American League : Grich Just May Cover All the Bases for Angels

Bobby Grich arrived at the Angels’ training base with a different glove for each of the positions he expects to play this year--first, second and third base.

“I hope I’ve brought enough,” he said. “If not, I’ll have to call Rawlings.”

A six-time All-Star at second base, Grich, 36, is in the middle of the competitive fire Manager Gene Mauch keeps attempting to ignite. Mauch says he loves competition, and the Angels will see it this spring at first base, where Mauch will pit Grich against Rod Carew; second base, where Mauch will match Grich with Rob Wilfong, and right field, where Mike Brown will attempt to hold off Reggie Jackson, Ruppert Jones and Juan Beniquez.

In reality, the only debate is in right field. Mauch has already told Grich that he will open the season at second, with Carew at first.

“Gene asked me what I would like to see happen if I had my pick of a perfect season,” Grich said. “I told him that I’d like to play every day at second base.

“He said that was the way we’d start off, but I would move around some this spring just to be prepared and to give the others a day off.

“If nobody breaks down, we could go the entire season that way (Carew at first, Grich at second and Doug DeCinces at third), but my experience here tells me it won’t happen.”

The 39-year-old Carew, for example, appeared in only 93 games last season because of a nerve injury; DeCinces, 34, missed a series of second-half games because of back spasms, and Grich was sidelined much of the first half by persistent flu and the hot hitting of Wilfong.

Grich returned to second on a regular basis in late July, made a significant change in his batting stance and finished impressively, hitting .271 in August and .302 in September.

Now in the last year of a three-year contract, he views his newly recognized versatility as the steppingstone to yet another contract.

“I’m not set on playing every game at second base,” he said. “I have an open mind about it. If the team is helped by moving me around, that’s fine. I won’t even renegotiate my contract.

“I’ve also never been one to duck competition. I mean, that’s what it’s all about. If someone goes after my position, my attitude is to say to him, ‘Atta boy, go after it.’ It can do nothing but help a team to have competition. May the best man win.”

Housecleaning dept.: It was late last season that the New York Yankees reportedly drew up a list of seven players they were determined to dump before the start of the 1985 season. Of the seven, only outfielder Omar Moreno remains. Gone are Oscar Gamble, Roy Smalley, Rick Cerone, Tim Foli, Steve Kemp and Toby Harrah.

Harrah was traded to Texas last Wednesday for outfielder Bill Sample. The man who negotiated the deal for Texas, General Manager Tom Grieve, roomed with Harrah when they were Ranger teammates.

Harrah is basically a third baseman, but the Rangers intend to open with him at second, where he has played only 29 major league games, and then move him to shortstop, where he has not played regularly since 1976.

The Seattle Mariners went the first three days of training camp without hearing from new Manager Chuck Cottier, who had laryngitis.

The Mariners, of course, are likely to leave any manager speechless.

Bruce Kison, who was not offered a new contract by the Angels because of his uncertain back condition, will apparently start the season as a member of Boston’s rotation. Kison is expected to be moved up from long relief to replace Al Nipper, who is out 8 to 12 weeks because of ulcers.

The Milwaukee Brewers are confident that third baseman Paul Molitor, who did not play last season because of an elbow injury that required a Tommy John-type transplant operation, and shortstop Robin Yount, who had arthroscopic shoulder surgery when the season ended, will be 100% by opening day.

It’s tough to tell from their 1985 media guide in which city the Baltimore Orioles play their home games.

There is virtually no mention of Baltimore, a de-emphasis reportedly orchestrated by owner Edward Bennett Williams, who wants a new stadium built closer to Washington and is concerned that Jack Kent Cooke may soon land an expansion franchise in the capital.

The club’s media ads now refer to the area as Birdland. They, too, are devoid of any reference to Baltimore.

Longtime Oriole employees, believing that the city has done a consistently good job of supporting the club, are reportedly unhappy over the changes, but club publicist Bob Brown said:

“This doesn’t mean we’re leaving or that we’re dissatisfied with Baltimore. We draw 20% of our attendance from D.C. and 12% from Southern Pennsylvania. We consider ourselves a regional franchise with the potential to draw 2 million. That’s why we call the marketing area Birdland.”

By any name, the Orioles are a hot ticket. The winter signings of free agents Fred Lynn, Don Aase and Lee Lacy have generated a season-ticket sale of 13,000, a club record.

Shortstop Cory Snyder, the ex-BYU and Olympic Games star, has a chance to open the season as Cleveland’s second baseman, even though he lacks minor-league experience.

The Indians think more of Cory than they do his father. Jim Snyder’s daily presence prompted Manager Pat Corrales to put the Tucson clubhouse off-limits to him. The senior Snyder coached his son in Little League and high school and regularly visited BYU practices.

Detroit’s Sparky Anderson tabs Kansas City to win the West.

“I think the Royals’ young pitching will continue to emerge,” he said. “Besides, I’d never pick against a team with George Brett.”

Brett reported to spring training in the best shape of his career. Tests showed that he now has only 7.1% body fat, the same as his lean, swift teammate Willie Wilson.

Kansas City co-owner Avron Fogelman admits that he is trying to sign Frank White, Dan Quisenberry and Wilson to lifetime contracts of the type signed by Brett last year.

“We don’t want them to come back and beat our brains out,” Fogelman said.

Angel management continues to cite left-handed relief pitching as the club’s paramount need.

If Ken Angulo, 14-4 in the Mexican League last season, and/or Pat Clements, a UCLA product who was 4-2 with nine saves for Class Double-A Waterbury, can’t fill the need from within, a trade seems certain.

The problem, however, is that quality southpaws are scarce.

Said General Manager Mike Port: “It may be that we’ll be in position to package enough surplus talent to develop our own market. We’re looking for the type of left-hander who can get us a ground ball or strikeout.”

A name to keep in mind is Cleveland left-hander Mike Jeffcoat, who was 5-2 with a 2.99 earned-run average in 63 appearances last year and is reportedly available.