Mike Bordick: The Defense Never Rests

Mike Bordick wears his job on his uniform.

And it isn’t a pretty sight. Pity the poor clubhouse boy who has to do his laundry.

Bordick collects dirt like others gather stamps or coins. And he does it not in an album but on his jersey and his pants. From Anaheim to Tampa Bay, from Boston to Seattle, the Orioles shortstop has amassed soil samples from every corner of the country — all over his Orioles uniform.

He makes his living diving across the earth snaring baseballs. And few are better at it.

Now in his third season in Baltimore, Bordick, 34, has become a better fielder at an age when many start to lose their skills. He has been sensational at short.

Hardly a game has passed this season in which Bordick hasn’t raced to his left, flung his body across the infield dirt, gobbled up the ball and zipped a great throw to first.

Much as with his former teammate, Roberto Alomar, the spectacular has become the routine for Bordick.

But making unbelievable plays, even on a routine basis, is not the sign of a great fielder, according to Bordick.

“Spectacular plays just kind of happen,” he says modestly. “If you see a ball in the hole you just dive, and if you get it, you just get up and throw it. It’s instinctual. All players make spectacular plays. The most important thing is, you have to be consistent, day in and day out.”

Consistency, in fact, is what does make Bordick a great shortstop. There are players like Omar Vizquel of Cleveland and Rey Ordonez of the Mets, to mention just two, who are much flashier in the field than Bordick. They have more range, more quickness and stronger arms. They are the shortstops who dominate the highlight reels, although Bordick certainly makes more than his share of incredible plays.

There is no American League shortstop this year, however, who has been more consistent than Bordick. He leads the league’s shortstops in fielding percentage at .987, a full four points higher than his closest competitor, Detroit’s Deivi Cruz. And among shortstops who play every day in the American League, no one has fewer errors than Bordick’s nine.

Brilliant fielding doesn’t come easily for Bordick. It’s the product of incredibly hard work.

He lacks the natural athleticism of an Ordonez or Vizquel, but more than makes up for it through rigorous practice. No one, not even Cal Ripken with his legendary work ethic, takes more ground balls than Bordick. Just as his uniform eats up infield dirt, his hands siphon up thousands and thousands of grounders hit at him by Orioles coaches. He has made himself a great shortstop.

He also spent the winter working — some would say laboring — with Orioles conditioning coach Tim Bishop to bulk up and to be in as good shape as possible for the full season.

“It was great,” Bordick says of the workouts with Bishop, also attended by Ripken and B.J. Surhoff. “Every offseason you try to build up strength so you can come into spring training strong. This year, for the first time I got involved in a running program using an inclined treadmill. I felt really good about it. It’s helped me here at the end of the season.”

Manager Ray Miller praises Bordick regularly for getting into such tremendous shape during the winter and also for working so arduously, taking ground balls every day of the season.

“I work hard and take pride in my defense,” Bordick says. “I think that’s what got me to the big leagues.”

Getting to the major leagues was no easy chore, either, for Bordick. In fact, he wasn’t ever selected in the annual amateur draft, either after graduating from Hampden Academy in Maine in 1983 or after three strong seasons at the University of Maine.

Instead, he was spotted playing in the summer Cape Cod League by two scouts for the Oakland in 1986 and only then signed to a contract by the Athletics. And it was clearly his defense that helped him ascend up the minor league ladder. In five seasons with Oakland farm clubs before making it to the big league roster, he never batted higher than .270 or hit more than three home runs.

This year there is talk of Bordick winning a Gold Glove for defensive excellence in the American League. It is a long shot at best, despite Bordick’s outstanding fielding percentage, his consistency and his steady display of spectacular plays. His lack of pizzazz in the field give him a relatively low profile. He is the type of fielder best appreciated by those who observe him on a daily basis.

And the Gold Glove talk elicits little interest from Bordick himself. “I don’t really think about it,” he says. “I just try to be consistent every day and make every play I can.”

He believes his fielding is better than ever because he knows the league better, having spent seven seasons with Oakland and now three with Baltimore. “What helps is when you get more experience in the league,” he explains. “You pick up more knowledge about other players and about their tendencies at the bat. You learn how to be in the right spot more consistently, and that helps you get to more balls.”

Obviously, that knowledge is paying off. Through the first week in September, Bordick led all American League shortstops in fielding chances, an indication that he is getting to more balls than anyone else in the league.

Bordick has not simply been a good-field, no-hit player for the Orioles this season. He’s contributed significantly with his bat and is having one of the best offensive years of his life.

His current .274 batting average would be his highest since 1992, when he hit .300 for the only time in his career in either the major or minor leagues. He already has set a career high in RBIs with 61, his four triples tie his all-time best and his 28 doubles are only one shy of career record, set last year.

There are two primary reasons for his improved offensive stats. One is his turnaround against left-handed pitchers this season. In 1998 he batted only .184 against southpaws and came into 1999 with a career .241 average against left-handers. This year Bordick has a .374 average versus lefties.

He also has spent most of the year batting from the number-two spot in the order, a position he likes.

“Hitting No. 2 most of the year I think gives me the opportunity to do more things,” he explains. “With [leadoff hitter] Brady [Anderson] getting on base so much, and B.J. behind me in the order, I’m seeing better pitches. And I like the parts of the game that are sometimes overlooked — bunting, hit and run and moving guys over, and you get more opportunities to do that in the number-two slot.”

Bordick is one of the few effective bunters on the team, and he has used that skill effectively from the second position in the order to move Anderson up a base for the big hitters who follow.

Nonetheless, it’s been a frustrating season for Bordick, because his team has fallen so far beneath expectations, fighting to stay out of last place in the AL East rather than contending for first place or a wild card slot.

“We came into spring training with high expectations and never really got it rolling,” he laments. “It’s tough to put a finger on one thing to explain why. With all the talent in this locker room, we should be doing better. It’s been hard for the guys who endured what we did both this year and last year. And it’s been frustrating the last couple of years because we do have the talent. For one reason or another, we just haven’t been able to get over the hump.”

One reason Bordick signed with the Orioles as a free agent on December 2, 1996, was because he felt the team had a good chance to go to the World Series. The Orioles made the playoffs his first season in Baltimore, but it’s been downhill ever since.

Still, Bordick has no plans to abandon ship. He signed a three-year contract in 1996 that expires after this year, but an option year kicked in, meaning he will remain in Baltimore for at least one more season, a situation that pleases him. In fact, when he was mentioned as a player who might be sent to a contender before the trade deadline ended, he wasn’t happy about the idea.

“You have to be open-minded,” he says. “But it would have been frustrating to be traded. I’m very happy here.”

Bordick is one of the few Orioles who makes his permanent home in the Baltimore area now — Ripken and Surhoff are the others — and he feels as though he is part of the community.

He and his wife, Monica, are expecting their fourth child in October and they are pleased to be raising their family locally.

“My wife loves it here,” he says. “The people in Baltimore have been good to me and to my family, making us feel comfortable here. Baltimore is great.”