COLUMN: Glanville proves to be a star

But now he has proven that he is not only good enough to play in the majors, he is good enough to be a star. In each of the past two summers, I have had the opportunity to visit a big league clubhouse. While college sports writers don't usually frequent major league clubhouses, I wanted to interview Doug Glanville, and the Phillies allowed me to talk to him. Each of the times I interviewed Glanville he was in very similar situations. Both years, he was hitting well above .300 and was among the league leaders in hits. The environments surrounding him, though, could not have been more different. In 1998, everyone loved Glanville. By July of last year, fans were praising the Phillies for the trade that brought Glanville to Philadelphia and baseball people thought he deserved serious consideration for the All-Star team. But the excitement surrounding Glanville quickly faded in the second half of the season when he disappeared. The spark he provided at the top of the Phillies lineup burned out as he hit .206 in the final two months of the season and appeared to be a totally different player. When I visited him again this past summer, it seemed, as Yogi Berra would say, "like dZj^ vu all over again." Glanville was again hitting above .300 and his 22 RBIs at the time led all major league leadoff men. Only this time around, he was drawing less praise and more concern. The day I went to the Phillies clubhouse, Glanville was the center of attention. Several sports writers pressed him with questions about his collapse last year and how he could prevent a repeat. Glanville, of course, didn't have all the answers. If he had known what happened last season, he would have done something to stop it. He did, however, seem confident that this season would not end the same way. That week, I wrote a column in The Summer Pennsylvanian, which said that while Glanville was already a star in the Penn sports world, we must wait until the season is over to see if he would become a major league baseball star as well. Well, the baseball season is almost over and guess what? Congratulations, Doug Glanville. You're a star. OK, so Glanville might not be one of the most recognizable players in the game but no one who knows baseball can fail to miss his talent. Glanville not only kept up his first half performance this season, he improved upon it. After hitting the All-Star break with a .321 batting average, Glanville has hit at a .331 clip since. Although the Phillies faltered and fell completely out of the wild card race, Glanville never lost a step. He is currently second in the National League in hits, behind only Arizona's Luis Gonzalez. With two hits against the Cubs last night, he only needs one to become the first Phillie to record 200 hits in a season since baseball's all-time hit king Pete Rose got 208 in 1979. Why the dramatic turnaround? It is the result of several factors. While Glanville did not significantly alter his offseason workouts this year, being with the Phillies another year has made him more comfortable. More importantly, though, Glanville has settled in. The novelty of being the Penn guy coming home has worn off by now. Last year when I spoke to him, he said that he was constantly doing interviews, making appearances and letting people pull him in every direction. His phone was ringing off the hook and his schedule was consistently booked. When that lifestyle is added to playing a 162-game season and leading the league in at-bats, it's easy to see why Glanville burned out. This year that has all changed. He has managed his time much better, not allowing his performance to suffer. Glanville didn't hit the wall this year; he busted right through it. Only a handful of Penn athletes ever make it to the professional level in one of the major sports. Having a Quaker become a star at that level is even more rare. When I spoke to Glanville this past summer, he said, "The real test will be when the season is over." Now, that test is almost over and Glanville has certainly passed.

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