Kansas City pitcher Bret Saberhagen, American League...

Kansas City pitcher Bret Saberhagen, American League Cy Young Award winner and the most valuable player in last fall’s World Series, is suing Rawlings Sporting Goods’ parent company over an endorsement contract that pays him two baseball gloves a year.

The suit claims that Saberhagen was a naive 18-year-old just out of high school when he signed the contract at spring training in March, 1983, shortly before his first professional season.

Although Rawlings has not used Saberhagen in promotions, it is free to do so under the contract.

The suit was filed in Los Angeles last month against Figgie International Inc., which owns Rawlings.

The contract also prohibits Saberhagen from promoting any other company’s baseball equipment or merchandise. And Saberhagen, baseball’s hottest young pitcher other than Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets, claims that that has cost him more than $50,000.