
DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997                TAG: 9704130170

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  127 lines

MIXTURE OF LASORDA, WEAVER AND MARTIN

Twenty-four years as a major league catcher means a lot of up and down, with a few collisions mixed in.

Rick Dempsey, who made his Harbor Park debut as manager of the Norfolk Tides Friday, has found managing to be similar.

Since his playing days ended in 1992, Dempsey has had his ups. Like when the Los Angeles Dodgers named him manager of their Triple-A club in Albuquerque in 1994.

And his downs. Like when it became apparent the Dodgers had too many true blues in line ahead of Dempsey. Whenever Tommy Lasorda retired, Dempsey wasn't going to be heir apparent.

And his collisions. On three occasions, Dempsey has talked with the Baltimore Orioles about returning to their organization. Three times, the Orioles' 1983 World Series Most Valuable Player didn't get the job.

``In this business, three strikes and you're out,'' Dempsey said. ``I've often wondered why the Orioles haven't made more of an effort to keep me in the organization. It used to bother me a lot. Now I don't lose sleep over it.''

Dempsey, who also won a World Series ring with the 1988 Dodgers, is having another ``up'' this season. After a year as an advance scout for the Colorado Rockies, he became manager of the New York Mets' Triple-A affiliate.

What kind of manager have the Tides obtained?

Take a heaping helping of Earl Weaver. Mix in a healthy dose of Billy Martin. Toss in a pinch of Lasorda.

While Dempsey did most of his squatting behind the plate with Weaver in his dugout, he broke into major league baseball with the Minnesota Twins during Martin's rookie year as a manager. Dempsey then played parts of the 1975 and 1976 seasons for Martin while with the New York Yankees.

``Earl and Billy were the two managers who really brought role-playing and platooning into the forefront of baseball and they both used it well,'' Dempsey said. ``There's a lot of benefit knowing your role. When you know it, you can be put in a positive position where your chances of succeeding increase.

``I have a lot of Billy's aggressiveness in me. I like to hit and run and squeeze. And not always when people are expecting it. I think Billy would have been an even better National League manager.''

When Martin was managing the Oakland Athletics in the early 1980s, the phrase ``Billy Ball'' was coined. Part of the interpretation was rarely going ``by the book.''

``(Dempsey) is like that, totally unpredictable,'' said relief pitcher Rudy Seanez, who played for Dempsey in 1994 in Albuquerque. ``Usually you get into a pattern and everybody knows what you're going to do. But in Albuquerque, we'd play a series against a team one way, then when that same team would come in a month later, he'd do things entirely differently. He keeps you on your toes. You have to take everything into account.''

In Triple-A, Dempsey doesn't have the luxury of hand-picking his players or asking the owner to throw millions at a power hitter who will make a difference in the lineup.

The Mets send him 23 players and ask him to make it work. So Dempsey can't be Weaver, counting on spectacular pitching and waiting for the three-run homer.

Dempsey, nonetheless, promises a lot of Weaver philosophy.

``You learn so much from a guy like him,'' Dempsey said. ``Ninety percent of what you learn is what to do in certain situations. Ten percent is what not to do.

``When I first went to the Orioles, I didn't like him very much. I rebelled a lot. I wanted to play every day, I didn't like being the focus of so many of his moves and I didn't like being yelled at.

``After a couple of years there, I didn't want to play for anyone else. All the aggravation was a small price to pay for the success I had in 10 years as Baltimore's regular catcher.''

However, it didn't prepare Dempsey for his indoctrination into managing. His first job was with Class A Bakersfield (Calif.) in the Dodgers' organization.

Bakersfield finished 42-94.

``I had nine teenagers on that team,'' Dempsey remembers. ``Other teams in the league had guys in the 25-to-27 age group who were hanging on, still playing because they lived down the street from the park in that town and didn't know when to quit playing.

``We won every game of spring training that year, then we flopped. Once we started losing, I got real angry. Some of these guys were so young they didn't know how to put their uniforms on. They were coming straight off their high school or American Legion fields and didn't know how to play, either mentally or physically. We were thrown into a real deep river.

``But my approach to them was just as bad. I just didn't understand the mentality of a Class A player. It had been 25 years since I'd been there. The crazy thing is we had some talent. Karim Garcia was on that team and he's made it to the majors.

``Now when I get a new team, I back off and see how advanced they are first, then I step in and try to help. I have a much better idea of how to approach it now.''

Tides centerfielder Gary Thurman, for one, likes what he's seen of Dempsey so far.

``Some of the best managers in baseball are former catchers,'' Thurman said. ``They have to be totally in the game all the time. He knows his baseball and it's shown already.

``And if he's unpredictable, that's good. Baseball is like chess, if you know what your opponent is going to do, you can stop it. But if you don't, you're lost in the dark.'' ILLUSTRATION: THE DEMPSEY FILE

Full name: John Rikard (Rick) Dempsey

Age: 47

Residence: Westlake Village, Calif.

Family: Wife Joani; sons John (25) and Christian (19). John is a

finance major at Villanova; Christian is a freshman baseball player

at San Diego State.

MANAGERIAL RECORD

Regular season

Year Club League W L Pct. Finish

1993 Bakerfield California (A) 42 94 .309 5th

1994 Albuquerque Pacific Coast (AAA) 83 56 .597 2nd/1st*

1995 Albuquerque Pacific Coast (AAA) 75 69 .521 2nd/3rd*