Battling Brook: Brook Fordyce Hopes He Has Found A Permanent Home

Brook Fordyce had always been the quintessential baseball nomad.

In 11 professional seasons entering 2000, he had been an employee of four major league organizations (the Mets, Indians, Reds and White Sox) and played on 11 big league and minor league teams.

Last spring, though, he thought he finally had won a stable job. He had hit .297 in 105 games with the White Sox in 1999, for which he was awarded a two-year contract last November. “I thought I would be the everyday catcher in Chicago,” he says.

But it was not to be.

He broke his foot in the spring, missing a month and a half of the season. And when Fordyce, 30, came back from the DL, the starting catching job was no longer his on a full-time basis. And then he was traded to the Orioles with three minor league pitchers for Charles Johnson and Harold Baines at the end of July.

“I did everything for the White Sox I possibly could,” he says. “They were 23-7 in games I caught. I looked in the mirror, and everything I saw was positive. I was helping a first place team win.”

He hit .272 with five home runs and 21 RBIs in 125 at-bats for the Sox, but it wasn’t enough. Chicago wanted more defense behind home plate, something they thought they could get from Johnson. Fordyce lacks Johnson’s arm and is not as good at blocking pitches.

It might have been a slap at Fordyce by the White Sox, but he is more incredulous than bitter. “Maybe they blamed me for the seven losses,” he says in jest.

Fordyce, who grew up in southern Connecticut rooting for the Boston Red Sox, is not the type to be bitter. He is a gamer, a man who concentrates on playing hard more than on getting even. He best can show the White Sox they made a mistake by performing well on the field.

Anyhow, Fordyce would rather play where he feels he’s wanted. Back in June of 1989, after graduating from high school, he was planning to go to Clemson University on an athletic scholarship. But when the Mets selected him in the third round of the amateur draft, higher than he had expected, it changed Fordyce’s mind.

“It meant that I was wanted,” he says. “If I hadn’t gone in the high rounds, I would have gone to Clemson.”

Now, he believes, the Orioles have demonstrated that they want him as their everyday catcher. During the first week of November, they signed him to a three-year contract for $7.25 million. They have named him their starting catcher for 2001.

In return, he pledges to give them his best effort.

“I love the game,” says Fordyce. “I have a lot of enthusiasm. I play the game hard. I come to play every day. That’s the way the game should be played. As long as you’re in the field, you don’t want to embarrass yourself. You should want to play hard. Hustle is part of the game.”

Ironically, Fordyce finds himself in the precise position he was in with the White Sox a year ago. He has been signed to a multi-year contract. He has been told he will be the everyday catcher for Baltimore in 2001.

Will lightning strike twice in a row, though? Will Fordyce be able to hold onto the job that he’s been promised, or will he continue his nomadic ways and be packing his bags before the season is completed once again?

The Orioles expect Fordyce to be a fixture behind the plate in Baltimore. “We like Fordyce,” says Syd Thrift, the club’s top baseball executive. “Our manager likes Fordyce. Our coaches like Fordyce. We all like Fordyce. He’s going to be our starting catcher.”

After watching the weight-lifting and bass fishing enthusiast handle his pitching staff for almost two months, Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said, “Brook is a steady player. He’s intense about what he does. He’s intelligent.”

The Orioles brass was impressed that Fordyce took a red-eye flight from California to Baltimore so he wouldn’t miss a game once the trade with the White Sox was announced. Big league players often take their time getting to new teams after they’re traded, as Johnson and Baines did before joining the White Sox.

Fordyce also hit well for the Orioles in his 53 games with them, batting .322 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs in 177 at-bats. That would factor out to between 25 and 30 home runs and about 87 RBIs for a full season.

The Orioles coaching staff appreciated the effort Fordyce took in talking regularly with pitchers, both in the dugout and on the mound, and the way he went out to the bullpen before games to warm up the day’s starting pitcher, something most big league catchers don’t do (though Johnson was one who did.)

“The pitcher has to see my target for nine innings,” Fordyce says in explaining why he volunteers for the pre-game warm-up duty. “That’s the target he should be getting used to.”

Fordyce says he likes talking to his pitchers, especially the young ones, because it’s important for him to develop a rapport with them. “I need to communicate what I’m thinking,” he says, “and be sure we’re on the same page.”

The catcher also hopes that rapport will carry over to next year-especially with the Orioles’ staff expected to include a number of youngsters. One area where Fordyce represents a liability to the Orioles is in his ability-or inability-to throw out would be base-stealers. For the past two years, he has ranked near the bottom among AL catchers in throwing out runners. In 2000, for instance, Fordyce threw out but 22.5 percent of the potential thieves who tried to run on him. Only former Oriole Gregg Zaun and Blue Jay catcher Darrin Fletcher had lower percentages. The Orioles know how much of a problem that can be. For several years, Chris Hoiles’ arthritic shoulder allowed opposing runners to turn singles and walks into virtual doubles against the Orioles. That, however, was when the team was a contending club. With the Orioles not expected to compete for the pennant in 2001, Fordyce’s weak arm will not be as critical a deficit as was Hoiles’. But it could eventually say a lot about how long Fordyce will be behind the plate for the Orioles.

For now, though, he doesn’t have much to worry about. The job is his, and the Orioles are not looking for another catcher.

And Fordyce-the big league nomad-is hoping for some stability, hoping to stay put for a change.

“I know moving around is part of baseball,” he says. “It’s hard to get to the major leagues, and it’s hard to stay here. You gain appreciation for guys who have been here for a long time, and who’ve stayed with one team for a long time. There are no jobs guaranteed.”