BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Jackson, Phil Niekro Head Voting for Hall

Obscured by economic and labor gloom, by the portrait of a ship without a captain, baseball is conducting a rite of winter all the same.

Hall of Fame ballots have been mailed, with 14 first-time candidates among the 32 players overall.

Of the new candidates, having been retired for five years, two seem certain to be elected on this first try.

They are Reggie Jackson, who hit 563 home runs, drove in 1,702 runs and turned October into a nickname, and Phil Niekro, who won 318 games in 24 seasons.

Are the Hall of Fame hopes of two former Dodgers being reunited on this ballot as certain to be realized?

For Steve Garvey and Ron Cey, fixtures in the longest established infield ever, that’s not as clear.

Both are deserving of consideration, but unlikely to be elected in their first year of eligibility, an honor many voters reserve for candidates with overwhelming credentials.

Garvey and Cey offer credentials superior in some categories to many first basemen and third basemen already in the Hall, but not superior to some first and third basemen still on the ballot and still hoping to receive the required 75% of the vote.

It would be difficult, for instance, to justify Garvey’s election ahead of Orlando Cepeda, who is on the ballot for the 13th year and eligible for only 15. Cepeda played two fewer seasons than Garvey, but hit 107 more home runs, drove in 57 more runs and had a higher batting average: .297 to .294.

It would be difficult to justify Cey’s election ahead of either Ken Boyer, on the ballot for the 13th time, or Ron Santo, on the ballot for the ninth time.

Boyer played two fewer seasons than Cey but had nearly 300 more hits, drove in two more runs and batted .287 to Cey’s .261. Santo also played two fewer seasons than Cey but had 386 more hits, 26 more homers and 192 more RBIs while batting .277.

None of that should detract from the legitimacy of Garvey and Cey as Hall of Fame candidates.

Of the 15 first basemen in the Hall, only three played more games than Garvey, only two had more at-bats, only four had more hits, only six had more doubles, only six had more home runs and only seven drove in more runs. Those seven: Jake Beckley, Jim Bottomley, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey and Johnny Mize.

It can also be said on Garvey’s behalf that few players have performed as well in the showcase events. Jackson was Mr. October, but Garvey deserved similar respect. He batted .356 in 22 playoff games, .319 in 28 World Series games and .393 in 10 All-Star games.

Of the seven third basemen in the Hall, only two played more games than Cey, only two had more at-bats, only Eddie Mathews hit more home runs and only Brooks Robinson, Pie Traynor and Mathews drove in more runs.

Cey also had big moments in postseason play, and although his .261 average is lower than those of the seven third basemen in the Hall, he is among the top five third basemen in home runs, among the top 10 in assists and games played, and he had a 60-game errorless streak that is the second-longest among National League third basemen.

Nevertheless, he is not optimistic about his chances, saying that if it took Duke Snider 10 years to get in, that if Ron Santo, Orlando Cepeda and Gil Hodges are still waiting, “I don’t think my chances are too great.”

“As much as all players want to make the Hall of Fame, I’ve never used the Hall to measure the success or failure of my career,” he said. “I’m pleased with what I accomplished. I’m pleased to rank among the all-time third basemen in a number of categories, and I believe there was a quality to my career that went beyond the numbers, though I’m not sure many people will appreciate that or look beyond the numbers.

“The Dodgers won four times in my 10 years (with the team). People equate Don Baylor to winning. We were winners, too. We were successful as a team and infield unit. I take a lot of pride in that.”

Cey said it would be an injustice if he were voted in before Santo, and added that changes in the game make it impossible to measure the “numbers of a (Babe) Ruth or (Lou) Gehrig” against those of more recent players.

Garvey also cited the subjective nature of the voting and said his hopes rest on the balance and consistency of his career.

“I don’t have 500 home runs or 3,000 hits, but when you look at average, run production, power, what I did in the postseason, I think it all adds up,” he said, mentioning as well his league-record playing streak, his all-time highest fielding percentage for first basemen and the success of the teams for which he played.

“The Hall is the ultimate individual honor,” he said. “I’d say my chances are 50-50. Hopefully, it will happen at some point in the next 15 years.”

