FRESNO: “What’s that? Did the announcer say they were bringing in a reindeer?

That was a common if less-than tactful reaction early in the season when the Rockford Expos went to their bullpen for 6-foot-2 220-pound middle reliever Ranbir (it rhymes with reindeer) Grewal.

But the Midwest League quickly found out it wasn’t dealing with “reindeer” “rainbow” “root beer” or any other of a myriad of nicknames that have failed to stick to Grewal when he led the league with a 10-1 record including victories in six consecutive appearances in mid-May during the season’s recently completed first half.

It was a case of all that ends well didn’t necessarily start out well.

Grewal’s first appearance of the season came in the eighth inning of the home opener April 13 against the Clinton Giants He threw 12 pitches all balls -and walked all three batters he faced.

“All I could think have been that it was going to be a long season like that” Grewal said. “I had felt good warming up and I felt good on the mound. I just couldn’t throw any strikes.”

A couple more inconsistent performances also occurred before Grewal got things under control and the league’s hitters were introduced to a curveball that regularly buckled their knees when they realized the pitch they were taking as inside was about to take a left turn and cross the plate.

“I guess the curve has always been there” said Grewal who played high school football basketball and baseball in his hometown of Kerman Calif. “but I wasn’t a pitcher in high school in fact you wouldn’t have wanted me as a pitcher because I was all over the place when I did pitch. I couldn’t control anything.”

That changed he said when he took his high school coaches’ advice and attended nearby King’s River Junior College where coach Bob Bennett tore down Grewal’s pitching mechanics and rebuilt from scratch.

He was a regular starter during his second year at King’s River and had the same job the following year at Fresno State University. He led the Fresno State staff in wins at 10-6 his senior year.

“Two of our other pitchers were picked in the draft” Grewal said “one in the second round and the other in the sixth and then the Expos picked me up. It was a dream come true to be in professional baseball”.

Grewal who has pitched only two innings in the second half said he would like to pitch as much as he did during the first half of the season and feels him and the team’s hitters drew confidence from each other when his successful appearances began.

“He really came into his own in the first half” Expos pitching coach Rich Dubee said “He had that one outing when he threw the 12 balls and I’m sure it ran through his mind as to whether he’d ever pitch again.

“But we talked and worked on his mechanics and he continued to work on them and it’s really through his own hard work that he was able to turn it around”.

Dubee agreed that Grewal and the team’s hitters picked up confidence from each other.

“Winning gets contagious and when he came in the guys had confidence that he would hold the opposition” Dubee said. “He’d hold the opposition they’d get a couple of runs for him and he’d go out and hold the opposition again and we’d win”.

The nickname that has stuck to Grewal is “Chief” given to him be a Fresno State teammate who obviously was no sociology major since Grewal’s heritage is Eastern Indian not American Indian. “I finally had to tell him that I wasn’t American Indian” Grewal said “but before I knew it other team members and the coaches were calling me ‘Chief” so it was all right. I’ve been called worse”.

His Indian heritage does however make discussing baseball with his mother who has seen only one game in her life difficult.

“Mom is from India and she speaks very little English” he said “so all she wants to know is when I’m coming home and whether I won or lost. I’ve never been away this long before and I have to tell her it’ll be a couple more months but I’ve been able to tell her about the wins and she likes that”.

His father who was knowledgeable about baseball died when Grewal was in high school Grewal said “He was the one who told me I’d have to concentrate on one sport if I was going to be any good. I think he’d be proud of me if he knew”.-The Register Star.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 30, 1991