BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : These Guys Really Know How to Win

They have emerged, perhaps, as the most influential power brokers in an industry that would like to eliminate their role.

If agents now run baseball, the Houston-based Hendricks brothers, Alan and Randy, are the current kingpins.

Representing about 60 players, they helped push the market to record heights this winter by signing 18 to contracts totaling $86.847 million, topped by the $21.521-million extension Roger Clemens received from the Boston Red Sox.

They also moved free agent Danny Darwin from the Houston Astros to the Red Sox for $11.8 million, re-signed Kelly Gruber with the Toronto Blue Jays for $11 million, took free agent George Bell from the Blue Jays to the Chicago Cubs for $9.8 million, re-signed Norm Charlton with the Cincinnati Reds for $6.25 million and moved free agent Dave Smith from the Astros to the Cubs for $4.9 million.

In an otherwise depressed economy, the Hendrick brothers made $3,473,880, based on 4% of $86.847 million.

Aside from Commissioner Fay Vincent and Executive Director Don Fehr of the Major League Players Assn, only a few people have as much influence on and control of rosters and economics as the Hendricks brothers.

“We’ll let other people make that judgment,” Alan Hendricks said at his Texas office. “All I’ll say is that we have a pretty good sense of identity and represent enough quality players to realize we do have an influence--and an obligation not to abuse it.”

That obligation, of course, doesn’t prevent the Hendricks brothers from moving their clients when necessary and negotiating for top dollar, but in a role often associated with sleaze, they are widely respected by club executives for their honesty, market analysis and thorough preparation.

Said Dan O’Brien, the Angels’ senior vice president: “I don’t like to throw many bouquets in that area, but the Hendricks (brothers) are good people to work with. The results may not always be what you like, but at least there’s a reliability, honesty and inclination to cut a deal. Prepared? Definitely.”

Documenting that latter trait is the fact they are undefeated in their last six arbitration hearings and were 2-0 in the face of the clubs’ 10-6 edge this winter.

How hot are the Hendricks brothers? They won a record arbitration award of $3.335 million for Pittsburgh pitcher Doug Drabek in the same week that Drabek’s Pirate teammates, Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds, lost in arbitration, and they won an arbitration raise of $1.035 million for Greg Swindell of Cleveland despite his 4.40 earned-run average, three complete games and modest 12 victories.

“I just ride Randy’s coattails,” Alan Hendricks said of the arbitration success. “He deserves the credit, and it isn’t a matter of luck or random chance. He spends hundreds of hours in preparation. He’s meticulous.”

Alan, 48, and Randy, 45, are University of Houston graduates, with Randy having gone on to acquire a law degree. As life-

long sports fans, they began representing football players in the early 1970s, then moved into baseball just before the introduction of arbitration and free agency.

“Our timing was perfect,” Alan said.

Now, of course, the owners would like to eliminate arbitration, modify free agency and put agents out of work. They tried, through the introduction of a revenue-sharing or partnership plan in the last bargaining negotiations, and can be expected to advance a similar concept as early, perhaps, as 1992, when the current agreement provides either side with the opportunity to reopen talks, though the agreement doesn’t actually expire until ’93.

The stage, it seems, is already being set, with Vincent insisting almost daily now that revenue sharing is mandatory because eight to 10 clubs lost money last year and an economic catastrophe is near for the small-market teams, some of which, he claims, bring in less revenue than many big-market teams are paying in salaries.

The Hendricks brothers aren’t sure they can buy it. They believe that before the players can be asked to accept salary caps, pay for performance or any aspect of revenue sharing, the clubs have to prove their own willingness to share.

“They share the national TV money and the licensing revenue, but when was the last time the Dodgers, Yankees or Red Sox said they would share their local TV money?” Alan Hendricks said of some of the major-market teams.

“Now the two leagues are fighting over the $190 million in expansion revenue. It’s OK for the clubs or the leagues to be greedy, but it’s horrible for the players to be greedy.

“The industry has to get its own house in order, then it can go to the players (with revenue sharing), and the players should have an open mind about it.”

In the meantime, Alan said, the market establishes salaries, and the current boom is a reaction to the national TV money and a determination to prove collusion is dead. Will it last? “I’m not shrewd enough to look into the future,” he said. “But you can go back 20, 30, 40 years, and people have been predicting that rampaging salaries would bankrupt baseball. Has it happened? I mean, if there are no new revenues, the market will adjust.

“In the meantime, there’s a (joint study) committee looking at the situation. Let’s wait and see what it has to say.”

SPENDING SPREE A look at the contracts signed by clients of agents Alan and Randy Hendricks:

Player Team Amount Roger Clemens Boston Red Sox $21.521 million Danny Darwin Boston Red Sox $11.8 million Kelly Gruber Toronto Blue Jays $11 million George Bell Chicago Cubs $9.8 million Norm Charlton Cincinnati Reds $6.25 million Dave Smith Chicago Cubs $4.9 million Larry Anderson San Diego Padres $4.35 million Doug Drabek Pittsburgh Pirates $3.35 million Chuck Finley Angels $2.5 million Greg Swindell Cleveland Indians $2.25 million Ron Gant Atlanta Braves $1.195 million Mitch Williams Chicago Cubs $1.5 million Eric King Cleveland Indians $1.45 million Chris James Cleveland Indians $1.375 million John Smiley Pittsburgh Pirates $1.150 million Mike LaValliere Pittsburgh Pirates $925,000 Calvin Schiraldi San Diego Padres $740,000 Jeff Hamilton Dodgers $431,000 Total

FEHR’S FEAR

The joint study committee, a concession to the owners’ decision to pull revenue sharing off the table, is co-chaired by Fehr and Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig.

