Baseball / Ross Newhan : Rookies Give Game a New-Wave Look for Second Straight Year

If 1986 was the year of the rookie, particularly in the American League, then 1987 has proved to be an impressive sequel.

The AL has produced a freshman class comparable to last year’s, which included Jose Canseco, Wally Joyner, Cory Snyder, Pete Incaviglia, Ruben Sierra, Danny Tartabull, Mark Eichhorn, Dan Plesac, John Cerutti, Eric King and Bobby Witt.

Oakland Athletics first baseman Mark McGwire, with his rookie-record 43 homers, 105 runs batted in and .280 batting average, is a cinch to be the league’s Rookie of the Year, but in any other year it might have been:

--Boston Red Sox outfielders Mike Greenwell, with a .341 average, 17 homers and 74 RBIs in 103 games, or Ellis Burks, batting .267 with 19 homers, 55 RBIs and 22 steals in 109 games.

--Angel outfielder Devon White at .260, 22 homers, 81 RBIs and 26 steals.

--Kansas City Royals third baseman Kevin Seitzer, .327, 14 and 70.

--Detroit Tigers catcher Matt Nokes, .286, 27 and 75.

And it doesn’t end there.

Besides Nokes, two other rookie catchers have made an impact at the position considered toughest to fill: the A’s Terry Steinbach with a .290 average, 13 homers and 51 RBIs, and the Milwaukee Brewers’ B.J. Surhoff, .292, 6 and 55.

Then there’s Oakland outfielder Luis Polonia, .290 and 26 steals in 103 games, and Baltimore Orioles second baseman Billy Ripken, .317 and just one error in 52 games.

Mike Henneman, who stepped in when Tiger relief ace Willie Hernandez stumbled again, is likely to be the AL’s rookie pitcher of the year on the basis of a 9-2 record, 4 saves and 2.34 earned-run average, although the Angels’ DeWayne Buice, a rookie at 30, has saved 15 games and teammate Willie Fraser is 9-9 starting and relieving.

The National League was a wasteland compared to the American last year, with the rookie award coming down to a choice between the only bona fide candidates, St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Todd Worrell, who won it, and San Francisco Giants second baseman Rob Thompson.

The 1987 NL crop is somewhat deeper, though still not on the AL’s level.

San Diego Padres catcher Benito Santiago, the NL’s answer to Nokes, Surhoff and Steinbach, should easily outpoll Montreal Expos infielder Casey Candaele, who has a .276 average in 121 games, for the top award.

Santiago, batting .294 with 15 homers and 69 RBIs, has impressed scouts with his strong arm and consistent bat. At 22, he is expected to be the NL’s All-Star catcher for the next decade, succeeding Gary Carter, who succeeded Johnny Bench.

Among other NL rookies, the scouts also remain high on Chicago Cubs outfielder Rafael Palmeiro, .258 and 9 homers in 62 games; New York Mets third baseman Dave Magadan, .329 in 71 games, and Pittsburgh second baseman Jose Lind, who has been in the majors only long enough to convince the Pirates that Johnny Ray was expendable.

Mike Dunne, whom the Cardinals reluctantly parted with in the deal that brought them catcher Tony Pena from Pittsburgh, is 10-5 with a 2.73 ERA and likely to become the rookie pitcher of the year for the Pirates, though San Francisco’s Kelly Downs, 10-8 and 3.86, will provide some competition.

It all represents another honor roll for the freshman class.

Larry Doughty, who has resigned as farm director of the Cincinnati Reds and is the latest victim of owner Marge Schott’s meddling, could soon join the Dodgers as successor to retiring farm director Bill Schweppe. Doughty and the Dodgers haven’t talked yet, but sources say they will.

Said Doughty of his 18 years with the Reds: “It’s in my blood, but I’m past compromise.”

He also said that the trivialities added up. He wouldn’t be specific, but the budget-conscious Schott reportedly informed the club’s scouts recently that they would be responsible for paying their own laundry bills on the road, as well as the deductible premium on company cars, and that only in rare situations would the club approve entertainment expenses.

Doughty is the eighth Red executive to resign since Schott became owner--some with no job alternatives at the time.

Batting coach Billy DeMars also resigned recently when Schott gave his responsibilities to Tony Perez, allegedly after a pair of players recommended it.

Will Manager Pete Rose go, too? There are said to be unpleasant undercurrents developing in the Reds’ clubhouse--whispers that Rose talks only to his stars and that some blacks aren’t talking to some whites--but the losing tide may envelop General Manager Bill Bergesch rather than Rose, the hometown favorite.

