Columnist Tim Graham: Royster takes on new role with Expos

Tim Graham

Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998 | 11:25 a.m.

Most people missed it.

It was obscure. But there it was, buried in small type on Wednesday's Scoreboard page under the transactions heading.

Mixed in with all those borderline players getting signed and released by borderline teams and anonymous coaches getting hired and fired by anonymous universities was a peculiar entry involving a pair of former Las Vegas Stars managers:

"MONTREAL EXPOS -- Named Bob Cluck scout and Jerry Royster minor league infield coordinator."

It was a little strange to see Cluck, a pitching coach with the Oakland A's just two years ago, working as a scout. But maybe he just wants to take it easy for a while.

Royster's move was the real scalp-scratcher.

Royster, 46, left Las Vegas because he didn't think it was conducive to obtaining his goal of managing in the big leagues. It also wreaked havoc on his family life. He wanted to remain with the San Diego Padres' organization, but after the team won the National League pennant, there wasn't about to be any movement in the Qualcomm Stadium dugout.

So to move up, Royster, who compiled a 199-222 record in three Stars seasons, figured he needed to move on.

With the Expos, he apparently moved down.

One season ago, Royster interviewed to be manager of the Chicago White Sox, and when he left the Stars in September he said "I've got some irons in the fire."

Today he is farther from a big-league bench than he has been in a long time.

"That could very well be," Royster said from his home in West Palm Beach, Fla. "But I don't think this will delay my chances of becoming a manager in the major leagues. We'll just have to see."

Unable to procure a coaching gig in the majors, specifically with the Florida Marlins, he has gone from running the Padres' top affiliate to coordinating the Expos' minor-league infield.

And what is there to coordinate in an infield, anyway? It sounds pretty easy: Make sure you have two guys to the right side of second base, two more to the left and tell them to charge grounders. Maybe part of his job entails explaining the inscrutable infield fly rule.

"There weren't any jobs I thought would further my career," said Royster, who also will coach baserunning. "I'm really looking forward to someday getting an opportunity to manage in the major leagues and, heck, what I'm doing right now is the best choice I have."

Although the new job seems beneath him, Royster insists it provides some benefits.

"It's something I needed to do at this time in my life," he said. "I wanted to be in the major leagues, but when it became apparent that was not going to happen -- not in the right way, anyway -- the priority was family.

"After 27 years (of baseball) I figured I could put them first."

Montreal happens to have a single-A affiliate in West Palm Beach, where it also runs its rookie league team. The Expos' spring training facility is based in nearby Jupiter, Fla. He still will have to rove the other four minor-league sites as well.

An added bonus: Royster's wife, Kathy, is from Montreal.

Royster's new job could negatively impact his career plans, but at least there is a positive trade-off. The transaction wire might as well have read:

"JERRY ROYSTER -- Sacrificed career for family stability."

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