AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : California vs. Boston : Grich Calls It a Career; Other Angel Veterans’ Future Uncertain

The pennant was gone now. The season that had been billed as something of a a last stand for this group of Angels was over. The corks were still popping in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse when that old gang in the other clubhouse began to take on a new appearance.

There was Mike Port, the general manager, standing in a corner and saying it would be days and maybe weeks before a decision is reached on the club’s approach to the nine players eligible for free agency. And there was Bobby Grich, one of the nine, saying he already had reached a decision.

“Tonight’s game was my last,” Grich said. “I have decided to retire, and that’s definite.

“It’s something of a bitter ending, but I feel that I’ve had an outstanding career.

“It would have been nice to have the icing on the cake, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

The Red Sox embarrassed the Angels again, 8-1, Wednesday night to win an American League pennant that the Angels had been one strike from winning in Anaheim on Sunday.

The 37-year-old Grich, the senior Angel in point of continuous service, was 5 for 25 in the seven games. He struck out eight times and made three errors. The unsatisfactory conclusion to his and his team’s season did influence his decision.

“I made it about two months ago,” Grich said, “but I left the door open in case I felt good about myself physically and professionally, but I didn’t play that great the last 35 games and I didn’t play that well in the playoffs. Tonight it was as if I was overmatched by (Roger) Clemens.

“I had no chance against him. It was as if he was throwing 130 miles per hour.

“I’ve ate, slept and drank baseball for 19 years now and I’m tired of the push. It’s strenuous and time consuming. There’s nothing else you can do for seven months of the year and I’ve got a thousand things I want to do.

“I’m proud of my career and ready to move on. I’m looking forward to it.”

A six-time All-Star, Grich said he had nothing specific in mind for the future but would ski, play golf and eventually enter business. “I may rent umbrellas or sell puka shells on the beach,” he said, forcing a smile when he didn’t feel like it.

He reflected on the 3-1 playoff lead the Angels had blown and said the organization seemed snake-bit. “Or maybe insect-bit,” he said, alluding to the bacterial infection that sidelined Wally Joyner for the final three games. “It’s uncanny the things that have happened. I really feel sorry for Gene Mauch. He’s an intense, hard-driving manager who gets more out of his players than any manager I’ve ever played for.”

Said Mauch, when informed of Grich’s decision: “That’s foolish. Too often after a tough experience like this you can get a little hasty. If it’s something he’s thought about for months, that’s fine. If not, I hope he reconsiders.”

How many other Angels played their final game Wednesday night is still to be determined.

Reggie Jackson, Brian Downing, Bob Boone, Doug DeCinces, Rick Burleson, Ruppert Jones and Doug Corbett are eligible for free agency, their contracts having expired. Don Sutton can become a free agent if the Angels do not exercise their option to retain him.

It is almost certain that Jackson will not be back. Both sides had seemed to burn their bridges before Mr. October went 5 for 26 in the playoffs.

Jackson insisted that he wasn’t thinking of his own status Wednesday night and got into a clubhouse arguement with a reporter who wondered if he, too, was announcing his retirement. Reggie emerged from solitary confinement in a clubhouse equipment room to say of the Angels’ performance in Games 6 and 7:

“They were the two worst games we’ve ever played. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. It was terrible, unbelievable. I mean, you feel worthless, like a piece of garbage. It was like when we didn’t win Sunday, we were never in the game. It was like we were in a twilight zone. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Said Downing, when asked if he had thought this might be his final game with the Angels:

“That’s been the prevalent theme all year, but it didn’t come into play this time. It was a source of motivation during the regular season but all we were thinking about at this time of the year was winning it for our great fans, the manager, the owner and ourselves.”

The fact that the Angels failed to win after leading, 3-1, Downing said, was a greater disappointment than the playoff loss of 1982.

“It was the toughest experience of my life,” he said. “I have a very empty feeling. I have a worthless feeling. I feel like dirt.

“We left a miniscule crack in the door (on Sunday), and they (the Red Sox) stomped through it.”

Said Burleson, who made a dramatic comeback in 1986 after missing almost three years with a series of shoulder injuries: “The feeling that this might be my last game didn’t just hit me. I fought with it all year and knew it would come about. Since we didn’t win, I’m sure a lot of us won’t be back. When we get off the plane tomorrow, a lot of us may not see each other again. That’s hard to deal with but it’s part of the business. At this point, I don’t even know if I want to play anymore. I have to think it out.”

Sutton, too, said it was too soon to think about his own status. He said he was too upset at the missed opportunity of the playoffs.

“At my age (41),” he said. “I have to realistically wonder if I’ll ever get this close again. I thought that at 33, and I have to think that way now.

“I’m sure there are guys in this room who are saying, ‘Hey, we had a great year, we came close, you can’t take away 92 wins,’ but right now I can’t deal with that. I see nothing positive in it.

“To be as close as we were Sunday is like dangling a present in front of a kid and taking it away.”

Will that be the feeling when the Angels make their decision on contracts?

Said DeCinces: “I don’t know if I’ll be back. I don’t know if my last at-bat for the Angels was a single off the wall (in the eighth inning). The thought crossed my mind when the game was over. We all had to deal with it this year and we won. I don’t accept defeat, but we had to overcome the contract situation just to get here. I’m proud to be on a team with guys like Reggie (Jackson) and Boone and Brian (Downing) and the others. I don’t know about the future, but now I guess we’re finally going to find out.”