`M'emoirs -- 20 Years Of Mariners -- Zisk Remains Involved As Hitting Teacher

After Richie Zisk was asked what he remembered about his playing days with the Seattle Mariners, the former outfielder-first baseman struggled with his answer.

"We had . . . how can I state this . . . I'm trying real hard to pick and choose my words," Zisk said.

And then he delivered:

"Rene Lachemann called us the dinosaurs. We had Bruce Bochte, and myself and Tom Paciorek and Jeff Burroughs - all pretty big guys who didn't run real well but could swing the bat.

"I know this: We didn't win with the consistency that Seattle is winning with today, but we were a fun club to watch."

And Lachemann was fun to be around.

"No question about it," Zisk said. "It was a tight ship in terms of doing the things that had to be done. But there was a lot of give and play and take with him. He was real fair."

Zisk, who played major-league baseball for 13 seasons, retired after three seasons in Seattle. He had become a Mariner as the central figure in an 11-player trade with the Texas Rangers, the largest swap in M's history.

On Dec. 12, 1980, the M's traded shortstop Mario Mendoza, catcher Larry Cox, outfielders Leon Roberts and Willie Horton and pitcher Rick Honeycutt to Texas for Zisk, infielder Rick Auerbach and pitchers Ken Clay, Jerry Don Gleaton, Brian Allard and Steve Finch.

Zisk recalled that the trade did not surprise him.

"At that point I'd played in the big leagues 10 years and nothing surprised me," he said.

Zisk is a minor-league hitting instructor for the Chicago Cubs and is working at Daytona Beach in the Class A Florida State League. It is a job he said he enjoys, in part because of his background as a student of hitting.

"Hitting was something I loved to do," Zisk said. "Some people said I was a natural. I was a natural because I worked at it. I tried to pick up a little bit from every teammate and every hitting instructor.

"And now I enjoy the teaching aspect."

Until last week, Zisk still shared the M's record hitting streak of 21 games with Dan Meyer. Joey Cora bettered it.

Zisk said he didn't remember the streak.

"When I was with Pittsburgh, I put a couple of 20-gamers together," Zisk said. "One of the marks of my career was consistency."

----------- Richie Zisk -----------

Age: 48.

Home: Lighthouse Point, Fla.

Family: Richie and his wife, Barbara, a high-school teacher, have three children - sons Kevin, 22, and Danny, 18, and a daughter, Laura, 17.

Occupation: Minor-league hitting instructor for the Chicago Cubs, presently assigned to Daytona Beach in the Class A Florida State League.

Major-league career: 13 seasons (.287 batting average with 107 home runs).

Seasons with M's: 3 (1981-1983). Best years: 1981 (.311, 16 HR, 43 RBI) and 1982 (.292, 31 HR, 62 RBI).