Bip . . . Bip . . . Bip . . . Heart of the Padre Lineup Skips a Beat

SAN FRANCISCO —  The heart of the Padres was in a San Francisco hospital for most of this rainy Saturday.

At least that’s where the heart of the batting order was.

Naturally, the inclination is to ask what happened to Tony Gwynn or Jack Clark or Chris James, those fellows being Nos. 3 through 5 in the normal starting lineup. That’s normally where the heart is found in batting orders.

However for the Padres, the heart was at the top. The heart was one Leon (Bip) Roberts.

Throughout the Padres’ run from oblivion to at least the fringe of contention in the National League West, Roberts had been a 5-foot-7, 160-pound pillar of strength for a suddenly awakened offense.

Ask virtually anyone involved with the Padres to assess the reason for this late charge, and this is the answer: “Well, it starts with Bip.”

That’s because the batting order starts with Bip Roberts.

“Since he started playing every day,” captain Garry Templeton said, “he’s been our catalyst. Hopefully, it’s not going to be anything too serious.”

Templeton spoke as the Padres sat in their clubhouse, hoping the rain would go away and give them a shot at trimming one more game off the San Francisco Giants’ five-game lead. Roberts would have been a few lockers away, but, of course, he wasn’t.

In Friday night’s game, Roberts went off on a stretcher after suffering chest spasms and a shortness of breath on the bench. He underwent tests Saturday at San Francisco General Hospital and checked out in mid-afternoon. He will check into Scripps Clinic today. Doctors think he probably has a viral infection.

Thus, the Padres are left with the hope that there will be a quick cure for the man who has been their speedy cure.

Roberts, you see, has filled a role that has been vacant since Alan Wiggins’ drug-related departure early in the 1985 season. He provides the Padres with a leadoff man who fits the job description of what a leadoff man is supposed to do, which is to get on base and shake people up. Others have led off, but none have been leadoff men.

At least not since 1986.

And who might that have been?

The Padres had a swift switch-hitting second baseman who batted .253, stole 14 bases in about half a season and played, at worst, credible defense.

That man was Bip Roberts.

So where has he been? Through virtually all of 1987 and 1988, Roberts was playing in Las Vegas.

This is still a mystery to Templeton, though he strongly suspects the culprit was then-Manager Larry Bowa.

“Not too many infielders hit (.253) in the major leagues and then get sent out for two years,” Templeton said. “Bowa just didn’t like the guy. All Bip did was hit the ball, steal bases and make all the plays. He lost two years because he had a manager who didn’t want to look at him.”

Templeton shook his head.

“But Bip kept his head on his shoulders,” he said. “A lot of men would have fallen apart.”

What Roberts did was come back as more than he was when he was sent out. He came back as a super utility guy who could play anywhere you wanted. He would probably catch if you asked (and the Padres did not already have more catchers than they know what to do with).

He also came back with more maturity and patience. It is important, for example, that a leadoff man get on base any way he can. Roberts had 241 at-bats and only 14 walks in 1986, when he was young enough and foolish enough to think he could hit his way on base at every whim.

Consider now what he has done this year. He has 293 at-bats and 44 walks. His on-base percentage is .400 (the .311 batting average helps, of course) and Jack Clark, at .401, is the only player on the team ahead of him. Tony Gwynn is at .395.

Suddenly, he had become the ideal leadoff hitter.

But where to play him?

Why not third base against left-handers and left field against right-handers? After all, he can play anywhere.

And so it was that, on August 19, Bip Roberts became a regular. He was a regular leading off, if not in one position defensively. He has a batting average of .320 and an on-base percentage of .411 since that date.

And we all know what the Padres have done over the course of the last few weeks. A refresher? They were 60-62 the morning Roberts became the leadoff man and 20-6 since.

What Roberts did was go out and make himself what he had to become to play major league baseball. Fortunately for him and the Padres, he got his chance just when it appeared that the 1989 season was about as washed out as Saturday’s game.

Given that chance, Leon (Bip) Roberts may well have turned himself into this team’s most valuable player. And no one needs to be advised that, right now, he may also be the most indispensable.