PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Batting Titles Turn into Turf Wars

SAN DIEGO — In the past 15 years, only two players who play on natural grass home fields--other than the Padres’ Tony Gwynn--have won National League batting titles: Bill Buckner with the Cubs in 1980 and Terry Pendleton in Atlanta last year.

Gwynn says it’s no fluke. Batting titles are harder to come by on real grass, and even harder in parks that have high, thick infields that slow the ball--Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“This is the very intricate game that people don’t realize, the inner game a lot of people never see,” Gwynn said. “Will Clark told me, ‘I’ll never win a batting title (playing in Candlestick Park).’

“The Dodgers used to have a really soft dirt pan in front of home plate. Last year they get Brett Butler, who’s a bunt master, all of a sudden the pan’s hard as rock in Dodger Stadium.

“They have real specific rules for the height and shape of the (pitching) mound but (a home team) can do anything you want to the field. A lot of players don’t even notice this stuff, but I pay attention to details and I notice that.”

Nine of the past 15 N.L. batting titles have gone to players from artificial turf stadiums. Gwynn has won four titles.

Reliever Larry Andersen, on the disabled list with an inflamed right shoulder, threw well in a simulated game Friday and could be activated Sunday, the first day he’s eligible to return. “It’s the first time since last September or October I felt comfortable on a mound,” Andersen said. . . . The Padres placed right-hander Mike Maddux on the disabled list Friday, calling up reliever Terry Bross from Las Vegas. Maddux has been bothered by lingering pain below the right elbow. Bross, recently acquired from the Mets organization, is one of the tallest players in baseball at 6 feet 9. He played basketball at St. John’s, where teammates included Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Walter Berry and Bill Wennington, and was drafted by the Mets after throwing all of nine innings in college.