Charlton: the once and future Mariner?

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'It wasn't tough to retire,' Norm Charlton said. But when the Mariners took over the farm team in his San Antonio hometown, he called them. Sure, said the M's, `but if you can't pitch you can't make it.' That's fine with him.

PEORIA, Ariz. - While anyone outside the Seattle clubhouse points out the men that have gone in recent years, there is a different spin inside.

There, filled with athletes whose nature it is to think positive, they point to the many who have come back.

"We've got Uncle Lee and Boz as coaches," Jay Buhner enthused. "We've got Nellie, Boonie and Norm. All of those guys were part of this club when it kicked. All of them know what it takes and all of them are willing to give it."

All of them, but one, are back in the normal vicissitudes of a major-league life. Norm Charlton is following a path he has come before. His third time in Mariner blues, it is not the first time he has come to resuscitate his career.

Unlike 1995, when he came back so strong in the year of Mariner Magic, he was working effectively for the first time since tearing up his elbow in the 1993 injury that ended his first Seattle stint, and for a lesser spirit, might have truly ended his career.

This time, Charlton was incensed.

He was angered at being dumped by Tampa Bay in spring training last year, after being promised he had the club made and only had to get himself in shape for the season.

"It took me two weeks to catch on, the Reds signed me and sent me to Triple-A," Charlton said. "I tried to throw at home, but it's not the same as what you get out of spring training, the game work, game conditions."

He got minor leaguers out, but he knew he wasn't ready, and when he got called up, and pounded in two games for Cincy, everyone else knew it, too. Instead of going back down, he retired.

"It wasn't tough to retire," the left-hander said. "I was pretty well fed up. I was still extremely mad at what happened in Tampa Bay. I went home to San Antonio and was pretty happy."

Then, according to him, there was, "what the Dodgers did. ... "

Yeah?

"They pulled their Class AA club out of San Antonio, and the Mariners put theirs in."

He called Seattle and asked if there was any chance to fit on their major-league club. He was told there was an opening for a lefty in relief to go with Arthur Rhodes.

"They said, `but if you can't pitch you can't make it.' That was all right, because they also said that if he couldn't make it, he could go home and pitch in San Antonio."

But, off the Mariners' first impressions here, Charlton could stick.

"He's not here as any favor," said Lou Piniella, who has had Charlton four times, starting with the Reds in 1990. "He can make our club. We want him, if he can help us. He's helped win a lot of games for me over the years and I'd like nothing better to have him back."

Charlton is in his best shape in years and has had good bullpen sessions. Complimented after one, with his usual wit, he responded: "At least I didn't have a heart attack. Good thing, 'cause no one around here would give me mouth-to-mouth."

Pitching coach Bryan Price pronounced himself "excited at the way he is throwing the ball. He looks good, looks fit.

"Norm has a great history here, a part of some good clubs and seasons in Seattle. It would be great to have him back as a connection to those teams.

In these early days, until he gets familiar with Charlton and his mechanics, Price is letting Chris Bosio, Tacoma pitching coach, guide the pitcher.

"Boz knows him best and has been talking to him, getting him to back off, not be quite so aggressive as he drives into a pitch. He's got the windup and mechanics of a classic Cincinnati organization power. We just want to quiet him some and get him more consistent."

Ever the Texan, Charlton's life is changed, too, since his last time with the Mariners, when he tried to perform through a 1997 season after his first wife, Nancy, left him.

As always, he does not alibi. "The divorce did not affect my game. In fact, I felt the game, going to the park every day, gave me a safe haven from the pain. I remember when Junior would come to the park to get away from all the demands on his time he had to deal with. If it doesn't make it go away totally at least it puts it on a shelf.

"... Maybe, though, there was an effect in the sense I wasn't getting all my sleep. But then, I never did."

The pitcher admits the split was a shock to him. "But things happen in life. It isn't a perfect world," he said. "Looking back, I thank God it happened. I'm happier now than I ever thought I would be."

Charlton has remarried and wife Brenda is a native of Centralia, which would be another nice fit for a Seattle return.

But Brenda left it up to him. He said that she told him if he wanted a career in trout tournaments, fine. Take up soccer, fine. "Just don't expect me to watch."

Thus, he is back in Mariner blues and finds it "pretty neat."

"I've been around most of these guys my whole career. Even Carlos Baerga and I were together on a team that toured Japan in 1992," Charlton said. "I've even played for Pat Gillick before, in Baltimore in 1998. I have a lot of respect for him, too."

Gillick and Charlton are alike in intelligence. Both have much of it.

That of Charlton, a triple major at Rice - political science, physical education and religion - takes a devilish twist. His very first day in camp, watching Buhner and Edgar Martinez running together, he noted: "First time I ever saw fossils move."

Good head, good arm and this time good shape.

"A touch more muscle," he said. "But there's nothing wrong with round. It's a great shape. Look what the wheel has done for man."

He likes the bullpen he aspires to join. "It's a lot different than others we had in Seattle. I remember one sign: `Help Wanted, for bullpen, no experience necessary.' Not this year. You have to have a résumé and a strong one."

He thinks the team will win, and Buhner thinks having his fellow Texan, co-conspirator and "partner in crime" will enhance its chances.

"He'll help build camaraderie, which in turn builds a team and confidence," Buhner said.

"The most important thing, of course, is that Norm can help this team win. It's not just a gesture to have him in camp. He's definitely got a chance to stick.

"There's his ability, the need for the second lefty in relief, and then there's Lou, who holds such a high regard for loyalty and likes veteran guys."

Charlton is sure to have an effect on the spring of John Olerud - quiet, contemplative John Olerud - who has the locker next to him.

"Hey, it shouldn't be that bad for John," Buhner said. "He was next to me last spring and he survived that."