The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 173

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1996 C9 LOS ANGELES TIMES This Time, Mike Busch Is Just a Guy Trying to Make the Team if A V- PI and out of the major leagues the, last six years, but refused to be-i come a replacement player. That doesn't matter to Busch. The way he figures it, he made 'a decision his teammates will never understand. He may never again be allowed into the Major League Players Assn. But he's convinced that if he had not become a re placement player, he would not be in Dodger camp today.

"That was my last chance," he said. "Playing in those games gaye me the chance to show I could play in the major leagues. I got to open some eyes. I got to realize a dream." .1 Busch, 28, may never be a star; Who knows, maybe he won't play in another major league game fo? the Dodgers. Doesn't matter in Iowa.

He is still a hero back home. "I love it back home because everyone treats everyone the same," Busch said. "There are no phonies. They are real people. "I just hope I can keep making them proud.

I believe I can play hi the big leagues. And I believe I can, been my friends, who weren't my friends anymore. "But as much as it hurt, it still was a dream come true for me. I wasn't going to let what happened ruin that. And the fans, wow, I just wish I could have formally thanked them for their support.

They helped me get through it." Busch got another reminder of his second-class status when his teammates voted on the distribution of playoff shares. Butler, who had rejoined the team 11 days before Busch, having spent most of the season with the New York Mets, was awarded two-thirds of a full share. It was worth $9,274. Busch was awarded nothing. "I was surprised, a little disappointed, actually," Busch said.

"Guys said the reason I didn't get anything was that my playoff bonus came when I agreed to play in spring training games. What can you do? I'm not going to be anybody's puppet. It's done now." Busch came to camp this spring wondering if there would be lingering hostilities. His anxiety subsided when he was treated like everyone else. He is competing with Rick Parker, Reggie Williams and Gar-ey Ingram for the final spot on the bench.

The players privately are rooting for Parker, who has been in farm team. "It got very ugly," first baseman Eric Karros said. "Let's face it, people viewed replacement players as underdogs. I could understand how the fans felt that way, but by the same token, you have to look at the facts. "When you look at teachers and other people that go out on strike, I don't see people jumping on them.

It's like the rules change, depending on the amount of money you make. I don't think that's right. "It was nothing personal against Mike, it was just the concept." Butler said, "I regret the way I handled it. I think I could have been more clear on the fact that some of the statements I made were on behalf of the union, that this is a union statement, not a Brett Butler statement." The Dodgers, seeing their public relations mess, called a news conference. Before it began, several players asked Busch to apologize and say he had made a mistake.

Busch refused, saying he couldn't lie. The news conference went on anyway with Butler, Karros, Mike Piazza and Busch each saying he wouldn't let the situation interfere with the team's drive for the division title. "Naturally, it bothered me," Busch said of the rejection. "It hurt a lot. There were guys who had there with tears in my eyes." The Buschs sat through the game in near silence.

Then, in the ninth inning, Mike was called to pinch-hit. The crowd of 40,394 rose and gave him a standing ovation. Busch, wondering whether his knees would hold up all the way to the plate, struck out on three pitches. The crowd gave him another standing ovation, this time even louder. "That was the greatest feeling of my life right there," Mike said.

Busch walked back to the bench, went to the clubhouse, and again sat alone. For Busch had been a spring-training replacement player during the longest strike in baseball history. And his Dodger teammates remembered that. It didn't matter that he had needed the $10,000 bonus for his newborn baby. It didn't matter that he was having financial difficulties on his 300-acre ranch in Missouri.

It didn't even matter that he had been taken off the 40-man roster and that was his only way to grab the Dodgers' attention. To his teammates, Busch was a scab. "It was something I felt I had to do for my family," Busch said here the other day, where he is back for spring training, this time as a By BOB NIGHTENGALE TIMES STAFF WRITER VERO BEACH, is no light. No movie theater. No.

church. There is a filling station. A bar. A grocery store. And that's about it in Donahue, Iowa, population 600.

So you can imagine the reaction when a local boy becomes a professional baseball player and makes it to the major leagues. was the biggest news in Donahue since the filling station burned down. -So on the night of Aug. 30, 1995, folks who didn't mind staying up late, and had cable service, pulled up to their TV sets. Mike Busch, the town hero, was making his debut with the Dodgers.

Donald and Arlene Busch, Mike's parents, watched on a neighbor's TV set, proud as they could be. "It took only minutes for their pride to turn to numbness. They saw their son sitting on the bench alone, ostracized by his teammates. Arlene Busch could hardly believe it. How could his teammates treat her son so cruelly, she wondered.

"We tried to brace ourselves for what could happen," she said. "But you couldn't prepare yourself for something like that. I just sat Mike Busch full-fledged Dodger. "I had no regrets at the time, and I have no regrets today." The Dodgers' perverse reaction to Busch made him a household name. His mailbox was stuffed each day with sympathetic letters.

