. The caliber of the good players is the same as it once was."
Humphreys graduated from now-defunct Montvale High School and then from Hampden-Sydney College before reaching the majors, where he played from 1962-70 with Detroit, St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs, Washington and Milwaukee. He had a career record of 27-21 and a 3.36 earned run average.
After his playing career was over, Humphreys became coach of the Virginia Tech baseball team, guiding the Hokies to a 135-60 record and two NCAA tournament berths. In 1979, he returned to the pros, working for Toronto as a minor-league instructor and manager before joining the Brewers' organization.
Although Humphreys thinks the development of players is more difficult now than it once was, the job isn't without its bright spots. One of them is the quality of athletes.
"With good athletes, you have something to work with," Humphreys said. "When you do, it's a pleasure to work."
by CNB