It includes Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board; Peter Goldmark, president of the Rockefeller Foundation; Dave Feller, a University of California law professor, and Henry Aaron, who never played for the Braves but is director of economic studies at the Brookings Institute.

Fehr said he is concerned that the gloom-sayers are waging a propaganda campaign designed to influence or even undermine the committee.

“Economic problems in any industry are generally reflected in salaries,” Fehr said. “I look at the salaries they’ve been signing players to this winter and find it difficult to accept talk of problems.

“If clubs are losing money, the problem might not be the system or the size of the market. It might be that the problem rests in the management of the business.”

DOC, AND THE ROCKET

Yes, $4.3 million a year is a considerable sum, and Dwight Gooden appears greedy when he rejects that offer from the New York Mets’ and demands $5.4 million, topping the $5.38 million that Clemens will receive in his extension.

Yes, Met President Frank Cashen is correct in calling that $5.38 million an aberration since it is $600,000 more than anyone else earns.

But consider:

--Gooden is only 26, becomes eligible for free agency after the 1991 season and has a seven-year record of 119-46 compared to Clemens’ 116-51 for the same span.

--Met attendance has slipped 10.3% over the last two years and figures to slide further with box seats at $14 and Darryl Strawberry gone, but Gooden remains a constant--on the mound and at the gate. Attendance increases 9.5% when he pitches.

--The Mets’ refusal to give a four-year contract to a franchise pitcher who is a product of their farm system isn’t consistent with their quick signing of free agent Vince Coleman to a four-year deal.

Either the Mets will make the called-for capitulation or Doc, who had a Friday deadline and insists he won’t negotiate anymore until the season ends, will be making free-agent house calls next winter.

HELP WANTED

Indicative of the shortage at their position, six veteran catchers are in spring training on a tryout basis--Bob Boone with the Seattle Mariners, Rich Gedman with the St. Louis Cardinals, Ron Hassey with the Montreal Expos, Ernie Whitt with the Baltimore Orioles, Rick Dempsey with the Brewers and Gary Carter with the Dodgers.

Boone’s expenses-only deal with the Mariners allows him to sign with any club that shows interest. He remains set to make his managerial debut with the Orlando, Fla., team if that city gets a National League expansion franchise in 1993.

MONEY MARKET

How fast are salaries rising?

On Jan. 23 of last year, Will Clark topped the average annual salary list at $3.75 million. Dave Stewart was second at $3.5 million.

As of Saturday, 13 months later, Clark had fallen to seventh, Stewart to 12th.

The top 10: Clemens, $5.38 million; Jose Canseco, $4.7 million; Tony Gwynn, $4.083 million; Strawberry, $4.05 million; Don Mattingly, $3.86 million; Fred McGriff, $3.812 million; Clark, $3.75 million; Kevin Mitchell, $3.75 million; Dave Winfield, $3.75 million, and Andre Dawson, $3.7 million.

HOWE NOW

He’s b-a-a-a-a-c-k--after six suspensions for substance abuse, a bankruptcy, recent injury and illness and a decade of shattered hopes.

The New York Yankees are giving ex-Dodger relief star Steve Howe a spring look after watching him light up the speed gun during a two-day tryout.

“They lost Rags (Dave Righetti), here I come,” the still cocky Howe said.

The Yankees aren’t ready to tab Howe as their bullpen closer, but General Manager Gene Michael said: “We have plans for him to make the team. I feel there have been worse things in baseball than bringing Steve Howe back. If he was your son, you’d want him to get another chance. I’m probably being too nice about this, but it’s a business deal and an opportunity for the young man. Some teams don’t take the chance because they don’t have the gall.”

Howe, who will turn 33 on March 10, estimated that his cocaine addiction has cost him $8 million to $10 million but maintained that he has been clean for two years. He has been tested regularly by the commissioner’s office.

“If I didn’t think I’d make the club, I wouldn’t be here,” Howe said. “I’m not here to be the pitching coach for the Albuquerque Dukes or the Columbus whatevers. I’m coming here to do what I do best, and that’s throw a baseball.”

He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 1987. He was 0-1 at Class A Salinas last year when he suffered a shoulder tear, was later hospitalized for a blood clot in his left lung and sat out two months before resurfacing at Mazatlan in the Mexican winter league.

Howe said he prayed for this one more opportunity and added: “I’m cleaner than 99% of the people on this Earth. I didn’t fail. Society failed.”

TALENT DRAIN

Howe’s comeback is another example of the major leagues’ desperate search for left-handed pitching and an overall lack of talent just two years before the National League is scheduled to add two teams.

Consider the Red Sox, who may start a farm product at every position except catcher, where Tony Pena plays, and right field, where Tom Brunansky plays.

They are so thin at the minor league level that they have been forced to sign the following major league castoffs for their Triple-A team at Pawtucket, R.I.: Jim Pankovits, 36; Luis Aguayo, 32; Rick Lancellotti, 34; Britt Burns, 33; Cecilio Guante, 31; Jeff Stone, 31; Tony Fossas, 33; Tom Barrett, 30, and Mike Brumley, 29.