Hometown Hero

Frank McKenna, the premier of New Brunswick--roughly the political equivalent of a U.S. governor--was at Angel pitcher Jason Dickson’s high school alma mater a few weeks ago to help dedicate a new multimedia lab.

But McKenna had a lot more than the Internet and CD-ROM and baud rates on his mind. He wanted to know about release points and change-ups and the American League rookie-of-the-year race.

“All he wanted to know about was Jason,” said Greg Morris, principal at James M. Hill Memorial High School in Chatham, Canada.

“He asked about his delivery, and why he wasn’t lifting his arms over his head anymore. He talked about how he wasn’t wearing long sleeves anymore. . . . Nothing escapes the eye here.”

That’s how big Dickson has become in his home province, where hockey may be king but baseball--and, specifically, the exploits of the Angels’ impressive rookie right-hander--is definitely part of the royal family.

Drive through Chatham, a town of about 7,000 people some 300 miles northeast of Maine, and you’ll see signs outside taverns that say: “See Jason Pitch Tonight, 10:30 p.m.” Storefront windows advertise Jason Dickson baseball cards.

One sports bar in New Brunswick, the Scoreboard in Miramiche, televises every Angel game Dickson pitches, and there’s usually a good gathering of Dickson family members and friends, even though most games go well past midnight on the East Coast.

“He’s also done wonders for the satellite dish business around here,” said Morris, who coached Dickson at the youth level. “I would say 50 to 100 people have bought them to watch Jason. I bought one, and I know at least 10 people from his [high school] team bought one. He’s a big deal around here.”

Some 20 family members and friends made the long drive to Boston in April to watch Dickson pitch in Fenway Park, and Dickson, 24, often receives faxes at the team hotel or e-mail from folks back home.

“That’s the best part about being from a small town,” said Dickson, who will start tonight against the Dodgers in Anaheim Stadium. “People support you.”

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It’s one of Dickson’s prized possessions, “definitely a keeper,” as he describes a picture of his first major league pitch last Aug. 21, with the Yankee Stadium scoreboard displaying no runs, no hits and no errors in the background.

Lucky for Dickson, the photographer who took the picture, Angel television analyst Jerry Reuss, was as adept with a camera as he was with a baseball during his pitching career.

Had Reuss’ lens been a tad out of focus, or his hands a bit unsteady, there would be no second chance, because the first big league pitch Dickson delivered was whacked for a home run by Derek Jeter, forever eliminating that zero on the scoreboard for the Yankees.

It was an inauspicious opening act, to say the least, and had things turned out differently, Dickson may have burned that picture.

But what transpired that day in New York helped transform a photo of a gopher-ball pitch into an inspiration for Dickson, an example of his fortitude, something from which he eventually would draw strength.

Dickson did not give up another run that day, and the Angels won in his big league debut, 7-1. How Dickson responded to such adversity went a long way toward shaping him, and his performance that afternoon foreshadowed his success this season.

“That, to me, was the ultimate test of whether you’re going to crack or keep going,” Dickson said. “I don’t know who taught me this, but you see a lot of funny things happen in baseball, and a 1-0 deficit is not hard to overcome. A lot of guys who are competitors are not going to let something like that get them down.”

This mental toughness, combined with a quiet confidence, are probably the biggest reasons Dickson is considered a strong candidate to become the first starting pitcher in 16 years to win the AL rookie-of-the-year award.

It certainly isn’t his fastball or curve, which are considered average or a little above average. But when you add a sinking fastball and a superb change-up, a willingness to throw any pitch on any count and the ability to control each offering, you have the makings of a very consistent, dependable starter, which Dickson has become.

Dickson, 8-4 with a 3.51 earned-run average, has lasted six innings or more in 15 of his 17 starts, giving up three earned runs or fewer 14 times. He has two complete-game victories, against the Boston Red Sox on April 3 and Kansas City Royals on April 20, walking none in both games.

A sixth-round pick from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M; in 1994, Dickson began 1997 hoping to win the No. 5 spot in the Angel rotation, but he has emerged as the team’s ace.

“He doesn’t seem like a rookie to me at all,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “He handles himself real well. When you’re doing what he’s done, he becomes a central part of the team.”

Dickson says there are a lot of pitchers at the double-A and triple-A levels who are as physically gifted as him.

“But it becomes a mental game here,” Dickson said of the big leagues. “If you go into games hoping to do well, you’re in trouble. You have to be confident. Not so much cocky, but you have to be confident you can get each guy out. If he gets a hit, you tip your hat to him.”

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Dickson, 1-4 with a 4.57 ERA in seven starts for the Angels last August and September, is quiet and unassuming in the clubhouse, certainly acting the part of a rookie. And there are times he definitely feels like a rookie.

“I still take some tongue-lashing from the other guys--that’s part of the game,” Dickson said. “If I didn’t, then I’d get worried.”

But Dickson assumes a different persona on the mound, turning from mild-mannered youngster to ferocious competitor, not so much wearing every emotion on his sleeve but definitely letting them show. You don’t need to be a lip-reader to know how upset he gets when a bad pitch is ripped.

“When I cross the lines, I really take that one-on-one battle, pitcher-vs.-hitter mentality out there,” Dickson said. “I get myself geared up, get kind of a bulldog attitude.

“You have to take it personal sometimes because he’s trying to beat you and you’re trying to beat him. You never want to back down. You can’t really teach that attitude, but a lot of guys at this level have it, and that’s why they’re here.”

Dickson hates walks--he said he’d rather give up a bases-empty home run than walk a batter. He gets mad at himself when he makes mistakes, and he has shown his temper when things don’t go his way.

With the bases loaded and two out against Seattle on May 20, Dickson thought he had Edgar Martinez struck out with an 0-2 fastball on the outside corner. When he didn’t get the call, he stormed to the back of the mound, huffing and puffing for a a moment.

His next pitch was a belt-high fastball, which Martinez rifled into the right-center field gap for a three-run double.

“I’m still learning not to get too frustrated out there,” Dickson said. “Things happen, and I get ticked off. I’ve got to put those things behind me. . . . Sometimes when I get mad I start throwing harder and harder. That’s a rookie mistake. I have go throw softer and softer.”

Dickson draws much of his competitive spirit from his father, Royce, who played minor league hockey in Canada and who hoped Jason also would grow up to be a hockey player. But Dickson wasn’t much of a skater, and he got tired of getting beat up on the ice, so he gravitated toward baseball as a kid.

His performance on a junior national team during his senior year of high school drew some attention from college scouts, and he was eventually recruited by Jim Stevenson, the pitching coach from Northeastern Oklahoma, who is from Toronto.

Dickson’s college numbers weren’t tremendous and he was still raw--he hadn’t yet developed his curve or change-up--but once drafted by the Angels he ascended rapidly through their system, going from Class-A Cedar Rapids in 1995 to double-A Midland, triple-A Vancouver and Anaheim in 1996.

“I spent six weeks in Midland, two months in Vancouver and then went to Anaheim,” Dickson said of his 1996 odyssey. “I never got settled anywhere and was always packing. It was like a nonstop roller coaster.

“I mean, I’d be sitting around with guys I went to high school with watching Ken Griffey play on television, and this year I got to face him. It’s still hard to believe sometimes how fast things have happened.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TONIGHT’S GAME

Dodgers vs. Angels

* Where--Anaheim Stadium

* When: 7:30 p.m.

* TV--Fox Sp. West 2

* Radio--KTZN (710), KABC (790), KWKW (1330).

* Pitchers: Dodgers’ Chan Ho Park (5-5, 3.40 ERA) vs. Angels’ Jason Dickson (8-4, 3.51)