In Case of Strike Head Directly to a Class-A Game : Baseball: California League hopes to cash in on providing fans with a low-cost alternative.

California League general managers are like owners of funeral homes these days.

“Come,” they tell baseball fans sympathetically. “Grieve with us.”

Minor league teams will open their arms and their gates, welcoming baseball fans after the major league players begin their expected strike Friday. And like the owner of a funeral home, minor league owners will be counting their money through the tears.

“I think a strike, however long or short, is bad for the game,” Lake Elsinore Storm General Manager Kevin Haughian said. “But in the short term, I think it is help for us.”

The Storm and the Riverside Pilots will exchange tickets from major league games for tickets to their games. The four other California League teams in Southern California have no such plans--yet.

“Our biggest promotion during the strike is that our players will be on the field,” said San Bernardino Spirit General Manager Jim Wehmeier.

So will the players from the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Bakersfield Dodgers and High Desert Mavericks. The Class-A California League will be the state’s only professional baseball if major leaguers walk out.

Officials of the six Southern California teams, all within a two-hour drive of the San Fernando Valley, have their fingers crossed that fans will take advantage of the alternative.

“We’re hoping,” Rancho Cucamonga ticket manager Kelly Smith said. “They’ve got to get their baseball fix somewhere.”

A rush of fans to minor league parks may have long-term benefits after the strike ends, the California League general managers figure, because the strike will be a way to coax fans to experience their product.

“We’ll get a lot of major league fans coming to minor league parks and they’ll see we put on a better show anyway,” Wehmeier said. “They’ll say, ‘I paid 25 bucks (for a family) and they put on a pretty good show, instead of paying a lot more to watch a bunch of overpaid prima donnas.’

“All the things that are wrong with major league baseball right now are exactly what’s right with minor league baseball.”

Because minor league players are largely unknown and generally spend no more than one season in a city, teams market their atmosphere and facilities more than the product on the field.

“We’ve got controlled lunacy,” Haughian said. “Our general operation philosophy is we want people to leave and say, ‘I went to Disneyland and a baseball game broke out.’ ”

Hardly a minor league game goes by without some 3-year-old circling the bases in a between-innings race against a green dinosaur. Or without fans checking to see if “double to right field” corresponds to the spot they need to fill on their bingo cards to win an order of gooey nachos.

The ballparks themselves also are attractions. Minor league philosophy of late: Build a new stadium and start collecting money. The Quakes opened their park, fittingly called the Epicenter, last season and drew more than 330,000 fans. The next highest total was High Desert, in Adelanto. Maverick Stadium, opened four seasons ago, drew more than 190,000 fans in 1993.

The jewel of the league this year is Lake Elsinore’s new park, The Diamond. Built at a cost of more than $20 million, The Diamond opened this season when the Angels’ Cal League affiliate moved from Palm Springs.

“It is shades of Ebbets Field and Wrigley Field, but with all the amenities of a modern-day facility,” Haughian said.

Haughian said more than 8,000 fans can be squeezed into the ballpark, including 450 at a sit-down restaurant in the left-field corner. Even without the help of a major league strike, Haughian expects Lake Elsinore to break the Cal League attendance record set last year by Rancho Cucamonga.

Attendance climbed throughout the minor leagues in 1981, when major league players went on strike for 50 days. But Riverside General Manager Jack Patton isn’t sure the results will be the same in 1994.

“The major league strike will be a positive influence (on the minors), but how big an influence I’m not sure,” he said. “Fans may just be ticked off at baseball and focus on football.”

Class-A Alternative

With major league baseball players expected to go on strike Friday, Southland fans will have to turn to the California League, a minor league, for their professional baseball. Fortunately, six teams in the Class-A League are within two hours of Los Angeles.

BAKERSFIELD DODGERS

Affiliate: Dodgers

Stadium: Sam Lynn Ballpark (capacity 3,200).

Directions: North on Interstate 5, north on Hwy 99, right on California Ave., left on Chester Ave.

Upcoming home dates: Aug. 19-21, vs. Lake Elsinore.

Game times: 7:15 p.m.

Ticket prices: $3-$5 ($2 children). Walk-up tickets always available.

To order tickets: (805) 322-1363.

HIGH DESERT MAVERICKS

Affiliate: Independent.

Stadium: Maverick Stadium (capacity 5,500)

Directions: North on Interstate 15, north on Hwy. 395 to Adelanto Road

Upcoming home dates: Friday-Sunday, vs. Central Valley.

Game times: 7:05 p.m. (1:05 p.m. Sundays)

Ticket prices: $3.50-$5 ($3 children and seniors). Walk-up tickets generally available during the week. Call ahead on weekends.

To order tickets: (619) 246-6287.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA QUAKES

Affiliate: San Diego Padres.

Stadium: The Epicenter (capacity 6,100).

Directions: East on Interstate 10, north on I-15, left on Foothill Blvd., left on Rochester Ave, right on Stadium Way.

Upcoming home dates: Friday-Sunday, vs. Stockton; Aug. 16-18, vs. Lake Elsinore.

Game times: 7:05 p.m. (6:05 p.m. on Sundays).

Ticket prices: $3-$6. Walk-up tickets usually available on weekdays. Call ahead on weekends.

To order tickets: (909) 481-5252

RIVERSIDE PILOTS

Affiliate: Seattle Mariners.

Stadium: Riverside Sports Center (capacity 3,500).

Directions: East on Hwy 60, north to 1000 Blaine St.

Upcoming home dates: Friday-Sunday, vs. Bakersfield.

Game times: 7:15 p.m. (6 p.m. on Sundays).

Ticket prices: $3-$5 ($2 general admission for children). Walk-up tickets always available.

To order tickets: (909) 276-3352.

LAKE ELSINORE STORM

Affiliate: Angels

Stadium: The Diamond (capacity 8,066).

Directions: South on Interstate 15, right on Diamond Drive.

Upcoming home dates: Friday-Sunday, vs. San Jose; Aug. 15, vs. Central Valley.

Game times: 7:05 p.m. (5:05 p.m. Sundays)

Ticket prices: $5, $4, $3 ($2.50 general admission for children and seniors.) Walk-up tickets are available, but ordering in advance is not a bad idea.

To order tickets: (909) 245-4487.

SAN BERNARDINO SPIRIT

Affiliate: Independent.

Stadium: Fiscalini Field (capacity 3,600).

Directions: East on Interstate 10, north on I-215, east on Hwy 30, right on Waterman Road, left on Highland Ave.

Upcoming home dates: Aug. 15-17, vs. San Jose; Aug. 19-21, vs. Rancho Cucamonga.

Game times: 7 p.m. (6 p.m. on Sundays).

Ticket prices: $3-$5. Walk-up tickets always available.

To order tickets: (909) 881-1836.