THE WORLD SERIES - OAKLAND ATHLETICS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS - NOTEBOOK - Morgan Claims National League Is Better

Joe Morgan, announcer for the San Francisco Giants, has played in both leagues and said that the biggest factor in the Giants’ favor this week is the company they keep.

“The National League is definitely the harder league, no question,” Morgan said. “If Kevin Mitchell was in the American League, he would have been chasing Roger Maris’ home run record. The NL ballparks are bigger, and the teams play better.

“How many American League teams have you seen that can manufacture runs like they do in the National League? How many?”

When a bystander answered, “Oakland,” Morgan replied, “There you go. They are the only one, and look how far they got.”

Morgan said the American League’s problems date to the days of former Baltimore Manager Earl Weaver.

“He believed in pitching, defense and the three-run homer,” Morgan said. “Since then, that’s all anybody has tried over there. Difference was, Weaver actually had all three. Over there, if you don’t, you’re in trouble.

“That’s why Rickey Henderson can be the difference. The A’s have all three, plus him. That’s why he plays such a big role in that league.”

Morgan then picked on the American League pitchers, saying: “They don’t throw inside as much as the National Leaguers. I don’t know why, but they just won’t throw inside. Again, that’s why Oakland is tough, because they have some old National Leaguers on that pitching staff who aren’t afraid to come close.”

Giant Manager Roger Craig on being a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers in their 1955 World Series victory, four games to three, over the New York Yankees:

“It was a 15-cent trip from Brooklyn to the Bronx. When I came to the Dodgers in 1955, the Yankees and Dodgers seemed like they were always in the Series each season and the Yankees would always win.

“I didn’t realize what it meant when we won until I came into the locker room and saw the Robinsons, the Campanellas, Reeses and Sniders and all their emotions, all of them were sitting there with tears in their eyes.”

Craig’s Game 1 batting order had two surprises, Candy Maldonado starting in right field and designated hitter Ernest Riles batting sixth, behind No. 5 hitter Matt Williams.

Maldonado started only once in the five-game National League playoffs and Riles usually batted ahead of Williams when both were in the lineup during the regular season.

Craig on Maldonado, who batted .217 during the regular season and went 0 for three in the playoffs: “He’s had a number of good years for me. This season, he never quit. I just have a hunch he’s going to have a good series.”

Craig on Williams, who batted fifth behind Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell during the playoffs: “I did it for psychological reasons. You guys have been mentioning Clark and Mitchell and Williams in the same breath and I think that he is starting to believe that he belongs in that same class.”

The Giants’ batting order: Brett Butler, cf; Robby Thompson, 2b; Clark, 1b; Mitchell, lf; Williams, 3b; Riles, dh; Kennedy, c; Maldonado, rf, and Jose Uribe, ss. The Giant pitcher, who will not bat in the American League park this series, will be Scott Garrelts.

The most inexperienced of that group is Riles, who has only been a designated hitter once in his big league career. As the DH for Milwaukee on June 21, 1985, he went 0 for six against Baltimore.

Oakland Manager Tony La Russa also had two surprises in his lineup. Right-handed hitting catcher Terry Steinbach will be starting in place of left-handed hitting Ron Hassey, despite the presence of right-handed Giant starter Garrelts. And Walt Weiss, the poorer fielder, will be starting at shortstop in place of Mike Gallego.

“In the case of shortstop, I was looking for the extra left-handed bat,” La Russa said of Weiss. “At catcher, Steinbach has worked well with (starter Dave) Stewart all year long, real well, so I go with Steinbach.”

The A’s batting order: Rickey Henderson, lf; Carney Lansford, 3b; Jose Canseco, rf; Dave Parker, dh; Dave Henderson, cf; Mark McGwire, 1b; Steinbach, C; Tony Phillips, 2b, and Weiss, ss.

Does Craig believe that A’s relief pitcher Dennis Eckersley doctors the ball, as Toronto Blue Jay Manager Cito Gaston claimed in the ninth inning of Sunday’s fifth and final playoff game?

“Somehow, somewhere along the line, someone thought he was doing something,” Craig said. “Now it’s become more magnified because it’s the World Series.”

Craig, however, added that he saw no evidence of doctoring when Eckersley was in the National League with the Chicago Cubs.

The Giant manager also said, that the practice is rampant, that every pitcher tries it at least once--”like a kid with a new toy”--and that the only way to stop it is for offenders to be suspended for a year.

“The league should give the umpires authority to check the glove of every new pitcher when he enters the game,” Craig said. “As it is, the umpires see it but don’t react.”

Craig said that for the first time, managers and umpires will meet to discuss the issue at the winter meetings in December.

Meanwhile, the commissioner’s office said it would wait until after the World Series to review tapes of the playoff incident sent by the Blue Jays, who claim that they offer irrefutable evidence that Eckersley attempted to hide something in his pants during the ninth inning of Sunday’s game.

Said Eckersley Friday:

“They’re still trying to justify losing.”

Series Notes

This being the second consecutive All-California World Series, the last World Series game played outside the state was on Oct. 25, 1987, in Minneapolis. . . . Today the Giants’ Scott Garrelts becomes the first pitcher with more relief appearances, 258, than starts, 55, to start a Series opener since the Dodgers’ Joe Black faced the Yankees in 1952. . . . Oakland Manager Tony La Russa becomes the first manager to guide clubs to consecutive Series appearances since the Dodgers’ Tom Lasorda in 1977-78.

Two players in this Series have fathers who also played in the World Series--San Francisco’s Terry Kennedy, whose father Bob played with Cleveland, and Oakland’s Stan Javier, whose father Julian played with St. Louis. There are 10 father-son combinations in Series history, but only two have both played on winning teams--the Boones, Ray and Bob, and the Hegans, Jim and Mike. . . . San Francisco’s Don Robinson is appearing in his first World Series in 10 years, the longest gap between Series appearances since Boston’s Bill Buckner played with the Dodgers in 1974 and the Boston Red Sox in 1986. Robinson previously played with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979.

Times staff writer Ross Newhan contributed to this story.