Red Wings legend Bobby Grich discovers you can go home again

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The line of autograph-seekers in the Innovative Field concourse Tuesday evening was at least 200 strong. They came bearing baseballs, photographs, jerseys, cards, caps, and memories. Although Bobby Grich last played for the Rochester Red Wings 53 summers ago, his popularity endures. One of the finest players to don the Wings flannels still knows how to draw a crowd.

“I don’t get back to Rochester a lot,’’ said the Southern California native and lifelong resident. “But when I do, people here always make me feel welcome; make me feel like I never left. This place will always be special to me. It’s nice to be remembered.”

Silver Stadium, where Grich became Minor League Baseball’s Player of the Year in 1971, is long gone, but we’re reminded that legends can endure decades after ballparks have been razed. Grich spent two memorable seasons in Rochester before embarking on an illustrious 16-year big-league career with the Baltimore Orioles and California Angels that saw him make six American League All-Star teams, earn four Gold Gloves for his defensive prowess at second base, and club 224 home runs and drive in 864 runs.

Of his 20 seasons playing professional baseball, the two spent in the Flower City rank among his favorites, particularly the summer of ’71 when he and fellow can’t-miss prospect Don Baylor were the lynchpins of a Junior World Series championship team that Baseball America magazine ranked among the best minor league clubs of the 20^th century.

“None of the teams I played for in the minors, or the majors was as close-knit as that Red Wing team,’’ he said. “We had so many characters, guys that kept you laughing non-stop. Ron Shelton’s Bull Durham movie was a characterization of so many of those guys and so many of our experiences. As a ballplayer and aspiring filmmaker, Ronnie couldn’t have asked for a better source of material.”

Grich and his mates had a ton of fun, but when it was time to play ball, they grew serious – serious enough to go 86-54 and win it all.

“I credit our manager, Joe Altobelli,’’ Grich said. “Alto was the glue that held everything together. He was kind of easy-going, a down-home guy that let you blow off steam and have your fun. He was a father figure, a guy you could talk to about baseball and life. But when it was time to play ball, he demanded your undivided attention. He reminded us that the goal was to win a championship. Nothing less was acceptable. He was stern at the right times. I loved the guy to death, and so did my teammates.”

Grich began endearing himself to Wings fans in 1970, hitting .383 with 9 homers, 42 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 63 games. He spent 30 games with the Orioles that season, but batted just .211 with no homers for a World Series-winning team that was loaded with talent. He was sent back to Rochester the following spring because the Baltimore brass wanted him to play every day at shortstop rather than ride the bench in the big leagues. Grich enjoyed a breakout year, topping the International League in home runs (32) and batting average (.336). He also developed a great relationship with slick-fielding, clutch-hitting Don Fazio, who was coaxed out of retirement and joined the club full-time after completing his teaching duties that spring in the Rush Henrietta school district. Grich and Fazio immediately became one of the best double-play combinations in franchise history.

“Faz and I clicked from the start,’’ Grich recalled. “He was so smooth out there. And he’d pitch in with the bat, getting us some big hits along the way. But the thing I remember most about Faz is what an optimistic guy he was. He was upbeat every day he came to the ballpark and that was infectious.”

The Wings went up three-games-to-two in the Junior World Series against the Denver Bears when Grich was told he was being promoted to Baltimore. Most prospects would have been ecstatic, but Grich wasn’t. “I wanted to finish what we had started, so I said, ‘Joe, I’m not going,’’’ he recalled, chuckling. “Joe said, ‘No, Bobby, you’re going. Minor-league teams are meant to develop players for the big-league club. They need you up there now.’’’

So, Grich went, and helped the Orioles reach another World Series. Meanwhile, the Wings lost their next game – making them 0-11 in contests Grich missed. Fortunately, they ended that streak by winning Game Seven, and when Grich saw the news on the Yankee Stadium video board congratulating the Orioles top farm club for winning Minor League Baseball’s championship, he beamed and couldn’t wait to phone Alto and his teammates.

Grich never played another game in the minors. Rochester would be the final stop on his way to major-league stardom after he made the conversion from short to second. Over time, his big-league career has become more appreciated. The new metrics, which place a higher value on slugging and on-base percentage and defensive range, has prompted respected historian Bill James and others to make a strong case for Grich’s inclusion in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Grich’s 71.1 WAR (wins above replacement) is better than 13 of the 20 second basemen currently enshrined. A players’ strike and back and hand injuries cost him three prime seasons, and his career .266 batting average also works against him.

“I have a lot of ‘woulda, shoulda, coulda’s,’ regarding my career,’’ he said. “If only I had stayed healthy or if only I had played in home ballparks that were more hitter-friendly than the ones I played in, then, who knows? But it is what it is. I don’t expect to ever make the Hall of Fame, but I’m honored that some well-respected people feel that way and that they went beyond ordinary statistics and dug into ones that show the true value of my career. Hey, I gave it everything I had and I can look back with pride.”

That he can. Life has been very good to this still fit 75-year-old grandfather of four, who despite the graying locks, looks as if he could still turn two and pop one over the fence. After hanging up bat and glove, Grich enjoyed a successful career in commercial real estate and on the Celebrity Golf Tour. He also spent 20 years working as a part-time minor-league roving instructor with the Angels, and mentored the team’s infielders each spring training.

Grich continues to enjoy life to the fullest, especially nights like Tuesday at Innovative Field, when Rochesterians made a man in the autumn of his life feel like a boy of summer again.

Best-selling author and nationally honored journalist Scott Pitoniak is the Rochester Business Journal’s sports columnist.