On The Dugout Steps
Q&A With Bob Walk

Former pitcher Bob Walk spent 14 seasons in the majors with the Phillies, Braves and Pirates. He pitched a three-hit complete game as the Pirates beat the Braves 7-1 in Game 5 of the 1992 NLCS. After retiring in 1993,Walk now finds himself in his 15th season as a broadcaster for the team. PSR's Joe Giardina caught up with him in the busy streets of the North Side earlier this month.

Joe: First of all, what in the world is wrong with Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny?

Walk: Gorzelanny, until recently, was very wild. He wasn't throwing enough strikes, walking a lot of people. And even when he had his walks under control he was constantly in 3-1 counts, 2-0 counts, which are traditionally the hitter's counts. You just can't live like that out there, it's going to kill you. It's killed him and that's why his ERA is so ridiculously high. I think Snell has gotten away from his style of pitching that worked well for him last year. I don't think he's been real efficient getting ground balls; I don't see a lot of sinkers and changeups from him anymore. From game-to-game it changes a little bit; he tries to be a power pitcher and over power people, and other times he just becomes a slider guy going for strikeouts constantly. And you can't have success going like that, because that too becomes very inefficient. Striking out guys and going to three ball counts sends his pitch count through the ceiling in just five, six innings. Both of those guys have a little control issue, but it is much worse with Gorzelanny than it is with Snell.

Joe: Jim Colbourn took a lot of heat last year for the ineffectiveness of the pitching staff. How much blame or credit do pitching coaches actually deserve?

Walk: A lot less than they get. Either way, blame and credit. You can throw in any coach - hitting coach, infield coach, and you can put in manager, too, as far as I'm concerned. The players have so much more control over what goes on in the field than the other uniformed personnel out there, its not even funny. It's the old thing, you can't really fire the players and somebody always has to take the blame. And it becomes the coaches that end up taking that blame when they, to be honest, have very little to do about it - at this level anyway. Coaches I think are extremely important in the lower minor leagues. That's when a good coach is really worth his weight in gold. That's where you set the habits with these guys that they'll take with them for the rest of their careers. Up here at this level you're just fine tuning.

Joe: What is this team missing to push them to the next level?

Walk: Well I think they've got it the [first couple weeks of June], and that's some quality starts strung together. As long as they get that, I think they'll be alright. If that will continue, I don't know. I've got to see it to believe it because I've been looking for it for a couple of years now. We were starting to get quality starts strung together and when that happens we can get on a roll and put a winning streak together.

Joe: Can the Pirates replicate the kind of excitement the Steelers and Penguins get in Pittsburgh?

Walk: Eventually, but I don't think that this year it can happen. I don't see this team winning any titles. I think that they can be competitive and win more game than they lose, but I think there still has to be some changes before we can actually think about going to the World Series and winning a title.

Joe: What were your best and worst moments in the big leagues?

Walk: I would say the Game 5 in 1992 against the Braves. That was a very important game, obviously, and I pitched very well in it, so that would have to be it.

I guess the worst moment was being called into the office at West Palm Beach and being released by the Braves. As a young guy who thought everything was going to be great in my big league career, all of a sudden it came crashing to a halt and now I had to go out and find a job. That was a low point for sure.

Joe: Who was the hardest person for you to get out in your career?

Walk: It changed over the years. There isn't one guy, but I had a lot of problems getting a lot of people out. That's a question I've been asked a ton of times and I cant really come up with one guy. There'd be a list of many, believe me.

Joe: How do announcers spend their free time on the road?

Walk: I used to play golf but I don't play any more. So you do a lot of reading, you try to get out in the city and see the different sites that each city might have available. You end up going to the ball park in the middle of the afternoon, so you don't have a ton of free time. But that's about what I do now, I try to read, I try to go out and do some walking, get some exercise. Being in my fifties I've got to do something. I'm getting fat.

Joe: Do you have a least favorite stadium to visit?

Walk: My playing days I did but anymore it doesn't make a difference. Especially now that they're all new. All the bad stadiums are getting torn down. My least favorite for sure was Shea Stadium, but we don't have to deal with that anymore after this year. There are a whole bunch of them now that are just fantastic. Shea Staduim is still up and working if you want to throw one in there. That's the pits baseball wise.

Joe: The million dollar question - Do you see yourself managing in the future?

Walk: No, I don't think that's going to happen. My career path went a different direction. I can't imagine that that would ever happen.