Mariner Spring Training -- Lampkin Left Light On For Return To Seattle -- After 13 Seasons, Journeyman Lands In Hometown

PEORIA, Ariz. - Tom Lampkin had never been to the Mariner complex out in the northwest valley, but when he walked in last week he felt as if he were coming home.

One of the first people he saw was Henry Genzale, the longtime Seattle equipment manager for whom he worked as a clubhouse assistant in the late 1970s.

Then Lampkin ran into front-office security man Warren Williams, who coached him for several years in the Eastside Connie Mack baseball program in the early 1980s.

"It was weird," said the catcher, who grew up in Clyde Hill and played prep ball at Blanchet. "I felt like I knew almost everyone. It felt so familiar, so natural to come in here."

Signed to back up Dan Wilson as part of Seattle's major bench buildup, Lampkin has landed at last with his boyhood favorite team. He can tell you the tales of the Seattle years without major-league baseball and how the Kingdome was once one of the best facilities in the country.

And the days when father Mike would bring him or younger brothers Andy, David and Steve to ballgames there. Teresa, their sister, did not often go. "He had box seats and one of us would sit with him, the other three sit in the bleachers," Lampkin said.

One time, with the Red Sox in town, David sat with his father because Red Sox slugger Jim Rice was his favorite player. Rice hit a home run, and Tom ended up with the ball.

When the brothers met after the game, Tom handed the ball to his younger brother and said, "This is the ball Rice hit," which drew a response of, "No way." But David took the ball. "He still has it," Lampkin said with a smile.

And so you can go home again.

Genzale recalls Lampkin as a "great kid."

Williams recalls him as a not-so-great player.

That is no knock, for Williams said, "Tom wasn't the best player we had on the team . . . but he had the most desire."

The former coach said he had a batting cage in the backyard of his Mercer Island home and Lampkin was over "all the time, working, working, working."

Lampkin, who now lives in Vancouver, Wash., with his wife, Lori, and three children, had no trouble remembering the work he put in before he left for the University of Portland, where he was Cleveland's 11th-round pick in 1986.

"My goal was to play in the big leagues," said the catcher. "I was never the best player on any team I've ever played on. It's no surprise Warren said that. So work was the only way for me to make it."

Lampkin has been working since, working his way tortuously up the ladder of farm systems with Cleveland and then San Diego, Milwaukee and San Francisco.

He finally became established with the San Francisco Giants in 1996, then spent two years with St. Louis, then the Mariners called with a two-year offer.

In addition to his work ethic, his career is marked by an endless curiosity. In his mind, the game is all about learning, and he has had unique opportunities to do that.

Lampkin ticks off the names of notable players with whom he teamed and from whom he learned - Garry Templeton and Tony Gwynn in San Diego, Robin Yount and Paul Molitor in Milwaukee, Gary Gaetti and Mark McGwire in St. Louis.

"To this day, I'll walk into the Padres' clubhouse and Tony Gwynn will see me and pull over a chair and say, `Here comes Lamp, always asking questions.' Before long the guys on our Mariner club will be sick and tired of me bothering them."

Ironically, as a kid helping around the Kingdome clubhouse, he did not ask questions, nor did he get close to players. The game, he points out, was different then. Players had a harder edge, more distance to the way they handled themselves around the team.

"I'll never forget joining the Padres and getting to talk with Fred Lynn," he said reverently of the former outfielder, one of the best players of his time (1975-90).

He couldn't believe he was a teammate of a man he had watched from a distance as a kid, even when they had been in the same clubhouse. Now, Lampkin peppered him with questions about pinch-hitting, about staying ready when on the bench.

Later, he would talk baserunning with Vince Coleman. "Not to help my running, but to help me as a catcher, anticipate what the good base-stealers do," Lampkin said.

The decade spent in the clubhouse and on the road with these men have deepened Lampkin's respect for the game.

"I've been around players who feel the game owes them something," the catcher said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. The game is bigger and older than any of us, a treasure for 125 years of our country's history."

The Lynns and Gwynns, Younts and Molitors gave Lampkin confirmation of what he had grown up believing. Baseball should be honored by hard work and hard play, "by simply giving it all you have every day, by being strong role models for all the young people who watch or follow professional athletes," he said.

"All those guys gave me something that they had gotten from older guys they had played with: respect for the game. It is always with me, something I try to give the younger players around me now."

So Tom Lampkin has come home and he feels as good with the Mariners as his mom, Shirley, said he would.

"She lives near Dan and Annie Wilson in Montlake now," Lampkin said. "She told me that Dan was a really nice person and would be a good friend on the team. She was right, and I am very happy to be home to play."

Japanese players to work with M's

When the three Japanese players from the Orix Blue Wave join the club this week, the Mariner press contingent will swell from about a half-dozen to approximately 100 reporters and photographers.

"Every North American outlet for Japanese media will be here," said Tim Hevly, assistant director for public relations.

The main draw is Ichiro Suzuki (no relation to pitcher Mac Suzuki). Ichiro Suzuki is one of the best hitters in the Japanese big leagues, a .350 lifetime hitter and five-time battng champion. He will be accompanied by pitchers Nobuyuki Hoshino and Nobuyuki Ebisu.

The Japanese players will work with the team and play in four exhibition games as part of the working agreement between the Mariners and Orix, which is based in Kobe, home of Nintendo Corp., Seattle's majority owner.

Manager Lou Piniella plans on playing the fast outfielder Suzuki in all four games, while the two pitchers will each work an inning in two games.

Notes

-- Mariner officials are a bit concerned about outfielder Butch Huskey, who is bigger than the 240 pounds the Mets said he played at last year. "It shouldn't be a problem," Piniella said. "You can lose a couple of pounds a week in training camp."

-- The Mariners concluded their workout yesterday with more running for their pitchers. Looking over the panting group when they were done, pitching coach Stan Williams said, "Who said you don't sweat in Arizona?"

"It's good for them and will pay dividends," Piniella said. "We'll do the same with the regulars when they report."

Upon hearing that, Ken Griffey Jr., who came to camp yesterday, frowned and said, "Hmmm."