AND NOW . . . HEEEEEEEERE’S BERT, UH, BRET : Saberhagen Finds Carson Show No Tougher Than the Cardinals

Bret Saberhagen of the Kansas City Royals is sitting in the Green Room at the NBC studios in Burbank. In about an hour he will step out from behind the curtain and have a little chat with Johnny Carson on the “Tonight Show.”

“Are you nervous?” a reporter asks.

“Nah,” Saberhagen says.

Pitching the seventh game of the World Series is a time to be nervous, he says, both in the Green Room and later on the air with Carson. “Before the game I was just staring at my locker until George Brett, who has the locker next to mine, said to me, ‘Hey, what are you so uptight about? It’s only the seventh game of the World Series.’ ”

This? This is only the Carson show.

The day before, on Monday, it had been a gala affair in New York, where Saberhagen was presented the new car that goes with being named most valuable player of the World Series. The previous Thursday, it was a meeting with President Reagan at the White House. On Oct. 27, it was pitching a five-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals in an 11-0 victory that gave the Royals the Series championship. On Oct. 26, it was the arrival of first son Drew William and helping the doctor cut the umbilical cord.

So, this is just another day in the life of Bret Saberhagen, who is suddenly a national celebrity at 21. He won’t be 22 until April. He’ll probably be a millionaire before then.

It is now about 5 p.m. Taping will start at 5:30, but Saberhagen, the third of three guests, won’t go on until 6:15.

A member of the band sticks his head into the room to shake Saberhagen’s hand. He soon returns with the drummer, who asks Saberhagen to autograph his baseball. “Sure,” says Saberhagen.

“You’re going to have a long career,” the drummer says.

“If I don’t, maybe I’ll apply for your job,” Saberhagen says. “I always wanted to be a drummer.”

Producer Fred de Cordova stops by for a moment. So does a high school pal of Saberhagen, who brings along three friends and introduces them. Saberhagen, in turn, politely introduces everyone in the Green Room, which, by the way, is purple, and now contains more people than it does square feet. But Saberhagen gets all the names right.

In the room are Saberhagen’s agent, Dennis Gilbert, and three of his employees, Brian Cohen, Rick Thurman and Jill Goldblatt, plus Bob Saberhagen, Bret’s father, and a reporter.

A little later, Channel 4’s Stu Nahan drops in to borrow Saberhagen for about 10 minutes to go on the station’s news broadcast live at 5:40 p.m. Saberhagen handles this assignment as calmly as he handles everything else.

Nahan asks Saberhagen what the past two weeks have been like. “Well, I met with the President and went to New York to get a new car and now I’m being interviewed by you,” Saberhagen says. “What a letdown.”

Yes. Saberhagen is witty too.

Off the air, Kelly Lange wants to know if Saberhagen is interested in buying her house in the Hollywood Hills. He isn’t. He’s having a new home built on a golf course in Kansas City. It should be ready by February. He can then move out of the two-bedroom apartment he’s now renting.

Saberhagen shouldn’t have a problem buying more furniture. Not that he’s a pauper now, but he’ll soon be making a lot more money.

Saberhagen had only a one-year contract. “Good planning on my part,” he says.

His base salary was $100,000, with incentive clauses boosting it to $135,000. If, as expected, he wins the Cy Young Award on Nov. 12, he’ll get another $25,000. And his share of the playoff and World Series money will be about $80,000.

“We plan to start talking with the Royals by the end of the week,” Gilbert says. “The Royals are a class organization and have always treated their players fairly.”

So what is Saberhagen worth? Neither Gilbert nor Saberhagen is saying, but consider this: Cal Ripken Jr., after helping the Baltimore Orioles win the 1983 World Series in his second season as a major leaguer, signed a four-year, $4-million contract.

Saberhagen now has played two full seasons.

Saberhagen could possibly go to arbitration. Baseball’s new contract with the players’ association does not permit a player to go to arbitration until he has played three seasons, but that contract does not affect players who were in the big leagues before it was signed.

When Fernando Valenzuela went to arbitration in 1983, he was awarded $1 million. Valenzuela’s worth was proven by attendance figures.

The Royals conceivably could offer Saberhagen a lifetime contract, as they have done with three other players. “Sure, that would be OK, if it’s a good contract,” Saberhagen said. “I wouldn’t mind pitching for the Royals the rest of my career.”

The talk about contracts is interrupted. A woman comes in to take Saberhagen to be made up.

Bob Saberhagen makes note of his son’s new baggy pants. “I think he could use a tailor,” he says.

Bret returns. It’s now almost time to go on. He calmly watches a comedian on a monitor back stage. No sign of nervousness.

A little earlier, Channel 4 consumer advocate David Horowitz, a frequent guest on Carson’s, show, had told the reporter: “There is nothing quite as nerve-wracking as waiting behind that curtain to introduced by Johnny. You can imagine, can’t you?”

The comedian finishes and Johnny introduces the next guest as Bert Saberhagen. Well, maybe he isn’t quite a household name yet.

The session with Carson goes well.

Afterward, Saberhagen has to catch a flight back to Kansas City. From there, he was to catch a shuttle plane to Springfield, Mo., the site of a charity golf tournament. He has promised teammate John Wathan he’ll play in the tournament. Saberhagen would rather miss a night’s sleep than break a promise.

The plan is for his wife, Janeane, to meet him at the Kansas City airport with his tux, which he needs to attend a dinner after the tournament.

Meanwhile, Bob Saberhagen, whose car is parked several miles away, hitches a ride with the reporter.

Imagine, you Little League fathers who get excited when your kid doesn’t strike out, having your son win the seventh game of a World Series and be named MVP.

“You know, we parents live vicariously through our kids,” Bob Saberhagen says. “Their successes and failures mean so much more than our own successes and failures. We do everything we can for them. We live in an area where they’ll go to good schools. We encourage them and guide them.

“Well, to have a kid turn out like Bret has, well, it’s just unbelievable. I can’t put it into words.”

Bob Saberhagen grew up in South Chicago. “I played a little football and basketball in high school, but I wasn’t much into sports,” he says. “I was more interested in chasing girls and other stuff.”

So where did Bret get his athletic ability?

“He is a great example of a self-made athlete,” Bob Saberhagen says.

Bob married Bret’s mother, Linda, when he was 19. Bret is their only child. The Saberhagens moved to Reseda in 1966. They were divorced in 1970.

Except for a year when Bob was in Florida, he and Linda have lived about a block apart in Reseda. Bret, as a youngster, divided his time with each parent about equally.

“It actually worked out pretty well, all things considered,” Bob Saberhagen says.

Bob is now an executive for Coastal Computer Marketing in Encino and an avid sports fan. He says he reads at least five sports sections every day, including both Kansas City papers. He remarried in 1980 and has three stepchildren. He is only 41, and, with his youthful appearance, could pass for Bret’s brother.

Bret’s mother, who also attended the “Tonight Show” taping, manages the accounting department at a Montgomery Ward store.