Major League Compensation

The head of California’s largest industrial company, Chevron Chairman Kenneth T. Derr, made $1.1 million in salary and other compensation last year.

The head of the state’s largest bank, BankAmerica Chairman Richard M. Rosenberg, made $1.6 million, which also makes him the highest-paid banker in the nation.

But both executives made pocket change when compared to the people making the real money in California--Major League baseball players. Consider this:

* There are 38 players on California teams (the As, Giants, Dodgers, Angels and Padres) making more than Rosenberg; 48 make more than Derr.

* Sixteen players in California made more than Rosenberg and Derr combined.

* Three of them--Darryl Strawberry of the Dodgers ($3.8 million), San Francisco’s Will Clark ($3.75 million) and Kevin Mitchell ($3.75 million)--make $1 million more than the combined salaries of Rosenberg and Derr.

* Eight players individually make more money than the entire $3.4 million paid last year to the 10 senior executives at Chevron.

Generic Jets

The folks at Delta Air Lines say they love to fly and it shows. At Southwest Air Lines, they love to fly, but it doesn’t always show.

Southwest launched its Los Angeles-Oakland route last week using three unmarked jets that it leased at the last minute from American Airlines. The company says it didn’t have time to paint them.

As Luck Would Have It

Norman Fosback, a newsletter publisher who tracks the selling of stock by corporate insiders, this month gave his “Lucky Insider Award “ to presidential son George W. Bush.

A director of Harken Energy Corp. in Grand Prairie, Tex., Bush sold 212,140 shares--or two-thirds of his stake--in the oil and gas company at $4 a share back in June, 1990. That was lucky enough, since the stock has since slid to about half that price.

But Fosback notes that Bush waited until last month to file documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission telling the agency he sold his stake, a full eight months after he was supposed to under SEC rules. The real luck for Bush, Fosback says, is that people who are late in filing typically get off with a polite warning letter from the SEC.

Briefly . . .

Shouldn’t it be Debtors Inc.? Creditors Inc., a subsidiary of troubled Traditional Industries in Agoura Hills, is listed among the companies filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Court protection . . . An AFL-CIO MasterCard allows union members to skip two months of payments during union-sanctioned strikes lasting more than 30 days . . . The slogan of the Seniors Against Boiler-Room Scams is “Just Say No--and Hang Up.”