Randy Ready, Padre Infielder, Needed Elsewhere

ST. LOUIS — She woke up.

Randy Ready heard the news 10 days ago. His wife, Dorene, 23, had been in a coma for a month, but then--almost as suddenly as she’d collapsed--she opened her eyes.

Randy Ready, a Padre infielder, was happy.

Then sad.

“There was a lot of (brain) damage,” he said Friday. “It’ll be a long haul. It’ll take a long while.”

He has gone home to be with her, with their babies. They have three boys under the age of 3 (including twins), and one of them had been waking up a lot with nightmares. Their dad needed to be with them.

So baseball is out. Padre General Manager Jack McKeon has told Ready to forget about 1986. But he also said to him: “Randy, we won’t forget about you. You’ll get a shot at being our starting third baseman in 1987.”

Ready, meanwhile, is bringing the kids with him daily to Dorene’s hospital room in Tucson. The kids crawl into bed with their mother. She apparently recognizes them, but she cannot speak to them.

“The doctors feel it’s best if he (Ready) were around the kids and around her to help with the therapy,” McKeon said. “She can’t talk yet, but she’s alert and recognizes everything. The kid (Ready) really wanted to play ball, but the doctors think he ought to be around a little bit to help with the process. I told him to stay home, and we’ll put him on the disabled list.

“She’s gonna make it. . . . She can recognize the kids, the kids can get in bed with her. She cries and she laughs. She just can’t talk. . . . It helps for Randy to bring the kids every couple days and let them jump in bed with her. I think it’ll be six months before she’ll be able to start on her therapy. I just said: ‘Why don’t you go home, forget about this season. Let it go for the next month or so, forget about it. If something improves dramatically that we can use you in September, we might bring you back.’ ”

Ready--who had been playing with the Triple-A Las Vegas Stars--was in tears when he called McKeon last Tuesday night.

“I told Randy, ‘We won’t forget you,’ ” McKeon said. “And he said, ‘Jack, I feel great. I’m hitting. I’m playing third base real good.’ I said, ‘Look, this is more important than playing baseball. Next year, you’ll get a shot at being our third baseman. Hey, we’re not gonna throw you to the wolves because of this.’ He said, ‘Hey, I was only with you guys a couple days, and I want you to know I appreciate how understanding you guys are.’ I said, ‘Hey, you’re pretty fortunate, Randy. We’ve never had anything like that happen to us. It had to be terrible.’

“He was crying,” McKeon said. “He wanted to play ball so bad. He said: ‘Jack, nothing bothers me between the white lines. Before the game and after the game, yeah, I’ve got problems, but once the game starts, I’m OK.’ ”

McKeon still sent him home.