Former MLB manager Gene Mauch said of breakout seasons by players: "Do it once, I'm impressed; do it twice and I'm a believer."
It was Mauch's way of separating one-season wonders from the real deal.
The late, well-respected ex-skipper of the Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos and California Angels would have had no doubts whatsoever that Toronto's Jose Bautista was the Real McCoy.
Mauch would have definitely believed in the Blue Jay slugger's impressive 2011-12 homer numbers, which were head-and-shoulders above all other players in both leagues.
In this new era of the steroid-free longball, Bautista managed to club 54 and 43 home runs the past two seasons.
Granted, those totals might not jump off the page at you in a Barry Bonds-Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa kinda way. But a check of the dinger department runners-up those two years shows how exceptional Jose has been in his own drug-free way.
In 2010, not only was Bautista the lone slugger to top 50 homers, no other American Leaguer was even able to reach the 40 level. Last season just one other AL player (Curtis Granderson, Yankees) was able to join Jose in the 40-plus category.
When I talked to Bautista recently at spring training in Dunedin, Florida, he seemed unaware of Mauch's age-old rule of thumb for decisively establishing one's ability. Nor did he appear to care.
"Last season, I didn't feel like I had to prove myself or prove anything to anybody," Bautista said matter-of-factly. "I felt absolutely no pressure to show I was for real or any of that stuff."
Prior to his blockbuster seasons, Jose was a respectable big leaguer offensively but gave no inkling of future superstardom. And then, as John Madden might say, "WHAM!" Jose exploded on the scene.
Was Bautista as shocked as others by his sudden emergence?
"I didn't expect this kind of success," he admitted. "But I welcomed it."
Bautista feels he definitely deserves the kudos.
"I did a lot of things right to turn this into a big story," he explained. "I put in a lot of hard work and perseverance and eventually everything took care of itself."
American League pitchers apparently had trouble believing Bautista was the real deal in 2010 _ even as he was going deep on them 54 times.
"I was surprised when they kept pitching me the same way after my power numbers suddenly went up _ fastballs in, soft [breaking balls] away," recalled Bautista. "I didn't have to deal with them adjusting to me that first year.
"For some reason, it just took a little longer than normal for them to start changing their pitching pattern."
Last season, AL pitchers finally became true believers.
"The second season, it was the same for me as any other hitter having success," said Jose said. "It seems every team had a different way of pitching to me.
"And even that changed from time to time. They all tried a lot of different approaches."
None of them seemed to work. The reason?
"Patience," replied Bautista, "I just continued doing the things that had gotten me here _ I didn't try changing with them."
Heading into this season, Bautista has become arguably the big leagues' premier power guy. Surely, he has to now be feeling at least a little pressure to keep it up.
When I brought the matter up to Jose, he went into full Bull Durham mode, as when the Kevin Costner character gave media stock-answer advice to soon-to-be MLBer Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins).
"My only concern is helping the team win," said Crash Davis, err, Bautista. "My approach is pretty much the same: attack the ball, drive the ball and try to do my part."
With that Jose Bautista rose from his clubhouse seat, pulled on his cap and politely excuse himself to take the field.
Gene Mauch, known as "The Little General" for demanding his teams play the game the right way, would have been impressed _ and believed him.
Email Dave at davwigg@gmail.com