Carney Lansford has been chasing a little white baseball for four decades as a player, coach, father and fan.

He said he learned two lessons about the game the past 24 months.
“Never take a job for sentimental reasons,” he said over the phone, “and never take a hitting-coach job with an offensively challenged team.”
Lansford received a call from Giants manager Bruce Bochy on Wednesday that he would not be invited to return for a third season as the team’s hitting coach.
Two hours later, Lansford buried his father-in-law.
“Heck of a day,” Lansford said.
The 52-year-old former batting champion had other priorities Wednesday besides returning a reporter’s phone call — supporting his wife, Debbie, tending to a house full of people at their spread amid the Oregon pines, and grieving for a family member who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer less than four months ago.
Given a day to reflect, Lansford said Thursday that he had a lot of emotions upon taking Bochy’s call. Relief was one. Surprise was not.
And keeping in character, Lansford was richly candid in assessing the club’s decision, the job he tried to do and the talent level with which he worked.
“I wish the next guy nothing but the best,” said Lansford, who joined the Giants after a successful stint as the Colorado Rockies’ Triple-A hitting coach. “If the Giants felt they needed a fresh voice and somebody might relate to a few hitters better, hey, all the best to ’em.
“I wish I had more offense to work with, but I had what I had. I don’t know what I would’ve done differently. ... All I wanted to do is help them win a world championship. Growing up in the Bay Area, watching the Giants and playing for the A’s, winning a World Series with the A’s, that’s all I wanted to do. I didn’t need the money.”
Those are the sentimental reasons. As for the rest?
“They were looking for a miracle worker,” he said. “You’re setting yourself up for a no-win. Had we underachieved, I’d really take it hard. But I think everybody knew ... that we’d be an offensively challenged team.
“That said, we kept the fans interested and excited for six months. I believe in my own mind that the team overachieved, and I believe that’s due to the coaching staff and Boch motivating these guys. I really think that’s true.”
In Lansford’s two seasons, the Giants ranked 29th and 26th out of 30 major league teams in runs per game. In 2008, their 94 home runs were the fewest by a major league team in a 162-game season since the expansion Florida Marlins in 1993. In 2009, the Giants ranked last in walks, on-base percentage and averaged the fewest pitches per plate appearance.
They also showed little to no improvement at situational hitting, which Lansford said club officials described to him as “abysmal” when he took the job.
“Did we work on that? More than you’ll ever know,” Lansford said. “At some point, guys have to take responsibility for not doing that. That’s one thing I stressed to the guys — step up and be responsible for yourself. Guys at the big league level, by the time they get there, should know how to do that stuff — move runners, get a guy home from third with less than two outs. If guys are learning that at the big league level, it’s too late.
“A major league player should not be as poor at it as we were in my two years. Do I take it personally? Of course I do. I know it cost us games. I’m a human being. I’m not a machine. But I’ll sleep good at night knowing I took my best shot.”
Lansford said he also would not lie awake fretting about anyone who would criticize his expressions of frustration — candid comments, exasperated body language, etc.
“I cared,” he said. “I genuinely cared. If that was a fault of mine, if that’s what cost me my job, then so be it. I can live with that.”
Lansford isn’t sure if he’ll apply for other coaching jobs. His sons Jared and Josh are minor league pitchers, and he’ll be happy to follow their careers if nothing else materializes.
But the onetime Little League World Series hero takes some positives out of the past two seasons, too — including the chance to work every day with Dave Righetti, the Giants’ longtime pitching coach and a fellow South Bay baseball icon.
“I’m not bitter against the Giants, not one bit, and I hope that comes across,” Lansford said. “I’ll be rooting for them. I was in that coaches room for two years after losses, and I know how hard those guys work and how much they want to win. So believe me, I’ll be watching and hoping.”
—The Giants are among several major league teams lining up to woo Japanese high school pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, The Associated Press reported. The 18-year-old left-hander throws a fastball that has been clocked as high as 96 mph. Kikuchi will hold talks with the Giants, Boston, Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas on Monday, the Nikkan Sports newspaper reported.
The New York Yankees, New York Mets and Seattle are scheduled to meet with Kikuchi on Tuesday. Also, all 12 Japanese professional teams have set up meetings with Kikuchi.
Giants scouting director John Barr heavily scouted Kikuchi in Japan in September.