Sports at Lunch, Dave Stewart

Who were the toughest outs Dave Stewart faced as a major league pitcher in a career that included four 20-win seasons?

“Joe Morgan, Ken Griffey Sr. and Kirby Puckett,” Stewart said in answer to one of the questions asked of him when he spoke at the San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum for the May 12 edition of the Sports at Lunch Speaker Series.

The date coincided with the Cincinnati Reds’ first visit to Petco Park to face the Padres, and Stewart was reminded that in addition to Griffey Sr. hitting him hard, Ken Griffey Jr.’s first major league hit was off Stewart.

“It was a double,” said Stewart, now a San Diego-based agent. Then he added Griffey Jr.’s second hit was a triple and he threw at him on his third at bat.

“It was a long-last family thing because his Dad used to hit the hell out of me,” Stewart said. “I think he gave him the same bat.”

Stewart’s talk centered on timing in life and baseball. He was the Padres’ pitching coach when the team won the 1998 National League pennant to advance to the World Series. Kevin Brown, the ace of the staff, soon left for free agent dollars with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“The smart thing in life is timing,” Stewart said. “You have to know when to get out of a good situation before it turns bad. I looked like a genius after 1998 because that staff never pitched that well again.”

Stewart said timing was also the reason he left his position after the 2003 season as an assistant general manager with the Toronto Blue Jays to embark on a new career on the other side of paychecks. His goal since the end of his playing days was to eventually land a general manager’s job, but when the Blue Jays bypassed him for the vacant position he decided it was time to move on.

“There was an ESPN interview that said the reason I became an agent is to get back at baseball management for not making me a general manager,” Stewart said. “I don’t have enough time to look back to the past. I want to stay positive and get to the next level.”

Among Stewart’s successes as an agent is signing Oakland A’s third baseman Eric Chavez, a Mt. Carmel High alumnus, to a $66 million deal.

Stewart said he picks players to represent who play the way he did _ with passion and attention to learning mechanics. He said too many players in today’s sports world want to be pampered.

“I’m challenged right now,” Stewart said. “You have to challenge yourself.”

Stewart also told a funny story from his playing days with the Dodgers. He said manager Tommy Lasorda went into rage after the team lost a game that included the defensive liabilities of Steve Sax’s erratic arm at second base and Pedro Guerrero’s erratic glove at third base.

During the tirade, Lasorda asked Sax what he was thinking about when he threw the ball. Then he asked Guerrero what he was thinking about. But Guerrero’s answer broke up the clubhouse in laughter, including Lasorda. What did Guerrero say? You should have been at the Sports at Lunch to hear Stewart’s punchline.