BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Hall of Fame Vote No Popularity Contest

Among the new names on the 1991 Hall of Fame ballot being considered by baseball writers is that of Rod Carew.

Carew’s candidacy will not create the furor expected to accompany that of Pete Rose in 1992, but there probably will be a disturbing number of reporters withholding their vote for Carew because of what seem to be suspect reasons. Namely:

--He didn’t drive in runs.

--He wasn’t always cordial to the media.

Shame, shame.

Carew is bona fide Hall of Famer.

Consider the opinions of two of his former managers:

--Bill Rigney: “There’s no doubt in my mind he was a Hall of Fame hitter. I mean, there haven’t been too many hitters since (World War II) who handled the bat better. He was simply one of the purest hitters I’ve ever seen.”

--Gene Mauch: “There’d have to be some seriously irrational thinking not to make him a unanimous choice. Nobody can make a case against Rodney. Who’s done what he’s done?”

Consider the statistics:

--He won seven American League batting championships, a total surpassed only by Ty Cobb, who won 12, and Honus Wagner, who won eight titles in the National League.

--He hit .350 or more four times, collected 200 hits or more four times and had 3,053 career hits, 12th on the all-time list.

--His 19-year average of .328 is 28th on the all-time list. He also stole 20 or more bases seven times and, starting in 1975 with the Minnesota Twins, drove in 340 runs in a four-year span, including 100 in 1977, when he batted third most of the season.

Otherwise, he primarily batted first or second with the Twins and Angels.

“There’s not too many guys who hit first or second and drive in a lot of runs,” said Mauch, who managed Carew in both Minnesota and Anaheim. “The year I batted him third, he had a hundred.”

Said Rigney, who managed Carew in Minnesota: “He started off hitting ahead of guys like Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison and later Tony Oliva, and I’m sure he felt that his job was to set the table. He set it for a lot of big hitters, and nobody did it better.

“The one year when he broke his leg (1970, when he was limited to 51 games), he hit about .380 for several weeks before that, and I’ve never seen anyone hit the ball so hard so often. He was the best hitter I’ve ever seen in that period. There’s no telling what he would have hit that year.”

He hit .366 in that abbreviated season, challenged .400 before finishing at .388 in 1977 and challenged .400 again during the first half of 1980 before finishing at .331. He twice hit 14 home runs in a season, but was more of a slashing, contact-type hitter, a description Mauch called an oversimplification.

“Put it this way: The man could hit, period,” Mauch said. “There was the Ted Williams style and it was one of a kind; the Stan Musial style and it was one of a kind and the Rodney Carew style and it was one of a kind, too.

“He could have hit for more power. He was strong as a horse, but that’s like saying Johnny Mize could have hit .400. I always had the feeling that if he hadn’t been hitting 40 and 50 home runs a season, Mize could have gotten a single any time he wanted.”

Carew now operates a batting school in the Anaheim Hills area. His craftsmanship has prompted several major league clubs to try hiring him as an instructor. The most recent offer came from the Twins and the Oakland Athletics, but he has opted to remain at home, working with younger players.

It is true that there were times when he seemed to overreact to the printed word, allowing his pride and sensitivity to disrupt a working relationship with reporters covering his club, but the Hall of Fame isn’t based on the number of interviews given.

It’s hits, not snits, that count.

Of all the free-agent signings and potential signings, none seems more disquieting than the possibility of Bob Welch leaving the Athletics for the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants or Detroit Tigers.

Yes, Welch was a good pitcher before he got to Oakland and will probably continue to be if he leaves, but he flowered with the A’s, winning a career-high 17 games in 1988, matching it in ’89 and then winning 27 games and the American League Cy Young Award in 1990.

He may choose to stay, but his strange silence on the subject and his apparently serious interest in moving seem to imply a disturbing failure to recognize what the A’s have meant to him.

For one thing, there’s the Coliseum itself, with its forgiving distances and vast foul territory. Welch has a record of 36-8 there.

Then there’s the consistent quality of the A’s defense and the productivity of the offense. Welch has a 61-23 regular-season record with the A’s, who averaged 5.03 runs in his 35 starts last season.

In addition, for a pitcher who seldom finishes what he starts, a bullpen that includes Dennis Eckersley and Rick Honeycutt represents the most secure of security blankets. Welch completed only two of those 35 starts in 1990, both shutouts. Of his 27 victories, Eckersley saved 19 and Honeycutt one.

Finally, there’s the impact of pitching coach Dave Duncan, who provided Welch with a forkball, enhancing his repertoire and a philosophy of one pitch at a time, helping Welch control his often disruptive emotions on the mound.

Welch can survive without any of that, but can he be as successful as he was in 1990? That’s doubtful.

Of the 15 players granted free agency as part of the collusion settlement, Dave Henderson has re-signed with the A’s, and Jack Clark, formerly of the San Diego Padres, is said to be close to signing with the Red Sox, for whom he will share first base and designated hitter duties with rookie Mo Vaughn.

That arrangement would make first baseman Carlos Quintana expendable, and he has been offered to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Pete Harnisch.

The Orioles also reportedly are weighing a Minnesota offer of pitcher Mark Guthrie and first-base prospect Paul Sorrento for third baseman Craig Worthington, a measure of the Twins’ disinterest and/or disbelief that they can retain third baseman Gary Gaetti, a new-look free agent.

Among the numerous ways to measure the owners’ winter spending spree is this: The Milwaukee Brewers, in the wake of signing free agents Ted Higuera, Franklin Stubbs and Edwin Nunez, have 10 players under contract with a 1991 commitment of $17.83 million. The Brewers’ total payroll last season was $18.45 million.

“It’s a source of great concern,” owner Bud Selig said of the continuing escalation. “It’s frightening everyone in the game.”

Selig has been a leading advocate of revenue sharing and is expected to be a member of the joint study commission that will be announced next week.