His teammates, meanwhile, were being tagged as immature million-dollar crybabies. Fans booed center fielder Brett Butler for simply being the team spokesman. They were upset with the players for asking Executive Vice President Fred Claire to send Busch back to Albuquerque, the club's triple-A play a long time. "The scars are healed up now. I'm callused.

I'm mentally stronger. "The way I figure it, if I can get through the last month of last season in L.A., I can get through anything." BASEBALL DAILY REPORT if, fKX Silfglfiili iliiaiHil 8Ntf ANGELS 1 Whoever They Are, They're Unbeaten George Arias hit his third home run this spring and added a run-scoring single, and knuckleballer Dennis Springer pitched three flawless innings. Orlando Palmeiro and Keith Luuloa each singled twice and scored a run. Manager Marcel Lachemann didn't exactly play the household names during the Angels' 10-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Friday at Chandler, but it really didn't seem to matter. Almost anyone who wears an Angel uniform this spring has excelled, which pleases Lachemann.

It also leaves him with some difficult decisions to make and some bad news to deliver to talented young players. "It's good to have that depth from an organizational standpoint," Lachemann said after the Angels improved their spring record to 8-0-1. "It's no fun to tell a kid, 'You could probably play in the major leagues with another "It's not real easy. Some people might say it is easy because they're just In Southern California, Oldsmobile has always been the smart choice for value. Your Southern California Oldsmohik Retailers realize that your decision to buy a new automobile is an important one.

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But a lot of guys are doing a lot of good things. Arias. He made a superb diving stop at third base, leaped to his feet and threw out John Jaha at first base in the fourth inning. In the fifth, he hit a towering homer over the left-field fence off left-hander Henry Santos. "If I'm at triple A I'm not going to let that bother me," Arias said.

"All I can do is play hard." 1 Arias also has benefited from hitting coach Rod Carew's instructions. been working with Rod about being more disciplined at the plate," Arias said. "I'm a free swinger and I can really feel the difference." Springer is another Angel who likely will be playing in the minors this season. But his knuckleball danced and fluttered and the Brewers could not hit him. He retired all nine batters he faced, including Brewer third baseman Kevin Seltzer.

THe's not really going to make the team, is he?" Seitzer later asked Lachemann in mock disgust. Third baseman Jack Howell left the game after getting hit in the chin with Chuck Flnley's errant pickoff throw in the first inning. In the second inning, Howell singled, came around to score, then told Lachemann: "I don't remember the base -running signs." Howell was then sent to a nearby hospital and it was determined he had a slight concussion. 1, A frr1 ii mum rmmm' Dual Air-Bags, Anti-Lock Brakes 3. 1 Liter V6, Automatic Transmission, Power Windows and Locks, Air Conditioning, Power Mirrors, Front Bucket Seats, Cruise Control, AMFM Stereo Cassette Feature for feature, dollar for dollar Oldsmobile gives you more.

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4 starter but slowed this spring by a tender elbow, played long toss Friday and figures to do so twice more before throwing off a mound. "It the elbow feels normal," he said The Angels hope to "send quite a few players to their minor-league camp at Mesa on Monday. This weekend marks the last of the Angels' split-squad games with one group playing Oakland today and Sunday in Las Vegas. The other group hosts San Diego today and plays Colorado Sunday at Tucson. -ELLIOTT TEAFORD DODGERS Harkey Still Has a Shot at Fifth Spot Manager Tom Lasorda said Mike Harkey's only chance of making the Dodger roster is as the fifth starter, and Harkey's performance Friday kept him in the running for that spot.

Harkey struggled at the outset, yielding three hits and two earned runs in the first inning to the Florida Marlins at Melbourne, but he settled down and retired the final eight batters he faced in a 7-5, 10-inning victory. Catcher Mike Piazza praised his control. Pitching coach Dave Wallace praised his poise. And Lasorda praised his perseverance. "I'm just going to worry about Mike Harkey," said Harkey, who's being tutored by Sandy Koufax.

"If Mike Harkey does what he's capable of doing, good things will happen. I believe I should be on the team. "When you're sitting at home the first day of spring training and you don't have a job, you think there's something wrong with this game. But I like being in the position where I have no idea what is going to happen, and see how far I can take it. "It's a perseverance thing.

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-BOB NIGHTENGALE AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES Mets' Brogna Out for Three Weeks New York Met first baseman Rico Brogna has a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament of the right knee and will be sidelined for three weeks. The Mets feared the injury was more serious. No surgery is required for Brogna, who led the Mets last season with 22 home runs and 76 RBIs and batted .289. MORENO VALLEY Moreno Valley Oktemobte 12625 Auto Mai Dr. (909)4853500 NORTH RIDGE Norlhridge Oldsmobile 8400 Reseda Blvd.

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