Doug Glanville still can't shed Ivy league image

A penn alumnus, Glanville has proven to be anything but a baseball badboy for the Phils. The temperature at game time was 96 degrees, and Veterans Stadium had not cooled off much by the time Doug Glanville stepped to the plate in the seventh inning. But even the insufferable heat would not flare the temper of the Phillies' centerfielder. Home plate umpire Greg Bonin had just punched Glanville out on a two-out, 3-2 pitch that the Penn graduate lunged away from to avoid getting hit. It appeared the ball was inside. But Glanville didn't argue. He merely paused a second, walked back to the dugout to get his glove, and trotted back out to centerfield. That kind of reaction by Glanville comes as no surprise to his teammates, however. The former Ivy Leaguer doesn't make a scene. He just plays. "We need people like that in this game," Phillies pitcher Paul Byrd said. "We have the image of being nasty sailors -- cursing and grabbing ourselves and spitting -- and he's not like that at all." No, Glanville is not a typical baseball player. He is one of only four Ivy Leaguers in the majors, along with Dartmouth alumni Brad Ausmus and Mike Remlinger, currently with the Tigers and Braves, respectively; and former Penn athlete Mark DeRosa, who now plays for the Braves. And while Glanville's baseball judgement is seldom questioned, he has had a difficult time shedding the Ivy League stereotype of being a 'smart' player without an exceptional amount of talent. "There's an image [of an Ivy Leaguer]," Glanville said. "I think coming into the minors, it's more of a stigma. In the minor leagues, people just want to kind of follow the rules -- not to be too cerebral about things -- so I thought it was a hindrance in some ways from a relationship standpoint." Glanville has had to endure more ire than other Ivy Leaguers, however, because of an incident stemming back to his junior year at Penn. Several scouts were in attendance to see the Penn centerfielder in action against Temple, but Glanville was nowhere to be found on the playing field. The reason for Glanville's absence? He had to study for an Engineering exam. "I told [Penn coach Bob Seddon] ahead of time," Glanville said. "But there was a little bit of mix-up to communicate that to some of the scouts in the area, so a lot of scouts came to the game and I wasn't there. So I developed this reputation of not really having the desire." But, after being selected 12th overall by the Chicago Cubs in the 1991 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft after his junior year, Glanville showed that he did, indeed, have the desire to play pro baseball. Even then, though, Glanville made sure he would be able to complete his education when he signed with the Cubs. The Teaneck, N.J., native graduated from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1992. So far, however, Glanville has not had to utilize his Penn degree. After a steady climb up the Cubs' minor league ladder, Glanville made his major league debut on June 8, 1996. He went 0-for-4 that night and finished the year with a .241 average in 49 games, but went on to hit .300 as the Cubs' starting centerfielder in 1997. The Penn graduate's Chicago career would not last, however. Glanville was sent to Philadelphia in a trade for Mickey Morandini prior to last season. Glanville's homecoming was a success for half a season, as the Phillies' centerfielder received serious All-Star consideration after hitting .313 with 67 runs scored in the first half. The success did not last, however, as he hit only .238 in his last 73 games to finish the year at .279. "There's always a lot of off-the-field issues that can become distractions if you don't have control over it," Glanville said. "I thought I let it get out of hand last year and I think it took me away from the game at some point and wore on me." But Glanville is back to his 1998 first-half form this season, as he was hitting .320 with 48 RBIs through Monday. He credits his rebound to better handling of off-field distractions. "[Phillies hitting instructor] Hal McRae said to me, 'It's like a cake,'" Glanville said. "The cake is your performance. All the icing and the candles is just stuff people do to decorate it, but if you don't have the cake, nobody wants to give you anything." Glanville's statistics this season have eclipsed his first-half numbers from a year ago in many categories, but there was little talk of a berth in next week's All-Star game. "It's been quieter this year," Glanville said. "We've got a lot of guys on this team doing well, and the novelty's definitely worn off of me being the local guy coming back home." Not to say, though, that Glanville is out of touch with his Penn past. "[Being a Penn alumnus] comes up a lot because the family of the Penn graduates is pretty thick," Glanville said. "Everywhere you go, there's a lot of people saying, 'Hey Penn. Go Quakers.'" And Byrd, whose locker flanks Glanville's in the Phillies' clubhouse, has little trouble seeing Penn's Red and Blue in the Phillies' centerfielder. "He's intelligent in the way he plays," Byrd said. "He's well-spoken on and off the field. You can tell that he's been well-educated. It transfers into his game." The door swings both ways for Glanville, however, as his baseball background managed to seep into his academic endeavors while at Penn. The Engineering student's final project was a feasibility study concerning building a new baseball stadium at the corner of 30th and Market Streets. Now, ironically, Glanville is back in Philadelphia. And the Phillies are considering several sites for a new ballpark -- although they, too, have discounted the 30th and Market location as ideal for a baseball stadium. Glanville is watching the new ballpark situation closely. And not just from a player's standpoint. "I'd love to be involved with that project at some point," Glanville said. "Hopefully, I'll be still playing when they do build it." Although it looks as if Glanville will be the Phillies' centerfielder well into the 21st century, the 6'2'' righty always has his Penn degree to fall back on. But, for now, the Engineering graduate's job is to engineer runs. And that's what Glanville tried to do in the third inning on Monday. With one out, he lined a Jim Abbott pitch to the right of left fielder Geoff Jenkins. But Glanville would not be satisfied with a single; he was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double. With Ron Gant on deck and the Phillies down by one run, maybe it wasn't the smartest baserunning choice. Or maybe it was. After all, who's going to question the decision of an Ivy Leaguer?