Wiggins Is Still Out, Reportedly Talks to Agent

Alan Wiggins is alive but obviously not completely well, and the San Diego Padres play on without him and still have no clue how to reach him.

But at least Wiggins breathes, which is almost more than the Padres could say Thursday when their second baseman disappeared somewhere between the Biltmore Hotel and Dodger Stadium, never showing up for the Dodger-Padre game here.

On Friday, with the Padres running out of places to look, team President Ballard Smith finally talked with Wiggins’ agent, Tony Attanasio, who was in Princeton, N.J. Attanasio, who was unavailable for comment Friday, told Smith that he’d spoken with Wiggins. That was it, or, more precisely, that was all Smith would say of their conversation.

“Alan talked to his agent this morning,” Smith said just after he’d addressed the Padres in a team meeting. “We’re attempting now to get ahold of Alan. As soon as we do, then we’ll determine his status with the ballclub.”

Smith, asked if Wiggins was safe, said: “That’s all I’m going to say.”

Smith then left.

And he apparently hadn’t said much more in the team meeting, where he’d told the Padre players identical news, that Wiggins had only spoken to the agent.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Wiggins’ teammate and friend, Garry Templeton, said. “Hopefully, before long, he’ll surface.”

Said another teammate, Jerry Royster, also a client of Attanasio’s: “I guarantee that the guys who’ve played with him all these years have no idea what it is that’s wrong. He’s the only one that can tell us. I’m convinced we won’t know the story until Alan Wiggins tells us. You can sit and talk until you’re blue in the face, but it makes no difference.

” . . . I don’t see where he (Attanasio) can do anything. It’s beyond agents, general managers and managers. There’s too much at stake here. We’re talking about an entire future. He’s 27. He’s just signed a four-year contract worth about $2 million, and there’s a chance to sign another. This is heavy duty.”

How heavy duty is uncertain, but there naturally are rumors. The most common rumor is that Wiggins is having marital problems and, sources said, had separated from his wife, Angie, about a week ago.

Another rumor is that Wiggins, who was arrested for cocaine possession in 1982 and served a 30-day suspension from baseball, has had a drug relapse. But those who know him say this is not so, including his attorney during the 1982 arrest.

Edgar Paul Boyko, the attorney, reached at his office at Anchorage, Alaska said: “I have been contacted by his agent, Tony Attanasio, and there was a request for information from Alan’s file, presumably in an attempt to get in touch with him.

“But to the best of my knowledge, he’s been totally clean, and, of course, he had a marvelous season last year. I’ve followed his welfare after the drug incident, and I have found him to be well-adjusted and positive. If there’s any (new) drug involvement, I’d be very surprised.

“I felt that his was one of the most positive turnarounds in any drug case, and I’ve been involved in this stuff for 40 years. . . . It wasn’t the usual backsliding involved. And I don’t think his drug involvement was heavy, either. It was in the experimental stage.”

Wiggins was arrested on July 21, 1982. He left a San Diego restaurant, drove carelessly, was spotted by police and then threw a gram of cocaine out of the window. He voluntarily entered CareUnit Hospital in Orange for rehabilitation.

A spokesman for CareUnit said Friday that the hospital could not confirm if Wiggins had returned there now, for that was against hospital policy.

On Friday, Harry Markos, the Biltmore Hotel’s room-service manager, said he received a call from a man claiming to be Wiggins, a man who ordered breakfast--orange juice and Danish. The food was delivered, but Wiggins was not there. Later, a man claiming to be Wiggins called back, asking for his food. Told that delivery had been attempted, Wiggins said he was not in his room but would return there.

Wiggins never returned to room 7111.

Padre traveling secretary John (Doc) Mattei said in response: “I don’t think that happened. I’ve been checking that room. The clean towels are still there. The beds haven’t been slept in. There’s a do-not-disturb sign there still. I don’t think that sounds right.”