Nationals seeing Reds all spring

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VIERA, Fla. -- One of the best things the New York Yankees do in spring training is invite former players to camp, living symbols of the team's legacy and purveyors of valuable baseball wisdom.

The Washington Nationals don't have any such legacy.

They no longer are the Montreal Expos, so they can't bring Gary Carter or Tim Raines to Viera. And while everyone wants to embrace Washington's baseball past, the Senators haven't been around for 34 years, before nearly all the players on the Nationals roster were born. So it would be difficult to bring back old Senators, although former Washington player Tom McCraw fits that role as the hitting coach.

General manager Jim Bowden instead has looked to his own past -- in Cincinnati -- bringing in four former members of the Reds organization to give the young Nationals players a sense of legacy and baseball knowledge, even if by osmosis.

Jose Cardenal, Bob Boone, Barry Larkin and Jose Rijo bring 80 years of major league playing experience to their roles as spring training instructors at the Carl Barger Baseball Complex -- though Rijo and Larkin, who are special assistants to Bowden with Boone, have been in and out of camp working on other scouting projects. The four are helping Frank Robinson's staff instruct the Nationals on the art of winning.

Not that Robinson, one of the game's all-time great players with 15 years of managing experience, isn't a university of baseball knowledge unto himself. But Bowden believes that the more teachers involved, the better the chance of the lesson being learned.

"I don't think you can bring too much wisdom or knowledge to an organization," he said. "They all bring a lot of baseball knowledge to the table that helps the players."

Robinson said this is by far the most help he has had in spring training, and he welcomes it.

"It's a lot more instructors than I ever had in camp," he said. "There is a lot of baseball knowledge here. Players are a little reluctant today to reach out. I don't know why, but I told the players that at all positions -- catchers, pitchers, infielders, outfielders -- those guys have been through it and have been successful. Pick their brains. Talk to them. Get as much as you can from them while they are here. I try to involve those guys with the players and take advantage of it. I think if they can pass on their expertise and knowledge, it can only help."

Boone, a seven-time Gold Glove catcher, knows the challenge of getting a team ready in spring training. He managed six years in Kansas City and Cincinnati.