9301190967
DETROIT FREE PRESS
930526
Wednesday, May 26, 1993
METRO FINAL CHASER
1D
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1993, Detroit Free Press
ALL IS WELLS THAT STARTS WELL FOR TIGERS
I am going into the air guitar business. I am getting in on the ground
floor. Air guitars for sale. Air drums. Air bass. I figure by September, when
David Wells is 38-1, I'll be rich and I can retire.
What? That sounds farfetched? Excuse me. No. Finding a pitcher two days
before the season starts, a pitcher who used to wear Coneheads and an earring
and likes loud rock 'n' roll and plays a mean air guitar, finding that
pitcher on the discard pile, signing him up, giving him a starter's job -- the
last one in your rotation -- then watching him win six of his first seven
decisions, with an ERA smaller than an eggshell -- now, that's farfetched.
And it has happened.
He is 6-1.
All is Wells.
I have a nice six-string here for you.
"I'm in a groove right now," said the eccentric pitcher, the new Prince
of Wells, after beating the Red Sox, 4-1, Tuesday night, allowing just four
hits. "I never expected this to happen so soon."
"When was the last thing, besides baseball, you started this well?" he
was asked.
He thought about it. He rubbed his roundish face and scratched his belly.
Ice dripped from a bag on his left shoulder. He wore navy-blue boxer shorts
and a sleeveless T- shirt. I know he is a professional athlete, but, to be
honest, he looked a bit like a young Ralph Kramden.
"I know!" he said finally. "I caught the best tube of my life this
off-season!"
Surfing.
He also surfs.
Maybe I'll sell surfboards, too.
If everybody had an ocean . . .
"Hey, catching a perfect tube is a lot like pitching in a groove," Wells,
30, continued. "You want to stay back on the wave, just like you want to stay
back on the game.
"Of course, you can't pitch while you're surfing. And you can't surf while
you're pitching."
Of course.
Huh?
Is this guy for real? He is part Cy Young, part Nuke LaLoosh. He has spiky
hair and a body that might be best suited for washing the car in the driveway
-- were he not busy using it to post the second-best ERA in all of baseball.
Wells is California cool, with a biker's mentality. He has his own style. His
own rhythm.
"What do you do to celebrate after a win?"
"I go home, try to calm down, listen to some Rush and Metallica, and jam
out."
Rush? Metallica? Calm down?
"Oh, yeah. I fall asleep to that stuff."
For those of you unfamiliar with Rush and Metallica, let us simply say
that, as music goes, they make Tipper Gore's hair stand up straight.
But who cares? She's probably not a Tigers fan. And Wells has been simply
astonishing for the Tigers -- especially because they acquired him for
nothing, really, picking him up off waivers from Toronto. Sparky Anderson
doesn't usually take chances on guys with flaky reputations, and Wells had one
of those. In their first meeting, in Oakland, Sparky told Wells he was giving
him a chance to realize his dream: He was making him a starter.
"One more thing," Sparky said.
"What's that?" asked Wells.
"Leave your earring in California."
"But Sparky. We're in California."
Earrings. I'm selling earrings, too.
And he's having fun, fun, fun
Hey, listen. This guy could be huge. He could be Wild Thing all over
again. He likes motorcycles and practical jokes. His best friend is the lead
singer in the group Chicago. He has his own language -- above his locker is
the phrase "Word Up" before his name, so it reads "Word Up Wells" -- and he
goes around saying things to teammates like, "How's your whole?"
"How's my hole?" they say.
"Yeah. How's your whole . . . family?"
Word Up Wells.
I'm marketing that, too. I want his face on billboards. I want a cable
show, "Surfing With The Wells Man." You can talk all you want about the
surprising Kirk Gibson and Chad Kreuter and Alan Trammell's comeback and the
never-ending offense and the balls that keep leaving the park. But when you
sit down in that back room and tally up the numbers, it is Wells who
personally can be traced to six wins for the Tigers, and three other nights
that resulted in wins without his name alongside them.
That's nine wins of the 28 the Tigers own. Unless my math is wrong, that
is about one third.
I have a pink air guitar for you. Cheap.
"Hey, I'm having fun," Wells admitted. "Last year in Toronto, we won the
World Series, but I really didn't have fun. Now I am."
How much fun? Tuesday night he beat the Red Sox for the first time since
1989. He is averaging one walk per outing. His ERA is 1.83. That sounds like
fun to me. Does that sound like fun to you?
How about an air surfboard?
"Right now I feel like I just had 10 cups of coffee," Wells said, playing
with the ice bag. "It's a rush. I'm gonna go home and relax."
Right. Put on a nice, soft tape of "Stairway to Heaven," jump on the bed,
and kick out the jams.
He's 6-1. The Tigers are in first.
All is Wells.
Cowabunga, dude.
COLUMN