DIALING FOR EXPOSURE

Think of it as a huge conference call. The Area Code Baseball Games bring 300 of the nation’s best high school players together with major league scouts, college coaches and agents.

Ma Bell, meet Abner Doubleday.

Rosters, complete with home telephone numbers, are sold at a brisk pace. Everybody gabs. Everybody gawks.

Then the games begin, four or five a day for a week. Pitchers light up radar guns. Batters dial long distance.

Some people gripe, but nobody really loses. Scouts and college coaches evaluate top players from a single seat behind home plate. Agents schmooze with parents.

And for less than the cost of a phone call--there is no fee to participate--players gain exposure that often results in their getting drafted by a major league team, gaining a college scholarship, or both.

The Area Code Games this week include about 30 players from the region. Games began Tuesday and continue through Saturday at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Three of every four Area Code players eventually are drafted, according to Bob Williams, administrator of the event. Nineteen first-round and compensation picks in this year’s amateur draft were Area Code alumni.

Williams is the Alexander Graham Bell of the games. The Santa Rosa resident and some Northern California-based scouts came up with the idea and he launched the games in 1987 in Lodi.

After stops in Fresno and San Diego, the games found a home at Blair Field. They have grown from six to 11 teams, and all but two are affiliated with a major league franchise.

Teams are loosely divided geographically. The White Sox encompass the Midwest, the Rangers draw from Texas to Florida, the Mariners cover the Pacific Northwest and the Diamondbacks draw from the Southwest.

The Pirates sponsor two teams, one from more than a dozen states in the Northeast, and another called 900 that is a collection of players cut by other teams. The Giants sponsor a team from Northern California.

Four teams are based in Southern California, the nation’s hotbed of talent. A Dodgers-sponsored team is primarily for players from the 213 and 310 area codes, the Angels sponsor a team from Orange County and the Padres bring a team from San Diego.

The primary team for players from the Valley and Ventura County--as well as Bakersfield and most of Central California--is called 818 because this year it is not affiliated with a major league franchise.

Williams continues to supervise the games, enlisting the help of his wife Margaret, son Rob and a handful of others.

“We’ve never left our objectives,” Williams said. “We present the best players in the country to professional scouts.”

Simple enough. But conflicts invariably arise, primarily in two areas: The selection of players, and the fact that college coaches and agents benefit along with the professional scouts.

Player Selection

“The tryout was too short and too crowded for me to show anything.”

“Some guys are favored and I can’t understand why.”

“The team was picked before the tryout.’

Even Williams admits that occasionally the complaints have merit.

“We have to remember what we are doing,” he said. “We are providing scouts with players who will be drafted, the most physically talented athletes.”

Often, 60 to 200 players are invited to a one-day tryout. Position players get three to five swings, are timed over 60 yards and take a few groundballs. Pitchers might wind up and throw five times in a bullpen. That’s it.

The numbers are pared down to 40 or so for an afternoon scrimmage, after which the team of 25 is chosen.

Sometimes the tryout lasts two to three days, but those turned away rarely leave happy.

Craig Wallenbrock, a former scout with Valley ties, patched a team together last year with players overlooked by the others and posted the best record.

Impressed, Williams asked Wallenbrock to devise a system to select this year’s 818 team that could be copied by other teams in the future.

Wallenbrock invited 67 players recommended by at least two scouts to a two-day tryout. He then formed a panel of four scouts who observed the tryout and chose the team.

“I took a lot of heat,” Wallenbrock said. “People called me and chewed me out for not inviting their son. Then the scouts picked the team and I was yelled at in the parking lot by parents leaving the tryout with their kids.

“I was strictly the bean counter. If I picked the team there would have been a couple of different choices. Time might show that we did screw up. We didn’t invite 67 dogs. They were all good players.”

Wallenbrock recommended several players who did not make the 818 team to Artie Harris, coach of the Dodgers’ 213/310 team. Ten players from the Valley area made the Dodgers’ team and Westlake High pitcher Jesse Kozlowski was picked up by the Rangers’ team.

Williams is sold on Wallenbrock’s system, warts and all.

“Craig kept his goal in mind, which is to bring in the best professional prospects,” Williams said. “This is not for the best student or the guy who had the best junior season in high school. We do this for the professionals.”

The Old College Try

Professional scouts are hardly the only ones who benefit. Many Area Code players desire to attend college before signing a professional contract.

And don’t college coaches know it. They get first crack at the players, offering scholarships during the fall early signing period based on Area Code performances.

Even players who intend to sign pro contracts after the 2000 June draft will accept scholarships to increase their leverage in negotiating a signing bonus.

College coaches have difficulty recruiting during the spring because their season coincides with the high school season. The Area Code Games represent one-stop shopping.

“It’s a place you have to be,” said Mike Batesole, Cal State Northridge coach. “It’s a major part of the recruiting schedule.”

This bothers some pro scouts, although there isn’t much they can do about it.

“There is talk every year of Major League Baseball [boycotting Area Code],” said Gil Kubski, a Baltimore Orioles scout. “If scouts don’t go for two years, then Area Code fails. But all that has to happen is for one team to go, then the other 29 have to go.”

A “cant beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude prevails. Several major league teams bring six to 10 scouts from around the country and hold meetings with scouting and player personnel directors.

Scouts network. Some even change jobs.

“I enjoy checking out where everybody sits and who they talk to in the stands,” Williams said. “It turns into a job fair.”

It’s also a cost-effective way to scout. Nowhere else are this many pro prospects competing on the same field.

Williams’ brainstorm has stood the test of time. He loves to rattle off names of Area Code alumni in the big leagues. And he is certain there are more to come.

“I like to think of Area Code as a scouting combine and a good thing for the kids,” Williams said. “They get exposure and their opportunities increase. That’s why it keeps thriving.”