Philadelphia Daily News - October 28, 1980

Bake Shakin’, Simmerin’

By Stan Hochman

Mike Schmidt gets a gold watch today from Sport Magazine as the Most Valuable Player in the World Series.

Yesterday. Bake McBride gave Schmidt the works.

"If anybody should get it, it ought to be Bob Boone or I.arry Bowa," McBride said from his St. Louis home. "They contributed more than anybody on the team."

The Phillies have washed the champagne out of their hair and shaken the confetti from their cuffs. Once again, there are guys you wouldn't want to invite to the same party.

Oh? Is that why McBride will not be joining 15 of his teammates at Schmidt's annual charity golf tournament in Hilton Head. SC., this weekend?

"FIRST OF ALL I wasn't invited." said McBride. "And secondly, I don't play golf. It doesn't bother me. Why should it? I'm not sure I understand Schmidt, though. The things he does. the things he says. He changes... like the weather."

The weather has turned cold and blustery but the Phillies remain the Boys of Simmer. Rumor had it that McBride thought he deserved the MVP bauble after hitting .304 in the tournament.

"No. not me." said McBride. "I don't think I deserve ir. Oh. I had a chance at it after the first two games, but then Bowa and Boone contributed more. I guess the reason Schmidt got it was the last game."

The World Series MVP award used to include a new car. but the tax lawyers who really run the game grumbled about that prize. So now. the guy gets a wristwatch and a S5.000 scholarship to the school of his choice. Schmidt will turn it over to Ohio U.

The third baseman hit 381 in the Series, with Stven runs batted in on eight hits. He was a glib, cooperative interview throughout. McBride. on the other lip, taped his mouth shut after his second-game heroics.

The picture was worth how many words?. How many votes?

"I don't think that should have anything to do with it." McBride insisted innocently. The award is in recognition of what you do on the field. Not what we do in the clubhouse. We don’t play the game in the clubhouse. Writers are supposed to write about what goes on, on the field.

"I WAS CONSIDERING talking to no one next year. I tried talking to reporters this year and didn't get nowhere. It lasted a while, guys coming around to say 'Hi' to me. win or lose. But then it faded into the same old walking by."

McBride has chosen this stubborn way of making the point that too many writers ignore blacks and Latins unless they are the absolute stick-out, can't-ignore game heroes.

It has been suggested to McBride that a dialogue with enlightened writers might get the message across just as effectively.

"You think so?" McBride said bitterly. "If I did that, sat down and said how I felt, you don’t think I'd be blackballed by teams who would never trade for me? I'd be called militant or worse."

Trade? Ah. Bake McBride, you've said the magic word. Do you get $50 and a one-way ticket to San Francisco?

"Hopefully, I'll be back." McBride said. "But I have no control over that. That's Ruly Carpenter and Paul Owens and Dallas Green."

During the playoffs, McBride went on national television with the proposition that the clubhouse wasn't big enough for him and Green.

"If he's gonna bring us another World Series," McBride said coyly. "I'd like for him to be back. Sure, I like our chances. If we play the same way. Sure, I can get along with him. I did it this year and we won a world's championship.

"WHY SHOULD he change? He's had success doing it his way. I think the main reason he did what he did was for us to get mad at him and prove to him we could do it.

"If he comes back, we'll be the same. Mad at him, mad at everybody. In the end, it was worth it He got the job done and we got the job done.

"I only had problems with him one time. But there are other guys he talked about, other guys who had to read in the papers what he thought of them.

"We've got a crazy bunch. But good.”

Still to come is the National League Most Valuable Player announcement. McBride thinks he will finish further back than John Anderson in that election.

"What do you base MVP on?" McBride asked. “To me, MVP is a guy who contributes the whole year round.

"A guy leads the league in homers and RBI, he should be considered. But just because he leads the league in homers, that doesn't mean he should win automatically.

"Consistency to me, that's the key thing. Schmidt wasn't consistent. He hit in spurts."

McBride hit a steady .309. Had 33 doubles, 10 triples and 9 homers. Had 87 runs batted in, jiggling up and down the lineup.

"You'd have to check how many homers Schmidt hit came with men oh base," McBride said. "How many really meant anything?"

McBRIDE KNOWS he is going to have to be content with memories and the tie he claimed from the general manager, along with the clothes off his back, following Game 6.

"The parade was beautiful," McBride said. "A feeling I have never had before. All those people cheering us.

"The suit I got from Pope was to settle a promise. In Montreal, before the second game of that series, I told him I wanted the jacket if we won it And if we won the playoffs, I wanted the pants.

"After we won the Series, I got 'em. But I gave 'em back. No sense wasting a good suit. The man wears a 36- or 38-inch waist. Mine is only 32. I'd have to take the pants in so much, the pockets would be touching."

And will McBride line his pockets with endorsement loot this winter?

"You got to be kidding," he said. "I don't think too many people will be coming around."

Not even Johnson & Johnson?

"What for?" McBride countered. "My ankles?"

McBride has a sense of humor drier than the tissue around his brittle knees. He will spend much of the winter working out on an exercise machine he got from Schmidt.

But he will not work on his moody personality.

"Why should I change?" he said. "Money isn't everything. Whether I have a million bucks or a dime, I'm gonna still be the same."

McGraw Hopes To Strike Gold

By Stan Hochman

Next week Tug McGraw is going to Hollywood to tape a televison show with country singers Barbara Mandrell and Kenny Rogers. He will be featured in a skit, playing the part of an old prospector.

Yesterday McGraw auditioned for the part, showing up at the Vet wearing a three-piece suit, carrying a leather handcrafted briefcase. What did you expect, overalls and a pick-ax?

McGraw met for 45 minutes with Paul Owens, the Phillies' general manager. They agreed to meet again next Monday.

"We talked about the perimeters," McGraw said. "We didn't get into specifics about money or years."

OBVIOUSLY, McGraw had not struck gold. But his mood was jaunty and Owens described the session as "a good meeting."

McGraw pitched brilliantly in the last year of his contract. He has until Nov. 12 to add his name to the free-agent draft list. Even if he does, the Phillies retain the right to negotiate with him, along with as many as 12 other teams.

"I don't see any need to rush," McGraw said. "I'd like to use the time to the best advantage, talking to the Phillies.

"I have the feeling from 'The Pope' that they very much want me to stay. He gave every indication they'd beglad to have me back."

McGraw is 36. The Phillies obtained left-handed reliever Sparky Lyle the last month of the season. There is talk of getting Bruce Sutter in a trade with the Cubs.

"Sutter's contract is due to go to the courts," Owens warned. "Plus, I haven't talked to the Cubs about Sutter or anybody else."

Owens left for the general managers' meetings last night. McGraw left for Los Angeles to tape a week's worth of Hollywood Squares. He carries with him the words to "Casey at the Bat," the narrative poem he will recite at the Philly Pops concert on Nov. 18.

If Owens strikes out in his negotiations with the popular McGraw, there will be little joy in Mudville this winter.