Little Dissent on Catcher’s Ascent : Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees Believe Long-Suffering Phil Lombardi Will Catch On in the Bronx--Someday

In baseball parlance, Phil Lombardi is knocking on the door. And, with arms like Popeye, his knock is getting louder.

After five years in the minor leagues, the former All-City catcher from Kennedy High in Granada Hills is turning some heads in the spring training camp of the New York Yankees.

They’re the right heads, too.

“I’ve never seen a young catcher come into our camp any more impressively than he has this year,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said last week while watching the Yankees lose an exhibition game against the Toronto Blue Jays. “He’s one of the stick-outs of the spring, so far.”

Coming from one who is more prone to knocking his players than to praising them, the words are flattering. But Lombardi is well aware that Steinbrenner’s words and a plane ticket will get him a trip to Columbus, Ohio, and Triple-A.

“The door’s not going to be completely open for me,” Lombardi said. “I’m not going to step right in. There’s no way.”

Lombardi, 23, is preparing for another season in the minors. Butch Wynegar, 30, and Ron Hassey, 33, are the Yankees’ catchers.

But Lombardi believes he’s getting closer.

He is not the only one.

“He’s really pulled his game together,” said Jeff Torborg, a former major league catcher and the Yankees’ pitching coach. “We always knew he was big and strong and that he had raw talent, but he has become a polished player.

“He’s really coming.”

Since being drafted in the third round of the 1981 draft, Lombardi has moved up steadily, if not rapidly, through the Yankees’ farm system.

Last July, Bobby Hofman, the Yankees’ director of minor league player personnel, said: “He could be in the big leagues next year.”

But then Lombardi tore ligaments in his left knee, an injury that required surgery and reduced his season at Albany (N.Y.) of the Double-A Eastern League to only 76 games.

In the off-season, the Yankees re-signed Wynegar, who had become a free agent, and reacquired Hassey, whom they had traded to the Chicago White Sox.

Lombardi is healthy now and not at all irritated that the Yankees retained Wynegar and Hassey. He said that, in his opinion, both are “past their prime” and neither will be able to withstand the rigors of catching on a regular basis very much longer.

In Lombardi’s master plan, he’ll put up some “big numbers” at Columbus this season, then make the jump to the majors next season. If Wynegar or Hassey are injured, he may get the call from New York a little sooner.

“I’m looking to be the guy who can go in there and catch every day,” Lombardi said. “Sure, I’d like to start off in the big leagues next year, but this year I’d like to get some big league experience because I need that before I can jump in and play every day.”

Once the burly Lombardi makes it to the majors, Torborg said, he should stay for a while.

“He’s really just maturing as a person and an athlete,” Torborg said of the 6-2, 200-pound Lombardi. “Just take a look at his body. You can see how big and strong he is.

“He reminds me a lot of Steve Garvey. He’s built like Steve in the arms. He’s bigger, but he’s got those big forearms like Steve.”

When he worked with Lombardi a few years ago, Torborg said, “he was just a kid. A big, strong kid. Now, he’s a man.”

Lombardi, though, said he’s still feeling his way.

He said he was “scared” the first time he went through a major league spring training a few years ago. “Even now,” he said, “I’m a little timid. I just can’t let loose. I’m not really letting go, as far as my confidence goes.”

Apparently, the Yankees haven’t noticed.

“I like his toughness,” Torborg said. “And for a big, strong guy, he’s also very quick.” Manager Lou Piniella, Torborg said, “really likes him as a hitter. I’ve been working with him on the defensive side, and I’ve been very impressed.”

So, he’s the Yankees’ catcher of the future?

“I’d say, definitely,” Steinbrenner said. “When the future will be here, I can’t say, but he definitely is, in my opinion.

“If his knees stay sound, and we have every reason to believe they will, he’s a sure-fire major league star. He’s a can’t-miss, with that type of dedication. He’s a stone-faced, dedicated-type kid when he’s out there.”

And he’s strong, too.

“He’s a bull,” Steinbrenner said. “He’s aggressive and physical, and that’s what you want in a catcher.

“That’s what I want in a catcher.”

And Steinbrenner is the boss, of course.

“I know I’m going to get an opportunity one of these days,” Lombardi said.

Until then, he’ll keep knocking.