Razor Shines Article

[greasywheels121]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...PORTS/605160456

 

A Tribe favorite returns tonight

Shines will wear opponent's uniform, but he'll be welcomed back by Indians and their fans

By Michael Pointer

 

Razor Shines' picture hangs outside Victory Field near those of major league All-Stars Larry Walker and Randy Johnson.

 

He didn't come close to their heights and is largely anonymous to even hard-core seam heads. But when it came to love from Indianapolis baseball fans, he beat them by a mile.

 

"He had a charismatic personality and catchy name," said Indians president Max Schumacher, who has spent 50 years with the team.

 

Tonight, he'll have a party in his honor.

 

Shines is returning to Indianapolis wearing an opposing uniform but the same engaging smile. Now the manager of the Charlotte Knights, he will sign autographs beginning at 6 p.m. and be recognized during a pregame ceremony.

 

Surrounded by fans. Isn't that how most remember him?

 

"It was a great place for me not only as a player, but as a person,'' said Shines, who played for the Indians from 1984 to '89 and '91 to '93. "I got to know so many people on a first-name basis."

 

He lived in Indianapolis during the offseason. Few called him by his last name. If there was a promotional event involving the team, Razor was sure to be there.

 

Indianapolis was a different sports town then, too. The Colts and Pacers struggled during most of that period. The Indians, on the other hand, won four consecutive American Association titles from 1986-89.

 

"He was a recognized leader (among his teammates)," said Mike Hocutt, a teammate on the Indians' 1986 championship team. "He took the role seriously.

 

"There's no question he talked a lot. But for the most part, it was focused on winning baseball games. It wasn't just idle talk."

 

Shines played in just 47 games for the Montreal Expos, then the Indians' parent team. He said he never was upset about not getting more of a chance, noting some of the players he was stuck behind.

 

He was primarily a catcher -- and the Expos had future Hall of Famer Gary Carter at that position during the first part of his career. Shines later moved to first base, where he was bumped aside by a young Andres Galaragga.

 

"Had it been another time, another organization, maybe I would have felt different,'' he said. "But I have no bitterness at all."

 

Following his retirement, he worked at a local baseball instructional school and as an assistant coach at Bishop Chatard High School. He spent three seasons working in the Cincinnati Reds organization before the White Sox hired him to be a hitting coach at Triple-A Tucson in 2000.

 

He took over as manager in low Class-A Kannapolis (N.C.) the following season, and has made a gradual move up the White Sox organizational ladder. In 2003, he guided Winston-Salem to the Class-A Carolina League championship. And last season at Double-A Birmingham, he was named Southern League Manager of the Year. This is his first season managing in Triple-A.

 

"I think what he's been able to carry forward into managing is that he makes people around him better," said Schumacher, who remains a close friend. "That was the case when he was a player. He kept everyone pulling on the oars in the same direction and kept demanding the best out of everybody."

 

Shines said he would love to manage in the majors, but his focus now is on player development. He took great pleasure watching Bobby Jenks, who played for him early last season at Birmingham, earn a save in the White Sox's World Series-clinching victory over Houston.

 

But his boss thinks it's only a matter of time before he gets that chance in the majors.

 

"It would be a travesty if he doesn't," said Dave Wilder, the White Sox director of player development.

 

"Every type of team he manages, he gets the best out it. Even if they don't win a championship, at the end of the season, they're winners. You can tell by the way they carry themselves and how many are ready (to move up the White Sox system)."

 

Shines no longer lives in Indianapolis. He moved to Austin, Texas, in 1999 after his wife, an accountant, accepted a job there.

 

But he still considers it home . . . and it will make tonight a special moment.

 

"The best years I spent in baseball were in Indianapolis," he said. "No question."

[RockRaines]

And the knights are off to a good start under him.