THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090640
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 76 lines
Derek Wallace was channel-surfing last winter when his clicker stopped on QVC, the shop-from-your-couch channel. A talking head was hawking authentic, autographed Cal Ripken Jr. jerseys for $500 apiece.
``I've always wanted to collect jerseys and my desire to do it increased over the winter,'' says Wallace, 24, ace relief pitcher for the Norfolk Tides. ``One of the sports agents with the firm representing me has his entire house decorated with his clients' jerseys. They looked really nice.''
When Wallace saw the opportunity to start his own collection, he couldn't pass, even if the starting price was steep.
Famous players' jerseys aren't all the 6-foot-3 righthander is collecting this season. He also has a healthy number of saves.
Heading into tonight's game at Harbor Park against the Rochester Red Wings, Wallace is tied with Columbus' Dave Pavlas for the International League lead with 25, already a Tides single-season record.
Wallace wasn't the Tides' designated closer when the season opened. But since pitching two perfect innings to close out a 3-2 victory over Toledo on May 14, he's been brought on with regularity in the eighth and ninth innings of potential victories.
``His arm directed him there,'' Tides manager Bobby Valentine says. ``Coming out of spring training, there weren't many people (in the New York Mets organization) who felt he was ready to do this.''
For Wallace, the 11th pick overall in the 1992 draft, this has been a breakthrough season. He has a 5-2 record to go along with his 25 saves and a 1.76 earned run average. He has struck out 51 while walking 17 - a 3-to-1 ratio - in 56 1/3 innings.
Named to the National League team for the Triple-A All-Star Game a month ago, Wallace pitched a perfect eighth inning and picked up the victory in a 2-1 decision.
After starring for Pepperdine's College World Series championship team in 1992, Wallace struggled in his first four seasons as a pro, posting an overall minor-league record of 16-28 and a 5.02 earned run average.
But the talent was evident and the lively fastball was always present. Wallace twice has been traded for major leaguers, moving from the Chicago Cubs organization to Kansas City in a multiplayer deal for outfielder Brian McRae, then from Kansas City to the New York Mets in a multiplayer deal for pitcher Jason Jacome.
Wallace has yet to make it to the big leagues. But Valentine believes he will be there before season's end. And if Wallace goes, he'll be toting a new pitch, a split-finger fastball that's been added to the fastball and slider he already throws.
Valentine figures that pitch and added maturity are the secrets to Wallace's newfound success. ``Pro baseball is made up of nothing BUT GOOD HITTERS,'' he says. ``In college ball, such hitters are few and far between, and you can get a lot of guys out with less than your best stuff.
As for Wallace's collection of jerseys, it's growing rapidly. When the Tides signed free agent pitcher Rick Trlicek the last week of spring training, Norfolk acquired Wallace's future setup man in more ways than one. Trlicek, who often pitches the seventh or eighth innings of many games Wallace closes, has a brother who deals in sports memorabilia.
Through Jimmy Trlicek's dealership in Houston, Wallace has obtained the jerseys of such stars as Michael Jordan, Penny Hardaway, Troy Aikman, Deion Sanders and Shaquille O'Neal.
Wallace laughs at the notion that a collector might one day hang up a Derek Wallace jersey.
``If I signed a jersey, all it would do is devalue it,'' he says.
There is one Derek Wallace jersey that has immediate value for this collector: his NCAA championship Pepperdine jersey from 1992.
``The school sold those jerseys at fund-raising and charity events,'' Wallace says. ``I've been searching for it. I even got on the Internet trying to track it down. That's one I really want.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Derek Wallace shows off his Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan
jerseys. "If I signed a jersey, all it would do is devalue it," he
joked. by CNB