BASEBALL / ROSS NWEHAN : The Catch Is That He Wants a Job

The early days of the new season have been as active for Bob Boone as if he were . . . well, still active.

What is the status of the man who ranks No. 1 on the all-time list of games caught?

Boone gropes for an explanation, saying he hasn’t put a label on it yet, though he then suggests a couple:

--Fired, in the sense he doesn’t have a job.

--Retired, but involuntarily.

Put another way: At 43, still confident he can play despite the failure of his spring tryout with the Seattle Mariners to produce employment, Boone is not yet resigned to retirement but is committed to “getting on with my life.”

Speaking from his Orange County home, he added: “I always felt they’d have to tear the uniform off me, and that’s what has happened. I’m disappointed that I can’t get a job, because I feel I can still help someone, but I’m enjoying not having a job.”

Boone has not been out of a uniform in April since he emerged from Stanford in 1968 with a degree in psychology.

He is making the most of this hiatus, if that is all it is.

“I’m reluctant to say I’ve retired because that means I’ve given up on the chance of playing again and I’m not doing that,” he said, meaning he is never far from the phone, only the roar of the crowd.

Last week he was in Oklahoma to film a fishing show for ESPN. Next week, he will be fishing in La Paz, Mexico. He has been watching his son, Matthew, 11, play Little League and has been pitching batting practice to the Villa Park High team, of which his son, Aaron, 18 and committed to USC, is the shortstop.

Boone also:

--Spends part of each day in apprenticeship at the Irvine office of Boone Development Co., a construction firm he owns in partnership with his brother, Rodney.

--Continues to hit off the soft-toss machine in his garage and remain on the martial arts program that helped reduce the impact of his knee injuries and the march of time.

Boone said he could be in playing condition within a week or two if called, but he doesn’t anticipate that happening, his agents having scoured the market during spring training, when the Mariners decided to go in a younger direction.

Among the clubs contacted were the Angels, with whom Boone spent seven successful seasons after being sold by the Philadelphia Phillies who believed that his knees and arm were shot.

“I thought it was a perfect fit, but they weren’t interested,” Boone said of the Angels and his willingness to assume a backup role to Lance Parrish, allowing John Orton to gain the playing experience he needs in triple A.

The disappointment, Boone said, is that he has seen other veteran catchers such as Rick Dempsey, Ernie Whitt and Gary Carter sign with new clubs while the door has slammed on his career, only a year after he opened the 1990 season as the Kansas City Royals’ regular catcher.

A broken finger put Boone on the disabled list for more than a month, and when he returned it was strictly in a backup role behind Mike Macfarlane as the Royals, their season in a shambles early, opted for development. Boone appeared in only 40 games and was released at the end of the season.

Boone reflected and said: “I can’t believe I’m not playing somewhere, but the solace is that I wrung everything I could out of my career. I think I could be very valuable to a club in a backup role, but this isn’t as crushing as it could be because all we’re talking about is a backup role.

“I mean, I was sitting in the Seattle bullpen one day this spring and I said to myself, ‘What in the world am I doing here?’ I feel the same physically as I always have, but I can accept this and move on. What I’ll miss most is working with the pitchers and setting up strategy.”

Defense and pitch orchestration have distinguished a 19-year major league career that is worthy of Hall of Fame consideration and spans 2,225 games behind the plate.

Carlton Fisk, with 2,044 entering the season, is the only active catcher with a chance to pass Boone in the near future, conceivably next season if Fisk stays healthy.

“If that happens, I might say, ‘Oh, darn,’ but it won’t have much effect on my life,” Boone said. “I respect Fisk as a player and friend and I think I could still compete with him if given the chance.”

As Boone noted, that isn’t likely to happen. It’s more likely that the next Boone to play in the majors will be his oldest son, Bret, who advanced to Seattle’s triple-A affiliate at Calgary this season.

Of his chances of returning, Boone said: “The one thing that has been against me from the time I signed my first contract is that I never grade out well when people try to evaluate my ability on the singular basis of running or throwing or hitting for power.

“You have to look at the entire package, and on that basis I think I do all the little things that help a club win. I think I’ve been a valuable player and still could be.”

EXPANSION

It is Boone’s ultimate goal to manage in the majors, and it could happen as soon as 1993 if the Orlando, Fla., group with which he is associated is awarded a National League expansion franchise.

Unfortunately for Boone, of the six cities being considered, Orlando and Buffalo are believed to be out of the running. The winning cities are expected to be announced at an owners’ meeting in Los Angeles June 12-13.

It all hinges on the $190 million in expansion fees that the NL wants to keep and the American League wants to share. The AL must approve the NL choices by a majority vote, and the two leagues, seeking to avoid a deadlock that would force Commissioner Fay Vincent to serve in an arbitration role, have been meeting quietly. They are inching toward a settlement by which the AL would get a percentage of the $190 million in return for contributing players to the expansion pool.

If that settlement fails, there is also this possibility: The AL will allow the NL to keep the money in return for AL expansion rights to Denver and Miami, leaving the NL with Washington and Tampa-St. Petersburg in 1993.

COMING OF AGE

Jack McDowell, the White Sox’s 25-year-old right-hander from Stanford and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High, has emerged after concerns that he was too cocky, too arrogant and too much his own man when selected No. 1 by Chicago in the 1987 June draft.

McDowell, 14-9 last season, pitched 23 consecutive scoreless innings this spring, went the distance in a 9-1 opening-day victory over the Baltimore Orioles, and defeated the Detroit Tigers Saturday.

“I think you have to be cocky as a rookie, but the biggest thing along the way is being able to adjust,” he said. “There’s a different feeling I have now, a different kind of confidence that comes with experience and knowledge.”

A’S BOUNTY

References to the age of the Oakland Athletics’ pitching staff are generally aimed at Dennis Eckersley, 36, and Dave Stewart and Bob Welch, both 34. But they can now be aimed in another direction as well. The A’s are thought to have the best and deepest young pitching of any organization in baseball, and the future--at least part of it--is now.

There are four rookies on the A’s staff--starters Joe Slusarski and Kirk Dressendorfer, and relievers Steve Chitren and Dana Allison.

In the wings is a gold mine from the 1990 draft when the A’s harvested a series of compensation draft choices for the free-agent losses of Dave Parker, Storm Davis and Tony Phillips.

Texas high school phenom Todd Van Poppel and UCLA’s David Zancanaro were taken as the compensation for Parker. Arizona State catcher Eric Helfand and Dressendorfer, the University of Texas ace, represented compensation for Davis. Kansas left-hander Curtis Shaw was the compensation pick for Phillips. And Don Peters, a right-hander from St. Francis College in Illinois, was the A’s own first-round choice.

“We’d like to do that every year,” said Walt Jocketty, the A’s director of baseball administration. “A system can get healthy in a hurry.”

GIBBY

Kirk Gibson was at his fist-pumping, emotion-wringing best on opening day. In his official debut with the Royals, he tripled, singled and was seldom off his feet in the dugout, never able to stay long in the batter’s box.

“I told the umpire to bear with me, you’ve got cardiac overload here,” Gibson said. “That first at-bat, I had severe palpitations of the heart. I wish I could bottle the adrenaline you get on opening day.”

Gibson does a pretty good job of bottling it every day. Said teammate Kevin Seitzer: “The guy’s a psycho. I love playing with him.” Added George Brett: “I’m just glad we’ve got him and not somebody else, put it that way.”