ATLANTA - As it stands now, the 34th annual Rick Honeycutt Youth Benefit charity golf tournament will be held on Oct. 24 at Battlefield Golf Club.
Of course, that's also supposed to be the opening night of the World Series, which has Honeycutt more than a little hopeful that he'll have to change his tourney date, since his employer - the Los Angeles Dodgers - currently look like the closest thing to a shoo-in to reach their first Fall Classic since 1988.
"We're definitely looking at other possible dates," said Honeycutt - now in his 12th straight season as the Dodgers' pitching coach - a little over three hours before they faced Atlanta at SunTrust Park on Tuesday night.
"I've only missed one (tourney) in 33 years," the former Lakeview High School and University of Tennessee star said. "I had to take a red-eye (flight) to make it last year, but I obviously want to be there."
Rick Honeycutt's career in Major League Baseball and his philanthropic support of local youth is detailed in one of the community displays included in "Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America."
Rick HoneycuttBut he just as obviously hopes he has to change the tournament's date. Especially since this very well could be his last season wearing a Dodgers uniform on a daily basis.
"My contract on the field is up at the end of the season," said Honeycutt, whose tenure with L.A. is the fourth-longest active streak for a pitching coach in the major leagues. "I want to stay involved. I'm just not sure I want to be out there every day anymore."
That said, he also looked at the Dodgers' majors-best 74 wins (going into Tuesday night) and noted with a slight grin, "This year has been more exciting than most of them. We always knew we'd be good. Now we're really good."
Dodgers president Stan Kasten - who once held that same title with the Braves during their glory years in the 1990s - believes much of that success is at least partly due to Honeycutt, who was the only coaching holdover from Don Mattingly's staff when Dave Roberts became manager following the 2015 season.
"I think Rick's the best pitching coach in baseball," said Kasten, who still lives in Atlanta in the offseason. "We have good pitchers, but Rick's made them better. He's just a great guy and he seems to be able to relate to every kind of pitcher: fastballer, junkball pitcher, all kinds. Whatever they do, he helps them find ways to win games."
Honeycutt's newest pupil is 30-year-old Yu Darvish, the 6-foot-5 Japanese right-hander whom the Dodgers acquired Monday from the Texas Rangers, at least partly because of ace starter Clayton Kershaw's back strain, though Kershaw is expected to return no later than mid-September.
Almost universally considered one of the game's top pitching talents, Darvish - who missed the entire 2015 season due to Tommy John surgery - oddly was 0-5 with a 5.81 earned run average in his last eight starts for TExas.
Not that Honeycutt seems worried.
"He's kind of off the charts, to be honest," he said of his newest pupil, who'll join the Dodgers today in Atlanta. "His command. His velocity. We'll look at what he's doing mechanically when he gets here, and if we need to fix something, hopefully it will be something very minor."
Nor will Honeycutt solicit only coaches or other Dodgers pitchers to work with Darvish.
"We'll have a guy like (38-year-old) Chase Utley look at him from a hitter's perspective," he said. "Sometimes they'll see something we don't."
When you've spent the last 40 years in the major leagues in one role or another - and you once hit .404 for a season at UT - you've pretty much seen it all.
It all began for Honeycutt at baseball's highest level on Aug. 24, 1977, when he came on in relief for the Seattle Mariners against the Toronto Blue Jays. Exactly seven days later he was making his first major league start in Yankee Stadium.
"I almost hit Willie Randolph in the head with both of my first two pitches," he recalled. "My left knee was shaking so bad I could barely stand up. But I settled down after that and we were tied at 3-3 when I left in the seventh."
By the time his career as a player ended 21 years later, Honeycutt had played in two All-Star games, helped win a World Series (with Oakland in 1989) and retired having never lost a playoff game in 30 postseason appearances.
"It's gone by in a hurry," he said, mindful that wife Debbie, son Ricky, daughter Holli and four grandchildren were to be in the SunTrust stands for Tuesday's game.
Yet if Kasten has his way, the 63-year-old Honeycutt won't be saying bye-bye in a hurry.
"We'll see," said a smiling Kasten. "We'll see. We kept hearing (announcer) Vin Scully was going to retire and he stayed until he was 89. If he could stick around that long, maybe Rick could stick around until he's 89, too."
And perhaps Honeycutt will. Especially if he doesn't have to catch a red-eye home for his own golf tournament at that age.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.