The old man handed his cane to San Diego Padres centerfielder Steve Finley and said, Here, show me your swing. Finley cocked the stick high in his ready position and then swiped, with the ease of a painter wielding his brush, at an imaginary baseball coming at him in the Rancho Santa Fe , Calif. , living room of Padres owner John Moores . Then Finley swung again, only this time in slow motion, as the old man tugged and pushed on the cane, his hands like those of a doctor examining a patient. Finley listened intently to the white-haired man, tall and angular with a rugged bearing that made Finley think of John Wayne . You've got power, the old man told him, you just have to learn to harness it. And then 77-year-old Ted Williams took his cane back. Power? Finley ? An out-of-tune Yugo packed more juice than Finley . He was one month shy of his 31st birthday that February day at Moores 's house and never had he hit more than 11 home runs in a season. " Finley was just a nice little player who couldn't hit a high fastball," Colorado Rockies manager Don Baylor says. "It would knock the bat out of his hands. But he can hit the high fastball now." He certainly can. At week's end Finley led the National League in extra-base hits (57) and doubles (32)—both totals were career single-season highs—and ranked second in total bases (224). He also had career highs in home runs (18) and RBIs (60) while batting .300. In only 100 games Finley already had achieved something that infrequently occurs with players past 30: a career year. "With most hitters by then, you pretty much know what you have," Baylor says. "But some guys just take longer to know their swing." Likewise, 32-year-old Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles , who had never topped 21 home runs, busted out this season with 31 dingers before appendicitis sidelined him last weekend. And 31-year-old Ellis Burks of the Colorado Rockies had hit more home runs in a season (24) than he ever had, while leading the National League in runs (85), total bases (231) and slugging percentage (.614). Are Finley , Anderson and Burks late bloomers—or are they just having career years? A career year is when a player far exceeds his well-established statistical norms. The best example of that might be the performance of Norm Cash , the otherwise ordinary former Detroit Tigers first baseman who batted .361 in the expansion season of 1961. He never hit better than .283 in any of his 10 other full years (defined here as seasons with at least 400 at bats) in the major leagues. The 78-point difference in Cash's best and second-best averages is the biggest gap in history among players with at least five full years (chart, left). It was in that same season that Roger Maris hit his record 61 home runs. Otherwise Maris never clubbed more than 39 in one year. Career years can happen to anyone: to forgettable players such as Larry Sheets, who batted .316 with 31 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles in the juiced-ball season of 1987; to players whose career years were their only full major league season, such as the '80 American League Rookie of the Year, Joe Charboneau , who hit 27 homers and had 87 RBIs his first year and four and 18 his second; to future Hall of Famers such as George Brett , who hit .390 in '80 but never came within 54 points of that average in 17 other full years in the big leagues. But an apparent career year can turn out to be much more than that; it can be the beginning of a whole new career. The New York Yankees ' Paul O'Neill, for instance, was a career .259 hitter through his 30th birthday when he broke out with a .311 season in 1993. He followed that with a batting title (.359) the next year and is now working on his fourth straight .300 season. He was batting .313 at week's end. That's the tricky part for Anderson , Burks and Finley . Until they produce like this again, the question will remain: Are they Paul O'Neills or Norm Cashes? Unquestionably this season will rival pyrotechnic 1987 for the number of players having career years. The record of 28 players hitting 30 or more homers in a season, set in '87, is in jeopardy. Candidates to join that group include Henry Rodriguez (28 at week's end) of the Montreal Expos , Todd Hundley (25) and Bernard Gilkey (18) of the New York Mets , Geronimo Berroa (24) of the Oakland Athletics and Ed Sprague (24) of the Toronto Blue Jays . All have already amassed career highs in home runs. Given their relative inexperience, however, those players may be following a natural career progression. None of them has had more than three seasons with 400-plus at bats, and only Sprague has had more than two such seasons. Says Sprague , who had 18 home runs last season, his career best, "I came in expecting to improve my numbers, but I'd be the first to tell you I'm surprised at this." Career paths of pitchers tend to vary more, partly because their success is influenced by factors beyond their control, such as run support and defense. However, 29-year-old John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves is having a breakout year that was long in the making. With about 14 starts remaining as of last Sunday, Smoltz already had more victories (16) than in any of his previous eight seasons. "After breaking through that 15-win barrier," he said upon beating the Houston Astros 3-2 last week, "there's less pressure with each win. It's actually easier to relax."    
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