Thursday, May 9, 1996
Glaus makes presence felt on field and at bat By Yoni Tamler
Daily Bruin Staff
Arriving to the game several minutes late, you have just missed
the recorded version of the national anthem played before every
game at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The home team, the UCLA Bruins,
are taking infield. Your field of vision spans the diamond and one
figure in particular catches your eye.
Standing there, at shortstop, is 6-foot-5-inch (yes, 6-foot-5)
Troy Glaus, pronounced "gloss," to rhyme with "floss." Not
"glouse," but "gloss." You are struck not only by his stature but
by the contrast between he and third baseman Chad Matoian, who is
5-8. On most days, Glaus seems even loftier next to the Bruins’
everyday shortstop, Jack Santora, who is closer to 5-7. Matoian and
Santora are smallish, but Glaus is gargantuan. He doesn’t even
belong on an infield unless you’re talking about first base. Yet,
in this season alone he also played third base (his natural
position), first base, left field and designated hitter.
"I’m most comfortable at third base but our shortstop had an eye
infection and so they put me over there," explains Glaus, who
models his pants pulled up to just below his knees, exposing a pair
of menacing, navy stirrups. If anything, a guy this big should be
on the pitcher’s mound.
He played there too. Not long ago, when UCLA was hosting
Division III school Westmont, Glaus took his first (and presumably
last) stab at pitching. Despite winging 90-mile-per-hour fastballs,
over the course of one inning he allowed three hits for two earned
runs. He also fanned two.
It is the bottom of the first inning. With the leadoff man on
base, Glaus digs in and awaits the first pitch  a strike,
which comes whizzing in down the pipe. He strokes the ball back
from where it came, straight up the middle, and with elephantine
strides he lopes down the first base line as the ball is returned
to the infield.
Third inning. The visitors have tied the ballgame at three a
piece. Glaus is batting leadoff, and the first pitch he takes is a
strike. He nods in agreement with the call: it was a strike. Glaus
slaps himself on the helmet to punish himself.
The count evolves to 2-2, and the opposing pitcher hangs a
curve. Glaus is momentarily fooled by the ball’s movement, but
realizing the pitch at the last moment, he lunges in, taking an
awkward-looking, almost one-armed cut.
The ball shoots into the sky over left field, and everyone in
the crowd dismisses it as a pop-up. But the left fielder runs back
to the warning track, his neck craned towards the heavens. He is
running in vain. Home run. Glaus’ 14th of the year, two more than
anyone in the Six-Pac, and his ninth in the past 14 games. Even
more remarkable is that Glaus has homered in four consecutive
games, tying a school record.
"Couldn’t tell ya. I don’t know," Glaus would answer to the
source of his hitting streak, which has spanned a team-high seven
straight games and a base hit in 12 of the last 13 games. "Things
started falling where they weren’t falling earlier, I started
hitting the ball harder, seeing the ball better, and being able to
hit them where they’re not.
"That’s the game," he says bluntly, as a professional would. By
now, Glaus is almost expert in the idiosyncrasies and affectations
of a major leaguer, having been interviewed by all of the country’s
foremost baseball publications numerous times dating back to high
school.
Back then Glaus had already caught the baseball world’s eye with
his accomplishments, among them playing for the Junior Olympic
team, and he ended up being the 37th player taken in the 1994 Major
League Draft at age 17. Now Glaus is preparing to join teammate Jim
Parque at the Team USA tryouts in July.
One inning after going deep and helping the Bruins to a
three-run lead, Glaus is back on defense. The second batter of the
inning hits a soft, two-hopper straight to Glaus. It is not a
difficult play by any means, but between the 64 errors committed by
the UCLA infield this season, you can’t help but hold your breath.
Behind you, one or two bleachers back, you hear the commentary of a
self-proclaimed baseball maven.
"Watch this arm," the 50-ish voice says. Glaus calmly gloves the
ball and releases a skillful but unorthodox sidearm to first
baseman Cass Olson, who moves his mitt not a centimeter from his
target. The ball whistles across the grass in the high 70s, ahead
of the baserunner by several paces.
In the top of the fourth Glaus reminds spectators that no one is
perfect. On a 1-2 count, Glaus takes a colossal hack, raw and
undisciplined, at the pitch in front of him. He tips it into the
catcher’s glove, striking out. You conjecture how far the ball
might have travelled had he made solid contact. 420 feet? 450?
A few innings later, number 25 does it again with his glove. The
visiting team is rallying and, with two outs, it has a runner on
first and second. The batsman hits a screaming grounder that eludes
Matoian’s grasp, but Glaus is there to back him up with a diving
stop. Seeing this, the lead baserunner halts at third. An RBI
robbed, a run saved.
The bottom of the sixth rolls around, and Glaus has an 0-2 count
with a man on and no outs. He promptly raps a fastball up the
middle, out of reach for the hustling second baseman. Glaus goes on
to score in the inning as UCLA puts another three runs up on the
board.
By the second half of the eighth inning the game has reached the
point where you wish the umpire would just call it so everyone
could go home and sleep. The Bruins have a comfortable lead, but at
four runs, it is far from insurmountable.
Glaus steps into the batter’s box for the third time tonight,
and the first pitch to him misses low for a ball. You sense the
pitcher is wise. Then he makes you change your mind, having the
audacity to throw the next pitch in Glaus’ generous strike zone,
where the sophomore hits as solid a line drive you have seen in the
game. Possibly as solid a line drive as physics will permit, you
are not sure.
The balls that come off Glaus’ bat are always hard. His line
drives have a pace on them that few players in college baseball can
equal. The ball rockets to the warning track directly beneath the
365-ft. sign in right-center field for a double. Glaus hustles to
the bag as the runner comes home. This is his sixth double in a
29-for-58 hitting spree that has raised his average to a
team-leading .361 to go along with 44 RBIs. Glaus’ line for the
game reads impressively: four-for-five with two runs knocked in and
four runs scored.
Someone buy this kid an ice cream cone.
PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin
Troy Glaus has played four positions this season alone.