A Short Fuse

The Phillips Factor
To measure the impact Tony Phillips has on a team, a good place to start is with these statistics: runs scored per game, before and after he joins a club. He may not be the sole reason for all the changes charted below, but it's not an accident that teams become more productive after he joins them and less so after he leaves
		BEFORE PHILLIPS	WITH PHILLIPS	AFTER PHILLIPS
TIGER	'89	3.81
	'90		4.63
	'95			4.54
ANGLES	'94	4.72
	'95		5.52
	'96			4.67
WHITE SOX	'95	5.21
	'96		6.11*
*Through Sunday.

There's a fire that has burned inside White Sox leftfielder Tony Phillips since he was a safety on his football team in the ninth grade, the smallest guy on the field, who loved to hit the biggest guy as hard as he could. That intensity helped get Phillips to the major leagues, and it's one reason why whatever club he plays for seems to improve when he joins the team. Case in point: the White Sox , who were lackluster disappointments last season (68-76), but were 34-20 at week's end and playing with significantly more desire than a year ago.

There's also a downside to the emotional approach Phillips takes, though. His fire has raged out of control at times this year. In spring training he retired, then unretired two days later. On May 15 in Milwaukee he came out of a game in the sixth inning, changed into his street clothes, went behind the bleachers in leftfield while the game was still in progress and punched a fan who Phillips says had been heckling him. He was cited for disorderly conduct and was fined $5,000 by the American League , a fine that he is appealing. The day after that incident he had to be restrained by teammates after first base umpire Chuck Meriweather called him out on a pickoff play. And last week Phillips had to be held back from charging the mound after being plunked by a pitch from the Blue Jays' Frank Viola .

"It's my will to win. I've had that attitude since I was the small guy getting knocked around as a kid," says the 5'10", 175-pound Phillips . "I was taught by old-school guys when I came up with the A's [in 1982]—Carney [Lansford], [Dave] Parker, [Joe] Morgan, [Davey] Lopes. Man, those guys were hard. I was a nice guy when I came up, and they taught me this is not a nice game. You've got to do whatever it takes to win. That's what it's all about."

Through Sunday, Phillips was hitting .302, was tied for third in the American League in runs (45), had 33 RBIs (second highest in the majors for a leadoff hitter) and had an on-base percentage of .431. And the White Sox , who were doing little more than showing up for the games at the end of last season, are flourishing. Now they come to play every night. And if anyone doesn't, Phillips is quick to jump on him. "Oh, that's easy. I have no problem with that," says Phillips . "If someone is slacking, I'm on him."

Meanwhile, the sluggish Angels (27-27 through Sunday), whom Phillips played for last year but who passed up the opportunity to sign him as a free agent, aren't the same without him. "We miss his spunk, his attitude," Angels DH Chili Davis said recently. "Some guys have a presence that rubs off on other guys, and we don't have that presence now."

Phillips says his behavior this year—other than belting the fan, which he regrets—has been no different from previous years. In 1993, when he was with Detroit , he picked a fight with Twins pitcher Scott Erickson during batting practice. ( Erickson had thrown at him the night before.) The next season he was ejected for arguing a strike call on another hitter, Tiger teammate Alan Trammell . Last year he got in a fight at the plate with Boston catcher Mike Macfarlane after Macfarlane told him to "get in the batter's box" while Phillips was arguing with the umpire.

"This happens every year with me—I get ejected three times a year," Phillips says with a laugh. " Bobby Brown [the former American League president] and I have a great relationship. I still send him a Christmas card every year. Nothing has changed with me. The only mistake I made this year was with the fan. I've been heckled before, but in 15 years never like that. I thought moms were untouchable. But I don't apologize for anything else that's happened this year."

For a while this spring it looked as if the 37-year-old Phillips wouldn't be playing baseball this season. On Feb. 27 he left the Sox and announced that he was retiring, but in fact he was bothered by the relatively modest offers he received in the free-agent bidding last winter. After a strike-shortened season in which he hit 27 homers, scored 119 runs, had 113 walks and earned $4.37 million, he wound up signing a two-year deal worth $3.6 million, and it bugged him that he didn't get more. Following a long talk with Giants manager Dusty Baker , a good friend, Phillips reconsidered his retirement, and he has been his old fiery self ever since.

The White Sox couldn't be happier. Says reliever Roberto Hernandez , "Some people may think Tony goes too far, but that's his personality. We needed someone like him. Now we think we can take on Cleveland ."

Overboard Belle