Braves first baseman turns over new leaf

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Posted 11:34AM on Saturday, March 8, 2003

KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA - Robert Fick had quite a busy checklist to complete in the offseason. Get married, check. Have shoulder surgery, check. Give up ephedra, check. Stop drinking, check. Sign with a winning team, check. Fick says, ``I had an image, and it wasn't a good image. Sometimes, you've got to look at yourself in the mirror. I knew I had to change my act.'' The new first baseman of the Atlanta Braves, who signed as a free agent after playing in Detroit, is a startling contrast to the jockspeak world of ``giving 100 percent'' and ``taking it one day at a time.'' He doesn't mind spilling his guts, whether it's his disdain for a former employer -- mainly, Tigers president and GM Dave Dombrowski -- or the nervousness he felt before his Hawaiian wedding. Fick says, ``That was rough. I needed a whole bottle of Xanax and a fifth of vodka.'' Now that he's escaped the anonymity -- and losing -- of Detroit, this might just be his coming-out season. The Braves were desperate to upgrade their production at first base after Julio Franco and Matt Franco shared the job a year ago. Fick took a pay cut to come to Atlanta, eager to play with a winning team and show he's cleaned up his act. He hasn't had a drink in more than a month. He doesn't consider himself an alcoholic, but knows he did a little too much partying in Detroit. So, no drinking during the season. Not that Fick's career has been a bust. Last season, he made the All-Star game for the first time, finishing at .270 with 17 homers and a career-high 63 RBIs. In 2001, he hit 19 homers despite playing half his games in pitcher-friendly Comerica Park. But he grew weary of the Tigers, who had another dismal season in 2002 with 106 losses. Despite the rough times in Detroit, Fick fully expected to return to the Tigers in 2003. Then came word that Dombrowski had decided to let Fick go rather than risk an arbitration hearing. The player was stunnedd. He said he was told he would get three million dollars in arbitration and that the Tigers didn't want to pay that. Fick wound up taking a pay cut, signing with the Braves for one million dollars.