Riddoch Receives One-Year Contract to Manage in 1992 : Padres: Announcement comes before Padres’ come-from-behind, 10-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. McIlvaine says manager’s positives outweighed the negatives.

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch, his eyes transfixed across the room, broke into a slow, expansive grin. He started to speak, then laughed, trying to shake this crazy thought rolling around in his head.

“You know,” Riddoch said, “this has been the worst year of my life, and the best year of my life. That sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.”

Riddoch, who endured the most traumatic year of his baseball career, signed a one-year contract Saturday for about $225,000 to manage the Padres for the 1992 season. The Padres also announced that they are retaining all the coaches, who also will be provided with one-year contracts.

The announcements occurred hours before the Padres’ 10-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. The Padres overcame a 5-0 deficit in front of a crowd of 17,847 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“There was good, there was bad, there was ugly,” said Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager. “But in the end, the good outweighed the bad and ugly parts.

“Most important as a manager is having the team prepared every day and motivated. And he did that. You’d have to think Greg has battled a lot through this year, and will have to be reckoned with as a major league manager.”

McIlvaine, who maintained that the decision to retain Riddoch was strictly his decision and confirmed by ownership, said he was most impressed with Riddoch’s disposition. Riddoch was chastised and berated by several Padres when they were traded or released, but he never flinched. Instead, he simply listened and tried to shrug off the remarks.

“The worst things in my life have happened this year,” Riddoch said. “There were a lot of lies and malicious things said about me.

“But I didn’t give in to the negative influence. I didn’t want to do down to that level.”

Said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn: “It was kind of funny to me because I was telling him the same things he was telling me last year. He just stood his ground. You can’t sit here and say the man’s perfect, but to me he’s really a player’s manager.”

Riddoch acknowledges he’s different from most managers. He regularly partakes in the team’s practical jokes, and will go fishing with players on road trips. It’s almost as if his personality never changed from his days as a coach to a manager.

Yet, while many of the players adapted to Riddoch’s style, a few players criticized it, privately complaining that Riddoch shouldn’t be participating in such antics now that he’s a manager.

“You’re talking about 25 to 30 different personalities,” Padre reliever Larry Andersen said, “and not everybody’s going to like his style. But I’m a firm believer that you don’t say somebody guilty until they’re proven guilty, and he really didn’t have a chance to prove what his ability was.

“Now everyone knows what he can do.”

Said Riddoch: “Hey, I’m not going to change my personality to live up to anyone’s expectations. I’m just going to be me. When they put gum on my hat, and do pranks to me, it’s like they’re saying, ‘You’re OK, we accept you.’ ”

Riddoch, who managed the Padres to an 83-78 record this season, was able to overcome a rash of injuries to assure the Padres’ third-place finish. The only starting pitcher who failed to miss a start this season was Andy Benes, and the Padres wound up using a franchise-record 48 players.

“I’ve learned from my strengths and my weaknesses,” Riddoch said. “I’ve dealt with unfairness and everything else. Believe me, this will be a season I’ll never forget.”

Meanwhile, the only suspense in Saturday’s game involved Reds first baseman Hal Morris and Padre catcher Dann Bilardello. Morris went one for five, lowering his batting average to .314. He trails leader Terry Pendleton of the Atlanta Braves, who has a .319 batting average. Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn is at .317 but is out for the season. If Pendleton doesn’t play today, as expected, Morris would have to go four for five to win his first batting title.

Bilardello, meanwhile, was bidding to become the first Padre player to hit for the cycle, singled, doubled and tripled in his first three at-bats. He flied out and struck out in his final two outs, however, ending his chance for a spot in Padre history.