Jack Voigt

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Most of the Orioles took the winter off. They worked on their golf swings. They bought new cars. They did whatever it is that 25-year-olds do when they earn more than 25 schoolteachers put together and don't have to get up until noon.But what did Jack Voigt, the hardest-working man in show business, do on his winter vacation?Played ball. Fought a batting slump. Got ripped in the papers. Worried about dodging election-related violence in Venezuela. Oh, and got shaken awake one night by an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale.

There was no evidence in Harry Berrios' pro portfolio to suggest that he would be the leading hitter in the Orioles' system this year.In 1993, his first minor-league season, Berrios batted .207 for the Single-A Albany (Ga.) Polecats. The stocky outfielder, who played at Louisiana State, was out of shape and looked nothing like an eighth-round draft choice.But 1994 has produced a turnaround. Berrios, playing now for the higher-level Single-A Frederick Keys, has a chance for 20 home runs, 100 RBIs and 50 steals and is at the front of the line to become the organization's Player of the Year.

I DON'T KNOW the fellow's name but he must be the only Orioles fan alive who thought it a wonderful development that Jack Voigt, former Bird, happened to be in left field for the Brewers over the weekend.As we know too well, the Brewers swept three games from the Orioles at Camden Yards; and Voigt, who was batting .229 before the series, had some fun for the winners. He hit a home run Friday night off Jimmy Key. He went two-for-four Saturday. He hit another home run Sunday off Mike Mussina.

Three hours before game time last night, Orioles manager Johnny Oates was still checking the wounded list.Usually, his lineup card is completed by that time, but a spate of players with bumps and bruises meant he had to wait for medical advice before finishing the task.With the team floundering again in the standings and the stretch run upon baseball's most contested division, the Orioles will need as many healthy people as they can find to overtake the three clubs in front of them.Particularly the Toronto Blue Jays -- with Rickey Henderson creating havoc at the top of the batting order.

Nothing fazed the young guns on the Orioles' bench last night.Not their relative inexperience. Not their inactivity. Not a game the team needed to win badly after four straight losses in the middle of a pennant race.Jack Voigt, Sherman Obando and late-entry Jeff Tackett got up off their bench seats and delivered all the clutch hits in a 7-5 conquest of Milwaukee that enabled the Orioles to stay five games behind division-leading Toronto."It is just amazing how long they can sit on the bench and then stroke the ball the way they do," manager Johnny Oates said of his reserves.

They're so desperate in New York that George Steinbrenner is said to be interested in signing Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden in an attempt to rehabilitate the Yankees.In Toronto, the natives are becoming increasingly restless and disinterested in a team that would be lost without David Cone.And in good old Baltimore, there are indications that owner Peter Angelos is being encouraged to add another superstar, somebody like Kirby Puckett or Barry Bonds, to his collection. No matter that it would take all of the cream from the minor-league system, and even some from the big-league level.

Bad subject, says right-hander Mark Williamson, bad subject for a story.Outfielder Jack Voigt seems to agree, the same Jack Voigt who will usually talk about anything, any time. He recoils from the NTC question about smokeless tobacco as he would from a rising inside fastball. So does right-hander Ben McDonald, another reliable clubhouse quote."I think I'm going to pass on this issue," McDonald says. "I don't want any publicity on tobacco. I get enough letters as it is."This is baseball, 1994, a year into the sport's official war on Red Man, Copenhagen, Skoal, long past the era when a ballplayer was not a ballplayer without a wad in his cheek or a pinch under his lower lip. A far cry from the days when Boston Braves pitcher Johnny Sain would reply to reporter's questions by spitting tobacco juice in one direction or another -- straight down meant "yes," straight out, "no."

VENICE, Fla. -- Jack Voigt pulled a blue piece of scrap carpet out of his trunk."Got a new backdrop today," he said.Voigt walked to the batting cage at Wellfield Park, where he played Babe Ruth and high school baseball.Two minor-leaguers, Todd Brown and Jim Felch, were already working out."Gas today, Jack," Brown said as he fed balls into the pitching machine. "Going about 92 [mph].""We'll have to take that down a little bit then," Voigt replied.It's not that Voigt was trying to avoid the heat.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Minor-leaguers have been drawn into the middle of the fight between players and owners for a couple of weeks now. But to date, most of those in the eye of the storm have been the run-of-the-mill minor-leaguers.Later this week, baseball owners could pursue a course of action which would introduce their prize prospects into the fray, and simultaneously force the union to make a difficult decision. "It could get even uglier than it has been already," said one baseball executive.