Angels’ Anderson Is a Close Second Again : Baseball: Minnesota’s Cordova earns AL rookie honor in tightest voting since 1979.

That Las Vegas casino will have to find somebody else to park cars this winter. Marty Cordova figures he’ll be too busy basking in the afterglow of winning American League rookie-of-the-year honors.

Cordova, an outfielder who hit 24 home runs and drove in 84 runs for the Minnesota Twins, squeezed past Angel left fielder Garret Anderson on Wednesday in the closest voting in 16 years.

A year ago, Cordova and Anderson each took off-season jobs--Cordova at a friend’s casino and Anderson at a retail store--as minor league players often do.

Neither will be going back, but Cordova said he might have returned to the casino if he hadn’t won the rookie-of-the-year award.

“I just bought a house and the stuff that goes inside it isn’t free,” Cordova said from his Las Vegas home. “Just because I’m one year in the major leagues doesn’t mean I’m set for life.”

Cordova and Anderson each got 13 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America. But Cordova received 13 second-place votes and one for third for 105 points, while Anderson got 10 seconds and four thirds for 99 points.

It was the closest vote since John Castino of the Twins and Alfredo Griffin of Toronto tied with seven votes apiece in 1979. The next year, the format was changed to a system where writers make three picks, worth five points for first, three for second and one for third.

New York Yankee starter Andy Pettitte finished third, with Angel reliever Troy Percival fourth. They each received one first-place vote.

Cordova batted .277 as the Twins’ left fielder. He gained attention early in the season by homering in five consecutive games May 16-20, tying a major league rookie record last accomplished by Ron Kittle of the Chicago White Sox in 1983.

Cordova also became only the third Twin to hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases, joining Kirby Puckett in 1986 and Larry Hisle in 1977.

“The thing I’m most proud of was the 20 homers and 20 steals,” Cordova said. “I think I had a pretty good last month of the season. It ended on a good note for me and the Angels went on a slide.”

Cordova hit .304 with four homers and 23 RBIs after Sept. 1.

Anderson was on the Angels’ expanded opening-day roster but was sent to triple-A Vancouver when the squad was trimmed to 25 on May 15. He returned June 7 and a few weeks later was inserted into the left fielder’s spot when Tony Phillips moved to third base.

Anderson batted .321 with 16 homers and 69 RBIs, had a 14-game hitting streak and was named the AL player of the month when he batted .410 with seven homers and 31 RBIs in July.

“I don’t look at it as coming in second,” said Anderson, who teamed with Jim Edmonds and Tim Salmon to form perhaps the best outfield in the majors in 1995. “I overcame a lot this season, did a good job and that makes me feel a lot better.

“Just showing everybody that I can play [means a lot]. I got a lot of people’s mouths dropping to the ground. I feel like I can keep it going and do it again next year. I got a taste of winning, and that’s what drives me.”

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The Voting

V otes on a 5-3-1-point basis:

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Player 1st 2nd 3rd Pts Cordova, Minn. 13 13 1 105 Anderson, Angels 13 10 4 99 Pettitte, NY 1 1 8 16 Percival, Angels 1 2 2 13 Green, Toronto -- 2 2 8 Durham, Chic. -- -- 3 3 Tavarez, Clev. -- -- 3 3 Nunnally, KC -- -- 2 2 Goodwin, KC -- -- 1 1 Radke, Minn. -- -- 1 1 Sparks, Milw. -- -- 1 1

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