Glanville portrays Ivy League image

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 July heat would not flare the temper of the Phillies center fielder. 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 center field. But that kind of reaction by Glanville comes as no surprise to his teammates. 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 Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves, respectively, and former Penn football and baseball star Mark DeRosa, who played for the Braves this season before being sent down to Triple-A Richmond. And while Glanville's baseball judgment 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 center fielder 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 hasn't 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 center fielder in 1997. Glanville's Chicago career would not last, however. He was sent to Philadelphia in a trade for second baseman Mickey Morandini prior to last season. Glanville's homecoming was a success for half a season, as he 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 has shown no signs of a second-half slide this season. In fact, Glanville has hit .339 since the All-Star break; he hit .321 in the first half of the season. Despite missing several games with a bruised knee last week, he ranks second in the National League with 168 hits, while batting at a .327 clip, good for sixth. 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." Although Glanville's first-half statistics this season were actually better than his numbers from a year ago, there was little talk of a berth in this year'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." This is 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' center fielder. "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. 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 center fielder 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.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.