Bichette Homes in on Respect : Baseball: Slugging Colorado outfielder doesn’t think mile-high advantage should work against him in MVP race.

No one has heard more about the home-road disparity of the Colorado Rockies than Dante Bichette.

The former Angel outfielder has produced a season worthy of most-valuable-player consideration, but cynics question whether he should receive that award since his power hitting has received a high-altitude boost in Coors Field.

“If they take it away for that reason, it’ll be disappointing,” Bichette said. “If we win our division, the organization deserves to have a player considered for the award. I don’t mind losing it--it’s not what I play for--but it wouldn’t be fair to the organization. Barry Larkin is going to be a top candidate from Cincinnati, but he doesn’t have the numbers.

“I’m in a great place to play with great fans, but unfortunately you don’t get a lot of respect playing in Coors Field, and that’s not fair either. I feel like I’ve earned a respect I’m not receiving, and that’s not a feeling I like. I think a lot of people are just jealous of our situation. We play in the best ballpark with the best support at a time when baseball is struggling, and we’re kind of immune to that struggle.

“Maybe I’m not a 40-home run guy somewhere else, but there are a lot of places I’d be putting up big numbers. Like I said, I’m not playing for the MVP but there would be a lot of satisfaction in winning it because I’d know people thought I deserved it despite all the skeptics.”

Big numbers? Bichette leads the National League in runs batted in with 116, and in home runs with 37, 31 of them at Coors Field. He is third in the league in batting at .337, second to Tony Gwynn in hits, first in total bases, and second to Mike Piazza in slugging percentage.

He has had hitting streaks of 14, 23, 19 and 13 games and has not gone two games without a hit since July 2. In his last 66 games before Tuesday night’s, Bichette had hit 28 homers and driven in 79 runs. He was 13 for 25 with four doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs in consecutive series against possible playoff rivals Cincinnati and Atlanta on Colorado’s last home stand.

Said Colorado Manager Don Baylor, “When you look at that kind of damage and consistency, I don’t see how anyone can say it’s tainted.”

Should Roger Maris not have received MVP awards in 1960 and ’61 while taking advantage of the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium? Or Jim Rice not have been honored when he hit 46 home runs in 1978 because of the proximity of the left-field wall at Fenway Park? Or Andre Dawson been rejected in ’87 because he played 81 games in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field?

The MVP issue is merely the latest chapter in what has been something of a bittersweet season for Bichette.

It began amid the labor mess of last winter, when Bichette wasn’t even sure he would be offered a contract by the Rockies and was considering Japanese and other offers. Baylor, with the exhibition season already under way, personally asked Bichette to return.

He received a one-year, $3.15-million contract, about what he made last year after the 11% strike reduction.

Then:

--He disliked the move from right field to left field--making room for free agent addition Larry Walker--and was stung by criticism of his defense.

--He was distressed by media reports of a 3-year-old domestic violence incident.

--He rejected a two-year, $8-million contract extension, saying he deserved, at least, the same three years that teammates Ellis Burks, Bill Swift and Joe Girardi received, or the four given Walker and Andres Galarraga.

“It’s the greatest year I’ve had in terms of contributing to the team, but it’s been tough to smile at times,” Bichette said. “Some of the things that happened off the field, the stories that dredged up the past and attacked my family life, made it difficult for me in a place where I have such a great relationship with the fans.

“I haven’t been altogether happy, but if we reach the playoffs, if we get to the World Series, I’ll definitely have some great memories of the year, and my family has come closer together because of all that’s gone on.”

At 31, Bichette is a long way from the 17th-round draft pick of 1984 who opened in left field for the Angels in 1990. He was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Dave Parker the next spring, his relationship with then-Angel Manager Doug Rader having soured.

“Baseball can be both humbling and forgiving,” Bichette said. “It’s a sport of second chances. Others have had stories like mine. I certainly have no bitterness toward the Angels. I was very immature then and have become much more consistent as a player and person.

“I think it was a learning experience for the Angels as well as myself. I mean, they also gave away young players like Devon White and Mark McLemore, who became stars with other teams. Now there’s no way they’d give up on their best young players.”

Bichette produced modestly while playing irregularly during two years in Milwaukee, but encountered two hitting instructors who had a profound impact: Mike Easler and Baylor, of whom Bichette said:

“He’s always been in my corner. He believed in me before I believed in myself. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Don, and I wouldn’t have stayed if it wasn’t for Don.”

It was after becoming manager of the Rockies that Baylor encouraged his new employers to trade for Bichette as a spinoff of the ’93 expansion draft.

Baylor still worries about Bichette’s focus at times. He still likes to say that “Dante drops in from Venus” now and then.

Baylor also knows, however, that Bichette has become a serious student of hitting who continues to improve.

“I told him in ’91 that if he ever learned the strike zone and became more disciplined as a hitter, he could run the league,” Baylor said.

That was in the Brewer days and it’s a different league, but Bichette is among those who dominate it. He is the only major league outfielder to have hit at least .300 with 20 home runs and 80 RBIs in each of the last three years.

Bichette insists he has read Ted Williams’ book on hitting every year for the last 10 years and has videotape of his every major league at-bat--”I think he had a son just so he would have someone to sit and watch tapes with,” Baylor said of Bichette--but he may be best defined by pictures of Kirby Puckett and Paul Molitor in his locker.

Puckett because “he swings at everything and hits .300 like I do,” and Molitor because “he’s the best first-pitch hitter in baseball and that’s what I do too,” Bichette said.

Bichette said he doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself in the Rockies’ playoff bid.

“I feel like if I hadn’t come back, the team wouldn’t be in the position it is now, so I feel good about that contribution,” he said. “But it won’t be until after the season that I’ll sit back and reflect on where I want to play.”

He is among the most popular of the Colorado players. T-shirts carrying his name and caricature fill souvenir shops in Denver. It would be difficult leaving his legion of fans, that mile-high support. If only the Colorado fans were eligible to vote for MVP.

* ROCKIES LOSE: Colorado has four 30-homer players, but San Diego has Caminiti’s eight RBIs and a 15-4 victory. C5