Voting is done by 10-year members of the Baseball Writers Assn. of America, and Garvey and Cey probably will be reminded of the Dodger theme first heard in Brooklyn: Wait ‘til next year.

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Job market: The latest siege of madcap spending by an industry allegedly on the verge of financial ruin has left only Mark McGwire and Ruben Sierra available among the big-name free agents in the prime of their careers.

As anticipated, however, more than 70 free agents from the fringe of the upper class or the heart of the middle class remain available, with few job openings other than at the triple-A level.

That list of unemployed is expected to grow today, the deadline for clubs to tender 1993 contracts to their returning players. Many veterans are expected to be cut loose, adding to the logjam.

Among the familiar names still available as free agents and facing an uncertain job market are Jeff Reardon, Lonnie Smith, Craig Lefferts, Tom Brunansky, Bert Blyleven, Hubie Brooks, Jim Eisenreich, Jay Howell, Mike Scioscia, Kevin Seitzer, Willie Randolph, Dick Schofield, Pedro Guerrero, Lance Parrish, Mark Eichhorn, Alfredo Griffin and Manny Lee.

Said one American League general manager: “This has been coming. I mean, if the current system remains in place, there will be no middle class eventually. Call it the Hollywood syndrome. Every club will have a few stars making big money, and the rest of the roster will be at or near minimum.”

Said Richard Ravitch, president of the owners’ Player Relations Committee: “Our figures indicate that 13 to 14% of the players are ending up with 50% of the compensation. That’s very worrisome to us and should be very worrisome to the union.”

Ravitch said that the $500-million spending spree of this winter only shows how “flawed the system is” in that “what comes in immediately goes out.”

He said the industry is in chaos and has urged the clubs to open their books to prove the extent of the financial problems as he begins negotiations with the union on a partnership agreement specifying a percentage of revenue for salaries and modifying arbitration and free agency.

Former commissioner Peter Ueberroth ordered the books opened in the mid-’80s and it proved little.

The accountants seemed to hide more than they disclosed, and there is no reason to believe that has changed. Would we really get an accurate read on a critical factor such as depreciation? Would we really learn how those clubs owned by media outlets juggle the accounting of what they receive from their parent companies for TV-radio rights?

Economic peril? Don Fehr, the union’s executive director, continues to dispute that. Fehr said any problem could be alleviated by a willingness on the part of the owners to increase revenue sharing. They shared 26% of their 1991 revenue of $1,537,395,000, according to the joint economic study report released last week.

“If the clubs are unwilling to change their own system in a meaningful way, and they say that the small-market clubs need help, the only place they can come to for help is the players,” Fehr said. “Isn’t that the way it always is?”

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Lockout: Despite Ravitch’s rhetoric to the contrary, the PRC has established groundwork for a spring training lockout by notifying the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and other agencies of a lockout possibility, as is required 60 days before any lockout can be initiated.

Ravitch said it was “strictly boiler plate, strictly procedural,” but Fehr, noting it was done only a day after the owners had voted to reopen labor talks, said:

“It’s entirely inconsistent with the posture they have been suggesting, and it puzzles me. I mean, this is something which is often done, and often routinely done, but their reopening was accompanied by all kinds of suggestions that there was no threat, certainly no imminent threat, to the 1993 season.

“If that’s true, then there was no necessity at all to send this out when they did. All it does is preserve the option to shut it down in February. If they were looking for a way to send a positive signal, there were other ways to do it.”

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Happy holidays: How deep do the Angel budget cuts go? Wives and husbands were not invited to the club Christmas party.

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Winners: The $43.75-million signing of Barry Bonds by the San Francisco Giants enabled agent Dennis Gilbert and associates at the Beverly Hills Sports Council to claim baseball’s top signing in each of the last four years.

During that period, Gilbert also has placed Bret Saberhagen for $8.9 million, Jose Canseco for $23.5 million, Bobby Bonilla for $29 million and Danny Tartabull for $25.5 million. The five contracts total $130.65 million. At 5%, Gilbert has made $6.825 million, and he has other clients as well. Down and out in Beverly Hills? Forget it.

* WALKING PAPERS

The Dodgers decline to offer a contract to utility player Todd Benzinger. C20