Boone Is Back With the Angels : Catcher Has Signed a One-Year Contract Worth About $711,000

Bob Boone returned to the Angels Friday, signing a one-year contract to end a four-month odyssey that ultimately cost him all of spring training, the first month of the regular season and more than $100,000.

So much for the free agency experience.

“It was more unemployment than free agency,” said Boone. “When I didn’t sign with the Angels, I thought I would get an offer that was the same or a little less from another team. But there was nothing out there. I received no legitimate offers.”

So, Boone, 39, came back to the Angels, the team that offered him $883,000 on the Jan. 8 re-enlistment deadline. Then he told them no, holding out for what he termed a $10,000 “token of appreciation” for his Gold Glove 1986 season. But that was before Boone experienced the chill of the free-agent freeze out.

“My position changed,” Boone admitted. “I liken it to selling your house. You put your house on the market for $200,000 and someone offers you $175,000 and you tell them no. Then, it sits there for six weeks while you’re making payments. It changes your perception of what the house is worth.”

Friday was the first day Boone could re-sign with the Angels--and he did so quickly. After a half-hour meeting with Angel General Manager Mike Port, Boone agreed to a contract that will earn him about $711,000 in 1987.

Before rejoining the Angels, Boone will spend a training assignment of approximately a week with the Angels’ Class-A affiliate in Palm Springs, so the contract reflects that assignment. While with Palm Springs, Boone will be paid under the terms of a $140,000 annual salary--or $814 a day.

With the Angels, Boone will be paid a salary pro-rated on the club’s original offer of $883,000, subtracting $5,134 a day for each day of playing time he missed. Thus, if Boone spends a week in Palm Springs and then rejoins the Angels, the deal would net him $711,450.

“I appreciated the integrity shown by the Angels, Mike Port and the Autrys,” Boone said of the terms. “I’m very satisfied with the financial arrangement that was worked out.”

Earlier in the week, there had been much posturing by Port, who praised the performances of Boone’s replacements at catcher and talked of changed priorities. Pitching, not catching, was the Angels’ greatest need, Port said.

It turned out to be a smoke screen. Port needed all of 30 minutes to bring Boone back Friday.

“While we’re all aware of the job Butch Wynegar and Darrell Miller have done, we also realize that in catching, there’s an element of mortality,” Port said. “Good catching is hard to come by and, yes, Bob Boone was someone we wanted back with the California Angels.”

Boone, regarded as a superior receiver and especially noted for his ability to work with young pitchers, is expected to eventually work his way back into the starting lineup.

“My main job now is to prepare myself to catch every day,” Boone said.

Immediately after a news conference at Anaheim Stadium, Boone left for Palm Springs, where he was to catch Friday night’s game against Fresno. “He’ll catch five innings today, five innings tomorrow (Saturday) and then I’ll go down to see him Sunday night,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said.

According to Mauch, “If he can play 35 or 36 innings defensively, get himself 25 times at bat and get over the usual spring-training stiffness, my guess is that he’d be ready to rejoin us in Detroit.” The Angels play a three-game series in Detroit May 11-13.

Boone has spent the past two months working out at El Dorado High School in Placentia with a variety of partners--Lance Parrish, Dave Kingman, Angel minor leaguer Chris Cron and, for the last three weeks, former Dodger pitcher Steve Howe. He also caught several simulated games with the El Dorado varsity baseball team.

“Physically, condition-wise, I’m probably in the best shape of my life,” Boone said. “There were a lot of things to inspire me to work hard. I’m looking at this as my greatest challenge--to play at the major league level without spring training. I’m excited and stimulated by the challenge.”

Boone can’t say the same for the events that led to such a challenge.

“I’m anxious to play baseball again and put the last 10 weeks behind me,” he said. “Have I enjoyed this experience? No, not at all. I would not recommend that anybody go through what I went through.”

Boone was asked if he felt he was a victim of possible collusion on the part of the owners.

“There’s no way of really knowing that,” he said, “but the offers were certainly not rolling in. There are a lot of factors different for me than other players.

“It was absurd that I wasn’t playing. I’m not bitter about it. What changed was how I perceived the players’ market. You go through something like this and your perceptions change.”