The Outcast

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - For 25 years, Bob Engel was known as the hometown boy who made good.

Now, he's joke material for Arsenio Hall. Now, when Bob Engel's name comes up, folks simply shake their heads, cluck their tongues and try to fathom how a National League umpire making $100,000 a year could end up being charged with stealing baseball cards at discount stores.

Such is the state of affairs that Engel, 56, finds himself in today. He has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor charges of petty theft and one of commercial burglary. He faces a maximum of 18 months in prison and $2,000 in fines.

And, just three months shy of his 25th anniversary in the majors, Engel also faces the prospect of losing his job. The National League has placed Engel on indefinite leave pending the outcome of the trial and is conducting its own investigation. The only comment Engel had was that he ``absolutely'' wants to continue umpiring.

The people of Bakersfield, however, aren't so sure.

``How can he be trusted to call balls and strikes?'' said Jack Garren, a retired Bakersfield highway patrolman who admits to a personal dislike for Engel because of a dispute between their families over a car accident. ``Win or lose in court, his integrity is shot.''

And therein lies the real tragedy, friends say.

``Being suspended is like a slap in the face to him, but he's taking it,'' said Roger Hildenbrand, a security guard and Engel's

friend of 10 years. ``Bob loves his work and being away from it. . . .''

The people who know him say Bob Engel is a down-to-earth, honest guy - a straight-shooter. At 5-foot-9 and 220 pounds, the impression he gives is rough and tough, but he could be a pushover, friends say, especially for children.

They love Bob Engel because he stayed home. Bakersfield (population 167,000), situated in the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley, is a place where hometown products such as Engel rate right up there with its cotton and grapes. In Bakersfield, a person with an itch could scratch it by driving five hours north to the Bay Area or two hours south to Los Angeles, but Engel returned every offseason to northeast Bakersfield, his home since childhood.

``In a town the size of Bakersfield, you're homegrown,'' Garren said. ``Some people leave and never come back, but the people that are respected are the people who stay here and make their marks. Engel always came back here. It's not like he deserted the town.''

There, in his split-level home on the corner of Harmony Lane, Engel conducted his business and tended to his civic affairs. They included raising money for American Legion and Bakersfield Community College baseball teams, managing the RV and boat show at the fairgrounds and making commercials for one of the town's biggest auto dealerships.

``It's a real shock, because he's like a mini-celebrity here,'' said Hector Casas, owner of the Golden Glove baseball card store. ``If the guy would have come in here I probably would have asked him for an autograph and given him a box of cards. He didn't have to take them.''

What seems more tawdry, or maybe just sadder, is that after Engel was arrested for stealing 4,180 baseball cards worth $143.93 from a Target store April 21, two additional incidents came to light.

According to Kern County court reports, sometime between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31 a customer saw Engel take the equivalent of 50 packs of cards ``worth about $50'' and put them in his jacket and pants pockets at a Costco store. When Engel realized he was being followed by security personnel, he took the cards out of his pockets and put them on the shelves as he walked down the aisle.

Store manager Gary Cole told the district attorney's office that Engel appeared remorseful, so he confiscated Engel's discount card and let him go, but not without admonishment. Cole said he asked Engel how a person of his stature could stoop so low as to steal.

That was when, according to the report, Engel became upset and started to shake. Cole said Engel's eyes teared up and he said he was worried his wife would find out.

It wasn't until after Engel's April 21 arrest at the Target store that Cole came forward and the belated charge was added to those filed from the Target incident.

In 1986, Engel was observed putting a cartoon video tape and an Abbott and Costello tape, two chocolate mints, a Mr. Goodbar and three packs of Certs (total cost: $32.48) into the waistband of his trousers at a Payless store. He was arrested, but the charge was expunged from his record after he completed a yearlong adult diversion program.

Twenty-six years ago, Engel umpired Ken Gladden's high school games in the nearby town of Shafter. Today, Gladden owns the Hall of Fame card store in Bakersfield. Engel and Gladden had a deal worked out: Engel could receive all the baseball cards he wanted at no charge as long as he agreed to return half of however many cards he got signed by players.

``He'd come in here and buy some things, but mostly he was a big help to me,'' Gladden said. ``I'd give him cards and he'd obtain autographs during spring training, so I could sell them in my shop. Or he had ball caps or game-used batting gloves that I'd work out deals with him for. But he wasn't doing it to make a lot of money or anything.''

Engel's real passion extended far beyond collecting cards. It delved into the controversial memorabilia of the Third Reich, for which Engel has a fascination.

On the back of Engel's card in a set devoted to umpires, it says that when asked who the one person was he'd most like to meet, Engel replied: ``Hitler.''

``Bob deals in Nazi medals, pistols, daggers, all that stuff,'' said Mike Seguine, owner of Mike's Stamp and Coin shop and a friend of Engel.

``He has a museum in the top of his house,'' said Gary Knight, another Engel friend. ``He must have at least $500,000 worth of German (memorabilia) up there.''

