Home run title provided spark for high-Glaus year

Friday, Feb. 7, 2003 | 10:32 a.m.

AT A GLANCE

What: Big League Challenge

When: Saturday, 11 a.m.

Where: Cashman Field

Tickets: $8 and $20

Who: Troy Glaus, Anaheim Angels; Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers; Rafael Palmeiro, Texas Rangers; Jim Thome, Philadelphia Phillies; Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies; Magglio Ordonez, Chicago White Sox; Lance Berkman, Houston Astros; and Brian Giles, Pittsburgh Pirates.

Troy Glaus stood back in awe of the company he kept at Cashman Field last year during the Big League Challenge, the modern version of the made-for-TV home-run derby.

Then the third baseman for the Anaheim Angels was notified of his first-round foe -- San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds.

"I'm like, 'Come on!' " Glaus said. "He had just hit 73 homers, and I thought I had no chance. You know, the wind was blowing in. I'd have no chance. But baseball's a funny game."

Glaus beat Bonds, won a semifinal round and then defeated Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the title.

"It happens like that sometimes," Glaus said. "I got on a good run in that first round, fortunately got past (Bonds), then I got on a couple more runs and it worked out. There's absolutely no reason to be here if you don't want to win.

"We're all competitors. We all want to win. There's no reason to be here if you don't care about it, if you don't really worry about winning or losing. It's no fun to lose. I don't care who you are or what venue it is in. Nobody wants to lose."

That home run crown started a dreamy year for Glaus, who will defend his Big League Challenge title Saturday afternoon at Cashman Field. On Thursday night at the ESPN Zone in New York-New York , he reflected about an incredible 2002 season.

He hit .250, with 30 home runs and 111 RBIs, helping the franchise that started out in Los Angeles in 1961 to win its first World Series championship. Against the Giants in the Fall Classic, Glaus hit .467 (10-for-26), with three homers and eight RBIs, earning World Series MVP honors.

"It was magical, kind of surreal," Glaus said. "We didn't even realize what was going on, what was transpiring as it was going on, until it was done. Like, 'Oh, yeah, that was pretty cool.' "

Friends and relatives who visit him and his girlfriend on their 11-acre spread in Corona, Calif., near Riverside, inevitably beg Glaus to pop the Angels' World Series highlight video tape into his VCR and turn on the tube.

He has watched it about eight times, roughly twice a month since reliever Troy Percival closed out the Giants in Game 7 at Edison Field in Anaheim.

Within a week of reaching that pinnacle, Glaus, 26, had an inflamed nerve removed from his right foot, immediately behind the second- and third-smallest toes. A doctor told him it was the size of a quarter.

It had been bothering him for four years, becoming more irritated each time it got stepped on, or a bat or ball dropped on it. The shoe company that he represents fit him with pairs of plastic spikes, which fit more comfortably than metal versions.

He preferred the latter, and the pain was only increasing. Plus, teammate Tim Salmon had the common procedure twice on each foot. Glaus hobbled on crutches for three weeks after the surgery, and he began running at the start of the new year.

Thursday, he proclaimed the foot to be "95 percent" healthy. He also said his comfort level with the media is getting better by the year, too.

His notoriety for not saying much, even when he did choose to talk, stemmed from his extreme dislike for talking about himself. Glaus is beginning to relax and have much more fun in interview sessions.

"I'm learning to enjoy it a little bit more," he said.

After clinching Game 7, though, Glaus disappeared. He chose to savor the aftermath his own way, in the recesses of the team's Edison Field clubhouse surrounded by teammates.

"I wanted to remember it for myself," Glaus said. "It was the greatest thing I, and this team, had ever accomplished ... and I wanted to sit back and reflect and talk to these guys, get a feel and talk to other teammates about what they were feeling. We just had a pow-wow about it.

"It was kind of a nice little reprieve, to be back there and just talk shop a little bit."

Repeating last year's fabulous run begins Saturday at Cashman Field. At one point, Glaus turned in his booth, peeked between some blinds and glared at the cold and brisk conditions that were brewing outside

"(Cashman) is fine, when the wind's not blowin' in and it's not 45 degrees," he said. "But it looks like that's what we're going to get. If it's calm, we'll be fine. If it gets blowin' one way or another, there's definitely going to be an advantage on one side or the other."