ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9604020003
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
BILL McGUIRE, the Avalanche's first-year manager, knows what developing talent is all about - and what he's all about.
Bill McGuire is not an alibi guy.
This we know because he assuredly had a splendid opportunity to serve up a good one when discussing the quiet end of his baseball playing career. The Seattle Mariners' second pick in the 1985 amateur draft, McGuire packed it in after being released by the Chicago Cubs before the 1992 campaign. He made it to the majors, but ever so briefly.
McGuire was a sick man for a time. So sick, he ultimately lost 30 pounds in a matter of days. Because he was a well-conditioned athlete (catcher), most of the weight loss came out of muscle mass.
As career-ending afflictions go, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more debilitating one than colitis, an acute inflammation of the colon.
Yet, McGuire makes no excuses.
``I'm not going to sit here and say if I hadn't gotten sick, I'd probably be in the big leagues by now,'' he said. ``No. That wasn't what kept me from the big leagues. My bat did.''
That kind of clear-eyed realism is one of the traits that makes McGuire one of the brightest managerial prospects in the Colorado Rockies' organization today. McGuire will be the Salem Avalanche's manager this year, succeeding Bill Hayes who was promoted to New Haven (Conn.) of the Class AA Eastern League.
McGuire comes to Salem after directing Asheville (N.C.) of the Class A South Atlantic League to a 76-63 overall record. The Tourists went 44-27 during the second half of the season en route to a berth in the playoffs.
``It is rather unusual for a manager to manage just one year at a place before moving on to the next level,'' said Dick Balderson, the Rockies' farm director. ``He's loyal and honest, and he's gotten the most out of his kids, especially in the second half of the season when you want them to be playing well. That's what impressed us.''
McGuire, who calls Omaha, Neb., home, twice was an All-Big Eight Conference player at Nebraska, where he was a catcher and a pitcher. Pro ball didn't come as easily for him, but he plugged along, playing first for the Mariners and later for the Atlanta Braves, who wanted him as a pitcher.
After the Braves turned him loose, he decided to try to catch on with the Cubs. He thought he'd played well enough to make their Class AAA Iowa club, but was released at the last minute. Thinking back, he believes then-Iowa manager Brad Mills (now the field boss of the Rockies' Class AAA affiliate in Colorado Springs) got wind of the illness from one of McGuire's former teammates and that led to his release.
McGuire might have seen it coming anyway.
``When I left to go to camp that spring, I told my father that I was going to work my tail off trying to make the team, but if I didn't, I hoped they'd offer me a job as a coach,'' he said.
That turned out to be exactly what happened. Bill Harford, then the Cubs' farm director, offered him a coaching job at the same time he was handing him his release as a player.
``I didn't even let him set down his pen before I accepted,'' McGuire said.
After one season, McGuire was caught up in one of the periodic housecleanings the Cubs have been famous for through the years. Even in that, there was a lucky break.
McGuire had known Balderson since both were in the Seattle organization, Balderson as the general manager. Balderson became the Cubs' chief scout before McGuire's arrival, and later moved to the Rockies' organization. When Balderson offered McGuire a coaching job with Bend (Ore.) of the short-season Class A Northwest League, he took it.
The next year, McGuire coached at Asheville under then-manager Tony Torchia, then moved up to the manager's job when Torchia left to become the hitting coach last year for Salem.
``Baldy has been a great guy to work for,'' McGuire said. ``You always know where you stand with him. If you don't want to hear the truth, then don't ask him the question.''
McGuire has been married for 10 years, and he and wife ,Lori, have two daughters, Emily, 3, and Katie, 2. The family stays in Omaha during the season.
``It's tough being away from them,'' McGuire said. ``But we've learned to live with it. It's like having a sales job. Instead of being on the road for several days per week, you're gone for six months at a time.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of McGuireby CNB2. Salem Avalanche logo color