Local Kids Make Good, but Not With Angels

I’m not writing this to embarrass the Angels, although it might. I’m merely making the point that of all the pro sports drafts, the annual one in June involving amateur baseball players is the most difficult for teams to get right.

I mean, this is a draft in which 1,432 players were selected before Mike Piazza in 1988.

Six summers later, Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi could have almost walked from his office to sign a pitcher from Katella High.

There’s no way the Angels could have missed Jaret Wright.

All the scouts knew him. They know every pitcher with a 94-mph fastball.

Besides, his father, Clyde, formerly pitched for the Angels and worked for them, as he does today, in community relations.

Instead, the Angels used the sixth pick in 1994 for a Fresno high school outfielder named McKay Christensen.

The Angels weren’t the only team to pass on Wright.

Eight others did before Cleveland drafted him 10th.

Ten other teams passed on another player who lived within a 15-minute drive of Anaheim Stadium, St. John Bosco High’s Nomar Garciaparra.

The Red Sox drafted him 12th, giving them a starting shortstop who no doubt will be named this season’s American League rookie of the year. Wright, who won two playoff games against the Yankees, probably will be runner-up.

Bavasi said Christensen was “far and away” the best player available with the sixth pick, even though he had committed to a two-year Mormon mission.

He later was one of four prospects traded to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Abbott.

Christensen hit .280 this season with a White Sox Class-A team, the Hickory, N.C., Crawdads.

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The Mighty Ducks have put together packages that would pay Paul Kariya $7 million a year over three, five or seven years. . . .

That seems about $1 million a year short. But it’s a good place to start negotiating. He and his agent could start by telling the Ducks how much it will cost to sign Kariya. . . .

Although that Mo Vaughn-for-Eric Karros deal last season was a media invention, it still seems like a good idea. Except Vaughn is intent on staying on the East Coast. . . .

Beverly Hills author Seth Swirsky, whose “Baseball Letters: A Fan’s Correspondence With His Heroes” is in its fourth printing, recently paid $25,000 for Reggie Jackson’s third home run ball from Game 6 of the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers. . . .

Unless he actually is considering a comeback, Joe Namath played his last game 20 years ago Friday. . . .

Namath, then 34, threw four interceptions and was benched with two minutes left in a Monday night game at Chicago’s Soldier Field. . . .

Pat Haden replaced him and led the Rams to an insignificant touchdown in a 24-23 loss to the Bears. . . .

Late in Sunday night’s game at Soldier Field between the Bears and Saints, TNT’s Verne Lundquist said, “We’ve had a little bit of everything in this game.” . . .

“Not enough good plays,” Haden responded. . . .

Maybe the Bears will provide more entertainment Sunday against the Packers, now that former USC wide receiver Curtis Conway is back from a broken collarbone. . . .

Speaking of former Trojans, Bill Bordley, who pitched for the 1978 College World Series championship team, is a Secret Service agent. . . .

He’s assigned to Chelsea Clinton at Stanford. . . .

Irv Kaze will explore the downtown arena issue Friday night on his KIEV (870) radio show. . . .

L.A. Councilman Joel Wachs, who opposes the deal as now constructed, was invited to appear but hasn’t committed. . . .

Maybe he doesn’t want to be ganged up on by the other guests, Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, Sports Council President David Simon and arena spokesman John Semcken. . . .

Injury-plagued Larry The Legend, who hasn’t won since the 1995 Santa Anita Derby, is making a third comeback. He’s entered Saturday at Santa Anita. . . .

Torrance figure skater Michelle Kwan, who brings a 3.53 grade-point average into her senior year of high school, plans to take her books to February’s Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. . . .

“Conjugating French verbs will help me relax,” she says. . . .

It never worked for Surya Bonaly.

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While wondering if any coach has gained more respect this season than Lou Holtz, I was thinking: Bob Toledo’s challenge now is to prevent UCLA from becoming overconfident, Charles Johnson is due to make another error sometime around next Oct. 8, the Bulls won’t three-peat.