Russell Coach for Dodgers : 38-Year-Old Veteran Will Not Play for L.A. Next Season

Bill Russell looks in the mirror and still sees a young man. The body is trim, the muscles hard, the stomach flat.

The Dodgers look at the calendar and see something else--a man who turned 38 Tuesday, more than 20 years after attending his first spring training at Vero Beach, Fla.

Bill Russell believes he still can play baseball.

The Dodgers, however, have decided that Russell--who served them well through 18 big league seasons, five league championship series, four World Series and three All-Star games--would better serve them now as a coach.

In an announcement that has been expected since longtime infield coach Monty Basgall, 63, told of his decision to retire, the Dodgers said Friday that Russell will succeed Basgall on Manager Tom Lasorda’s coaching staff.

Russell, the man they called the Dean for his unprecedented longevity as an L.A. Dodger--is now a teacher.

“They say that a player is always the last to know when he can’t play anymore,” Russell said Friday by phone from his home in Oklahoma.

“Maybe I can’t play 100 games, like I did last year. But it’s difficult to say you’re 38 years old and can’t play anymore.

“In the back of my mind, I feel I still can play. But I made the decision that my future was as a coach with the Dodgers.”

Just in case, though, Russell said he intends to report to training camp in shape next spring. He mentioned Manny Mota and Jim Gilliam as coaches who were later activated.

Russell will be joining holdover coaches Joe Amalfitano, Mota, Ron Perranoski and Mark Cresse. Ben Hines, a Dodger big league batting instructor who worked with batting coach Mota for the last two seasons, has been offered another job in the organization, most likely a position as roving batting instructor in the minor league system.

Dodger Vice President Al Campanis said the Dodgers no longer saw the need for an additional hitting instructor, although Hines spent considerable time with such players as Mike Marshall, Greg Brock and Steve Sax.

Russell was in the last year of a contract that paid him $450,000 annually. As a coach, his salary will be slashed to about $75,000.

“There’s a lot of difference,” Russell said. “But I was prepared for that. I feel very fortunate that they didn’t just release me.

” . . . I could have become a free agent for another year, but what would I do after that? Where would I go?”

Undoubtedly, one of Russell’s primary assignments will be to work with shortstop Mariano Duncan, whose injury-plagued performance fell far short of expectations, and second baseman Sax, who had an outstanding season offensively but still has considerable shortcomings afield.

“It got to the point this year where everybody lost concentration,” Russell said. “The errors were blown out of proportion.

“They’re both good players. They’ve shown before what they can do. We hope to rectify what happened last season. Winning changes everything.”

Russell played in 2,181 games as a Dodger and had a career average of .263. Until Duncan’s arrival in 1985, Russell was the Dodger shortstop, having succeeded Maury Wills at that position. For the last two seasons, Russell played three infield positions and the outfield.