Seguine said Engel's interest was purely one of a collector taking advantage of memorabilia commanding high prices. But some of Engel's friends wonder what connection, if any, there was between his hobbies, his job, his family life and the problems he now faces.

Patricia Engel, Bob's wife of 36 years, took on the burden of raising their two children, Lisa and Lance, almost single-handedly because Engel's job kept him on the road virtually all spring and summer. Engel's sense of guilt was apparent, friends say, and problems with Lance also developed over the years.

``Bob has been in baseball so long that when Lance was growing up Bob wasn't always around when he should (be),'' Knight said.

Additionally, says Tom Tutko, a professor of psychology at San Jose State, the stress that goes with being an umpire for 25 years is enough to rattle the strongest of men.

``Umpiring is a very difficult job,'' Tutko said. ``The only compliment you get is when somebody doesn't yell at you - that's when you know you've done your job well. It's a very abusive profession.

``So you want some security, so you're going to take something to make you feel secure. Maybe taking those cards was symbolic of the security he wanted,'' Tutko said.

Tutko also said that a person under that kind of stress often is so preoccupied with himself that he becomes insensitive or unaware of the problems of those close to him.

Court records show that on March 11, 1987, Bob and Pat Engel sought relief from some of their problems by applying for a temporary restraining order against Lance, now 28. They asked that the court order Lance to stay at least 100 yards away from them, not to phone them, not to follow them or to threaten, strike or make physical contact with them.

According to court reports, the Engels initiated the action after Lance came to their home on the evening of March 10 ``under the influence and said he wanted money or else a cocaine dealer who was standing outside the door would come in with a gun.''

Friends say that the turmoil surrounding Engel's family life took its toll on him.

``His son's in a lot of trouble. He's into drugs bad. They've had him in all kinds of rehabilitation and he's just walked away,'' Knight said. ``He's a living hell for Pat and Bob. Lance doesn't care.''

``With his son, and all this happening. . . . Bob must be beside himself,'' Hildenbrand said.

Attempts to reach Lance Engel were unsuccessful.

Amestoy's has held its own on River Avenue for 42 years and is in need of face-lift. Eyes have to adjust to barroom dim. Nobody in the place looks younger than 50.

The bar and grill is a friendly place though, and that it is Bob Engel's favorite watering hole comes as no surprise. Amestoy's is in the northeast part of town, and owners Marie and Frank Amestoy have known Engel 41 years. As one patron said, ``Bob didn't open it up, but he sure as hell helped them keep it open.''

Sympathetic chit-chat surrounding Engel is on the menu some days, along with hot turkey sandwiches and vodka tonics.

``I wish he would, but I don't think they'll let him ump again,'' said a man at the end of the bar.

``He's just sick. Just like a drug addict, you have to get treatment,'' said another.

Marie Amestoy took orders and tried to stay mum.

``Here in Bakersfield, we will not chastise him,'' she said. ``No way. I just hope everything works out for him.''

Engel's public appearances have been few. The day after the April 21 charge, a Sunday, Engel made it to Dodger Stadium in time to work first base for the Dodgers-Astros game at 1 p.m.

Monday, a relaxed-looking Engel strolled into the offices of the Bakersfield Californian, fresh from a morning fishing trip. He offered no comment in reaction to the front-page story about his arrest, but asked reporters what they next planned to write about him, Californian court reporter Rob Walters said.

Friends say the forced leave of absence has left Engel - a crew chief who has worked World Series, playoff and All-Star games - anxious about his future.

``Bob's a mess right now. He's lost weight, Pat's lost weight. Umpiring is Bob's life. Now it might get thrown away,'' Knight said.

Some of Engel's friends haven't spoken to him since late April, only because they don't know what to say. They also hope the peace they give him will help him sort out whatever it is he is going through.

So does Jack Garren, who wishes Engel well despite a 11-year-old incident that has left Garren bitter.

Court records to 1979 say Lance Engel was driving 60 mph in a 15 mph zone during a drag race when he hit the car of Lisa Garren, Jack Garren's daughter. Lisa suffered minor injuries, and the Engel family paid for her car.

Jack Garren said Bob Engel's attitude was unsympathetic, but he is not going to drag Engel's name through the mud.

``I don't like the guy and I have an ax to grind with him, but that still doesn't mean I like what's happened to him,'' Garren said.

Tutko says the kind of transgressions Engel is charged with are not hard to understand.

``(Engel) is not the only one,'' Tutko said. ``Deep in everybody's closets there are socially unacceptable things that we do that the public is never aware of. Unfortunately, this guy got caught and because he's a public figure, it's news.

``What he will have to come to grips with is whether his problems have to do with wanting some form of emotional security or is it some deep-seeded unresolved thing that he doesn't understand.''

In the meantime, Engel waits for his pre-trial hearing Friday.

Maybe he will come up with answers for his friends. But he didn't on that January day at Costco, when he told the store manager:

``I don't know why I did it, man. I've got no reason.''