DAN WILSON ARTICLES PG.36
******HERE YOU WILL FIND ARTICLES ABOUT DAN WILSON FROM VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES, SAID ARTICLES REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AUTHORS AND ARE HERE ONLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES******



Wilson: M's Quiet Observer
Soft-spoken Catcher doesn't talk about himself

The subject was managing, and whether any Seattle Mariners player was a likely candidate to manage when his playing career ended. "Dan Wilson," manager Lou Piniella said. Did Wilson have the temperament to chew out a player, to raise his voice if the situation demanded it, Piniella was asked. "Hey, Willie," Piniella asked his catcher. "Could you yell at a player if you had to?" "Sure," Wilson said, in what amounted to a speech. The 29-year-old former All-Star dislikes talking about opposing players or his future, his teammates or the past. Pressed, he will acknowledge his dog's name is 'Doc'. But if the subject is Dan Wilson, Dan Wilson can be a quiet man, indeed.
So Monday, he was presented The List and asked to talk about it instead of himself. The List was a roll call of the names of the Mariners pitchers Dan Wilson has caught in a regular season game since joining the team in 1994. The List was 64 names long, an indication of how many pitchers have toiled under the Mariners flag the past five years. Wilson has caught them all, the hard-throwers and the junk-ballers, those with pinpoint command and those - too many of those - whose best stuff never got to the big-league mound. "That's probably the most frustrating thing, when you've got a guy who looks like Cy Young in the bullpen and then they get in the game and things change," Wilson said. "There's not a lot you can do. What it comes down to is you have to go with the pitcher's strength, whatever it is, no matter who the hitter is." Not surprisingly, Wilson didn't want to talk about current teammates on The List. So he was given the option of talking about any of the 64 pitchers he wanted. He started talking and several times appeared to be enjoying himself. The toughest pitcher to catch was Randy Johnson, Wilson said. The easiest? Jamie Moyer. The pitcher who made him laugh most? Rich Gossage. The pitcher he never saw eye-to-eye with? Rookie Matt Wagner, now in Montreal. "I probably learned more from Chris Bosio than anyone else," Wilson said. "He'd adjust what he did on the mound pitch to pitch. And if something wasn't working, he'd come up with a pitch that would." So many arms. So many memories.
Some of Wilson's recollections:
* Chris Bosio. "When I first got here, he was like the heart and soul of the team, a clubhouse leader. He had a rough exterior, a soft interior and on the mound he was like a different person - just so competitive. He had these huge hands, and he'd make pitches up as he went along. Here was a guy who'd once thrown in the mid-90s and now was down to about 85 mph, and it didn't matter. He knew how to pitch. If it wasn't for his knees, he'd probably still be pitching. I knew when I got here that if I could make Bosio like me, everything was going to be OK."
* Dave Fleming. "I'd played with him on the USA Team, so my first spring here I called him and we went to dinner. Everybody on this team cared about Flem, and when things went bad for him it hurt. It was a little reminder: Baseball doesn't care who it does that to."
* Rich Gossage. "Goose was awesome. He had to have music on team flights, and he had to sing along with it. He was the first guy who could give us insight into Lou as a player, just how competitive he'd been. He could make you laugh, but I think he loved teaching the game. He relished that role."
* Randy Johnson. "It was an adjustment catching Randy because he threw so hard. I'd caught Rob Dibble in Cincinnati, and he threw hard - but he only did it for an inning in relief. Randy would throw 95 mph-plus for eight, nine innings. He was just so dominating, he threw so hard, you were never assured of catching the ball in the pocket of your glove. I had to ice my hand a few times after his games. Hitters would come to the plate and ask, 'Is he on tonight?' and I'd just say 'Tell me after this at-bat.'"
* Bill Risley. "He was a madman on the field, a sweetheart off it. He was a pitcher with a wrestler's mentality. I remember he was backing up a play and a throw got away in Kansas City and he dove into the dugout head first."
* Bob Wells. "He played a huge role for us in '96, when he took a starter's role and at one point was 10-1 or something. He was a fierce competitor who got the most out of his ability. He was always asking questions, about hitters, about pitches, about anything."
* Tim Belcher. "He was one of the few pitchers you could talk to the day he pitched. Tim came to the ballpark with a plan, and he was so certain of what he wanted to do. He was the kind of guy who'd take you to dinner so you'd take a younger guy when you got to be a veteran."
* Norm Charlton. "In '95, he had the best forkball in the game, and he had guts. He wasn't afraid of anyone, he wasn't afraid of any situation. He had the best closer mentality I've ever seen. He wanted the ninth inning."
* Bob Wolcott. "I'll never forget that first playoff game against Cleveland in the Kingdome in '95. He loaded the bases in the first inning with no one out and Albert Belle up - and got out of it. Just a complete turnaround. He was very intelligent, but there were times he'd say something and you weren't sure what he was talking about."
* Sterling Hitchcock. "I remember he and (Ken Griffey) Junior getting into these outrageous verbal battles in the clubhouse and everybody laughing. Hitch would laugh, too, but he wouldn't back down."
* Mike Jackson. "A very intense competitor, he'd be out there, that cap pulled down over his eyes, and he'd come right at you. He has nasty stuff. On the mound or in the clubhouse, he'd take on anybody."
* Joe Klink. "A left-handed pitcher, I don't think he ever pitched for us. He got here, went out to the bullpen, threw for a bit and was done. That was it, he was hurt."
* Rusty Meacham. "Rusty could throw five innings in about 10 minutes if you let him. Guys loved to play behind him. He'd get the ball and throw a pitch. He just genuinely loved pitching."
* Terry Mulholland. "The deepest of all voices."
* Josias Manzanillo. "He'd race off the mound after that third out, just run into the dugout. Then that night he got hit by a line drive in the cup - only he wasn't wearing a cup. He was lying on his back and everybody was working on him and he was in a lot of pain, and Joey Cora kind of challenged him. He said you always run off the field, run off now. And he did. That was unbelievable."
* Dennis Martinez. "He had great movement on his pitches and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with each pitch. He had a lot of pride. He didn't want to pitch if he wasn't going to be effective. He was easy to catch - he'd tell you what he wanted you to do."
* Tim Davis. "We roomed together in Seattle my first year. I remember he had that stretch when he first came up, 15-20 straight scoreless relief appearances, and you had to wonder how a guy so little could be so effective against big-league hitters. He had a great change-up."

NEXT PAGE

BACK TO MAIN PAGE