Schott, in fact, has been risking a tampering fine by openly discussing the possibility of bringing Sparky Anderson back to Cincinnati, but she hasn’t said whether Anderson would go upstairs or downstairs.

Dinner talk at the owners’ midweek meetings in Toronto is said to have centered on Jerry Buss’ continuing bid to buy the San Diego Padres.

Buss faces some basic and significant problems:

--Joan Kroc is no longer interested in selling and would have to be overwhelmed--how do you overwhelm the McDonald’s heiress?--to change her mind.

--His involvement with cable TV and ownership of teams in the National Basketball Assn. and National Hockey League--the Lakers and Kings--rubs against baseball policy.

--The opposition is said to be led by Dodger owner Peter O’Malley, who walks and talks softer than his late father but seems to boast comparable clout. O’Malley was reportedly displeased when Buss told columnist Doug Krikorian of the Herald Examiner earlier this season that if he had owned the Dodgers, he would have signed Tim Raines as a free agent.

Said one owner, reflecting on the possibility that baseball may now get a look at Buss’ financial ledger because of his interest in buying in:

“The only good thing that can come out of this is that we may find out how much he really owns of the Lakers, Kings and Forum.”

Greg Brock, a .233 career hitter who couldn’t hit left-handers, according to the Dodgers, has taken permanent possession of the Milwaukee Brewers’ cleanup role with an overall average of .304 and a .285 mark against southpaws.

Brock has hit only 13 homers but has 74 RBIs, 8 more than his career high, and he has become a contact hitter of the type batting coach Tony Muser envisioned when he flattened out Brock’s swing in spring training to cut down on fly balls.

Said Manager Tom Trebelhorn: “When a guy has been told so many times that he can’t hit left-handed pitching, you worry about his confidence level. He was mentally beaten down. It’s difficult to come back from that, but he did.”

Dave Stieb, 0-3 in his last four starts, has been removed from the Toronto Blue Jays’ rotation despite an overall record of 13-8. The Blue Jays will go the last three weeks with a rotation of three left-handers--Jimmy Key, John Cerutti and Mike Flanagan--and a right-hander, Jim Clancy.

What does Stieb think?

“Don’t ask me,” he said. “I just work here.”

Will Stieb’s manager, Jimy Williams, continue to work there if the Blue Jays fail to win the American League East?

That’s doubtful, and Williams apparently knows it. He used 10 relief pitchers in two games against the Brewers earlier this week. Pulling all stops or managing scared? Williams may have crossed the fine line.

Blue Jay bellwether George Bell had his nose broken when grazed by Bill Wegman’s pitch Monday in Milwaukee. He returned to the lineup Tuesday and doubled twice. “You don’t have to smell the ball to hit it,” Williams said.

Tom Lasorda, Pat Corrales, Billy Williams and Johnny Oates will be mentioned as possible candidates for the Chicago Cubs’ managerial job, but third base coach John Vukovich has it sewed up--unless Rose becomes available or club President Dallas Green becomes swayed by the public relations merits of Lasorda and could promise Lasorda that he would soon move into the front office.

Vukovich played for Green when Green managed the Philadelphia Phillies. Is he conditioned to the man known as Mr. Bluster?

“He’s a demanding guy,” Vukovich said of Green. “I’ve probably argued with him more than anybody. I tell him that just because he’s louder doesn’t make him right.”

The constant cries of cheating in the Astrodome--centered on the use of a corked bat by the Houston Astros’ Billy Hatcher and the alleged use of sandpaper by Mike Scott and Dave Smith--prompted Houston Chronicle columnist Al Carter to write: “Where else can you go to watch big league baseball and have the Southwest Conference break out.”

Add Dome: San Francisco Giants’ Manager Roger Craig required a police escort while leaving Monday night in the wake of his latest tirade and ejection involving Scott’s alleged scuffing. On Tuesday night, a fan held out a piece of sandpaper and asked Craig to autograph it.

The New York Mets entered their weekend series with St. Louis confident that the Cardinals have had it.

“The last time we played St. Louis I didn’t see that much,” shortstop Rafael Santana said. “I don’t think they have that much. I don’t think any club starts out strong and ends strong. Everybody has a time to drift. This is theirs. They’re draining.”

The Cardinals are so drained, they’re going for a three-game sweep of the Mets this afternoon.