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Lured back to Rays last season, Jackie Brown is earning kudos for his easygoing approach.
By KEVIN KELLY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 2, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- He'd leave his home in Holdenville, Okla., where almost all of his brothers and sisters live within earshot of one another on a 640-acre piece of land, and drive a couple of hours south to see the Rays play the Rangers.
Jackie Brown traveled to the Ballpark in Arlington season after season, not as a fan, not as a former organizational guy digging for a job. He went, simply, to visit old friends in the visitor's clubhouse.
"Every time I would come home my wife would say, "Well, did you make a mistake?"' said Brown, who served as the Rays' minor-league pitching coordinator from 1996 until leaving after the 1997 season. "And I would say, "Not yet."'
That answer differed last July when Brown saw something unique and intriguing in the slew of young pitchers the Rays had on their major-league roster.
"I came home and my wife asked if I had changed my mind," Brown, 59, said. "For the first time I said, "Well, that would be fun."'
Soon after Bill Fischer was fired as Rays pitching coach in October, manager Hal McRae phoned his old friend from the Pirates organization and offered Brown the job.
Having been out of baseball since 1998 -- he left shortly after Larry Rothschild finalized his coaching staff for the club's inaugural season -- Brown accepted. Under his direction, and particularly of late, Tampa Bay's pitchers have done a respectable job.
"I thought he was a good teacher," said McRae, who as manager of the Royals tried to hire Brown in 1992. "He has a good nature and is easy to work with.
"He's convinced the pitchers to try things and they've bought into that. He's gradually straightening the bullpen out. Overall, he's doing a good job."
Though Rays pitchers statistically rank in the bottom third in the American League entering tonight's game against Texas, the starters have seven complete games in the past 37 after going a major-league record 194 games without one. And since a major roster shakeup and 20-11 loss to the Blue Jays a week ago, the pitchers are 4-1 with a 2.44 ERA and have held opponents to a .190 batting average.
The bullpen, arguably the club's biggest disappointment in the first half, also appears to be settling down. Rays relievers are 2-0 and haven't allowed a run in their past 15 innings.
"He has so much fun with this job," said starter Ryan Rupe, who credits Brown for helping him make the team out of spring training by teaching him a two-seamed fastball. "To me, it doesn't seem like a job to him.
"He still gets stressed. But as a young staff, to have a laid-back pitching coach is something we need. If we had a real high-strung pitching coach, it would show."
That laid-back approach reflects Brown's roots and experiences.
The son of a peanut farmer, he compiled a 47-53 lifetime record with the Senators, Rangers, Indians and Expos during 17 seasons.
"He's been there, done that," Rays pitcher Paul Wilson said. "He's done everything that we've done. He's made all the mistakes we've already made. So he's somebody who knows what they're talking about."
Brown retired after the 1978 season and worked as the Rangers pitching coach from 1979 to 1982, guiding staffs that included Fergie Jenkins, Steve Comer, Doc Medich, Danny Darwin, Rick Honeycutt, Charlie Hough, Jim Kern and Sparky Lyle.
"I'm probably the luckiest person in the world for taking that job," Brown said. "While I was sitting and watching for their bad habits, I learned what made them successful."
Brown's pitching philosophy is simple: Throwing 95 mph and missing the strike zone won't cut it. But throwing 91 mph and making quality pitches will.
"Everything I do is for location," said Brown, who served as White Sox pitching coach from 1992-95. "Every time I ask a pitcher to do something, it's for location. It's not for more velocity."
With two Rule 5 rookies on the Rays pitching staff and a several others with fewer than three years experience under his control, Brown has learned not to micromanage.
He sticks with his time-tested approach.
"Pitching coaches all use a different language. I'm country. That's me," Brown said. "I'm not from New York. I'm not from Boston. But the language, just the wording of how you present it to the player, will determine how he understands it.
"I've never met anyone that was good enough to help all 12 pitchers. That doesn't mean you stop trying. If I stop, then I'm cheating the players, I'm cheating myself, I'm cheating the organization. I don't have all the answers, but I try to learn what each individual can do and try to make him the best at that, make him the most consistent that he can possibly be."