Glanville hopes third time's a charm this season

Glanville has started only two of nine games and is hitting .222. Currently he is batting second in the Cubs lineup. No one has ever confused Penn with a baseball factory. Only 16 Quakers have spent more than two seasons in the Major Leagues. The last one to have done it was Bob Keegan, who played for the Chicago White Sox from 1953 to 1958. Doug Glanville is trying to change all of that. The 1991 Penn grad -- he was a GTE academic All-American with an engineering degree -- is not likely to make the All-Star team anytime soon. But as an outfielder on the Chicago Cubs roster, he may be on the verge of carving out a nice career for himself. "I've had my ups and downs," Glanville said. "I don't know if you call it a late bloomer, a learning curve or what. It's been hard work. These last couple years I've kind of had everything come together." Glanville is a rookie with the Cubs, batting .222 through Saturday. He's started in leftfield twice and hit second in Chicago's lineup, between Brian McRae and Ryne Sandberg. But this is not Glanville's first taste of the majors. After more than five seasons in the minor leagues, he was finally called up to the Cubs last June 9. He was sent back to AAA Iowa on July 26, but he was brought up again in September. In total, Glanville appeared in 49 games with the Cubs last season, hitting .241 with 10 RBIs. He also hit his first big-league home run, off former Montreal pitcher Jeff Fassero. And his first two hits came against the Phillies at Veterans Stadium, in front of friends and family. It was a memorable season, but the most exciting moment came when Glanville first learned that he was joining the Cubs for the first time. "You feel everything -- part relief, part excitement," Glanville said. "It was an undescribable, great feeling, especially after what I've been through, and all the hard work." Baseball America chose Glanville as a second team All-American centerfielder before his senior year at Penn, and the Cubs made him their first-round pick -- the 12th selection overall -- in June 1991 amateur draft. Naturally, some heavy expectations came with the awards, the $250,000 signing bonus and the distinction of being a first-round pick. But Glanville did not put any extra pressure on himself, even if other people did. "When you're drafted in the first round, people expect a lot and they expect it fast," Glanville said. "The Cubs have shown patience." The trip to the big leagues was slow. Glanville spent two-and-a-half seasons playing A ball, and he could hit no better than .264 and .263 in a season and a half at AA Orlando. "I had a lot to learn as a hitter," Glanville said. "I didn't know how to hit the curveball or how to use rightfield." The change in Glanville's fortunes came when he played in the 1994 Arizona Fall League and he held his own against top minor-leaguers. He also played winter ball in Puerto Rico in 1995 and 1996. "I did well against top prospects," Glanville said. "I started thinking, 'I can do this.' " The bat finally came around. He hit .308 over 90 games in Iowa last year. This spring Glanville, a right-hander, was in a battle with five other players to be part of the Cubs' two-man platoon in leftfield. He hit .385 and scored 13 runs in 24 games, highlighted by a triple against Seattle' s Randy Johnson, which was good enough to win a spot on the roster. Glanville will start against left-handers and try to add speed and contact hitting to the lineup. He also expects to be a defensive replacement, and to do a bit of pinch-running and pinch-hitting. "I'd like to be getting a lot of playing time," Glanville said. "If you look at it rationally, it'll be mostly against left-handed pitchers. That's a start. You've got to expect that anything can happen. If people keep noticing you, that's going to open up a lot of paths." Glanville would like to play centerfield, where he's most comfortable, but McRae is locked up with a three-year contract. Two expansion teams next year might open up some jobs, but for now Glanville will play left and prepare for anything. "It's not available right now," Glanville said. "You never know what's down the road." Whatever happens, he's already found the road to success.

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