Their Styles Might Differ, but Both Provide Plenty of Substance : Angels: First base coach Bruce Hines and bullpen coach Frank Reberger have personalities suited to their respective jobs.

His head told him he was meant to be a teacher and coach, but Bruce Hines’ heart told him to try for a professional baseball career.

“I have a brother, Steve, who’s two years older than me, and he was the one who was physically gifted,” said Hines, who is in his first season as the Angels’ first base coach and defense and baserunning instructor.

“I think because I was chasing him all my life, I learned I had to work hard at an early age. I didn’t have the talent, but I paid attention to detail and I had good work habits.”

Unlike Hines, whose career fizzled in the minors, Frank Reberger made it to the major leagues.

Reberger pitched for the Cubs, Padres and Giants during his five years in the majors. After his career ended, he felt drawn to coaching. He got his chance nine years ago as pitching coach for the Angels’ Nashua (N.H.) farm club in the Eastern League, and he returns to the majors this year as the Angels’ bullpen coach and top lieutenant of pitching coach Marcel Lachemann.

“A few years ago, my goal was to get back to the big leagues,” said Reberger, who took the job vacated when bullpen coach Joe Coleman became the St. Louis Cardinals’ pitching coach. “Working with Marcel is a big plus. He’s one of the best in the big leagues. Getting to know him has been a pleasure.”

Hines and Reberger have contrasting personalities that seem to fit their respective jobs.

Hines, 33, is the more visible of the two and also the more vocal, shouting orders during pregame drills and gesturing animatedly in the coaching box during games. The son of Dodger hitting instructor Ben Hines, he has been around the game all his life and is brimming with self-confidence.

“He’s a very hyper individual and he motivates people,” said Bill Lachemann, manager of the Angels’ Arizona rookie league team and a spring training coach. “He’s been a good instructor. His bark is worse than his bite.”

Reberger, 46, majored in zoology at the University of Idaho and worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an assistant biologist while in school. He speaks more softly and slowly than Hines, an approach that served him well while he worked to gain the trust of his charges and colleagues during spring training.

“I was stepping lightly early, feeling my way through,” Reberger said. “Marcel isn’t easy to get to know. He’s very intense.”

While Hines and Reberger differ in style, Manager Doug Rader believes they’re similarly rich in substance.

“They’re both very bright, both very knowledgeable and both have a very good teaching background,” Rader said. “They’ve been very successful instructing--Reberger naturally at pitching and as far as (Hines) is concerned, physical fitness, baserunning and outfield play.”

Rader met Hines only three years ago when Rader was scouting for the Angels and Hines was a roving minor league defensive instructor. Rader hit against Reberger more than 20 years ago, but didn’t get to know him until Rader became a scout for the Angels.

“It’s about as important a job as we have,” Rader said of Reberger’s work, “when you think at least half of your pitching staff is being prepared daily by him, especially when those guys are going to be in games where the ballgame is on the line.”

Reberger is familiar with many of the pitchers on the Angels’ staff from his years as the pitching coach for triple-A Edmonton (1984-87) and as the minor league roving pitching instructor the past three seasons.

He worked with Kirk McCaskill in Edmonton, with Chuck Finley in winter ball and knew Scott Lewis from minor league stops.

“It’s a good feeling to see the kids you’ve had in the minor leagues and get a chance to see how they’ve progressed,” Reberger said. “I’ve never worked with Bryan (Harvey) before and it’s been good to get to know him. . . .

“My first pitching coach in the big leagues was Roger Craig (now manager of the Giants). The most vivid thing in my mind with the Padres was his ability to motivate and keep your confidence up, and I’ve tried to emulate that. You’ve got to pat people on the back, motivate them as much as you can, plus make sure their mechanics are sound.”

He’s also conscious of keeping the pitchers motivated and alert during games, when they might be in bullpens far from the sights and sounds of a game.

“The bullpen guys can’t be spaced out,” he said. “I try to stay in the game as much as I can.”

Hines has been in the game as long as he can remember, trailing his father, Ben, around LaVerne College and Arizona State. His nickname, Jeter, comes from a television commercial in which a youngster with that name sat at his father’s knee to absorb parental wisdom.

Hines credits his father for showing him that teaching involves more than lecturing.

“The biggest thing that’s helped me over the years is he, at the college level, treated (his players) like men,” Hines said. “The biggest lesson I learned is to treat them all like men. The biggest problem I’ve seen is when you don’t treat them like men, and they act accordingly.”

That meshes with the philosophy Rader espouses, and they hit it off immediately.

“We saw eye to eye on the value of the good, old-fashioned work ethic and playing hardball,” Hines said. “Once they promoted Doug (to manager), I told my wife, ‘I hope I’m fortunate enough to get promoted while Doug Rader is around.’ As long as I’m in this game, it would be a real fortunate learning situation for me.

“I don’t know about all managers in this game, but Doug Rader is the manager I want to learn it from.”

Instructing players older than himself about defensive positioning and running the bases doesn’t faze Hines. “It’s something I never think of,” said Hines, the youngest member of the coaching staff. “When we go out there, we’re just men working. It’s my job to watch hitters, and (the Angels’ outfielders) know how to position themselves for most hitters. Maybe I see something they haven’t.

“Those guys are consummate professionals, and part of being professionals is trying to sift through the information process. If I’m giving them bad information, they wouldn’t position themselves that way. I allow them the freedom to discuss things.”

Hines may have hurt his credibility a bit when he played left field during an unofficial B game last week. He was charged with an error on a harmless fly ball and spent most of the morning chasing line drives that sailed over his head. Third base coach Bobby Knoop cautioned him, “You’d better take out some more life insurance before you go out to the outfield again,” drawing a laugh from Hines.

“No excuses, I was brutal,” he said. “I could have played back and let everything fall in front of me, but I played up so I could embarrass myself.”

Rader couldn’t hide his amusement at Hines’ misadventures. “His future in those kinds of contests is very limited at that position,” Rader said. “Next time, he’ll play second base, so if he messes something up, he can say, ‘Hey, it isn’t my position.’ Luis (Polonia) said from now on, he’s going to hit fungoes and teach Jeter how to play.”

It was a light moment and a good break from the drudgery of spring training. Hines considers such moments vital.

“I’ve always lived by two rules,” Hines said. “You have to have fun in this game and you have to be a kid. You can never forget you’re a grown man in a kid’s game. You’ve got to have fun.”