Waiting For The Call -- Mariner Prospects Boone, Campanis Follow In Steps Of Fathers, Granddads

TEMPE, Ariz. - In an ideal world, catcher Jim Campanis and second baseman Bret Boone are called to the big leagues on the same day.

That way, neither of them gets the car.

Not that either of the Mariner prospects expects a car, anyway. The bet the longtime friends made years ago as teammates at USC - a BMW to the one who makes the major leagues first - is pretty much forgotten.

"It's off," Campanis said. "If anything, it would probably be a Pinto, anyway."

"Campy says it's off, but he doesn't stop talking about it," Boone said. "But it should be off, because he isn't going to pay off anyway."

Boone's assumption - that he would get the Beemer - fits with the picture Seattle staffers paint of him as the more aggressive of the two, even though Boone, who will turn 23 on Opening Day, is nearly two years younger than Campanis.

"Boone is so cocky," Mariner scouting director Roger Jongewaard said, with admiration and apprehension. "He'll tell Tony Manahan, the shortstop we drafted in the first round, 1990, `I can't believe they took you ahead of me.' "

Campanis is competitive, but Boone is close to combative. "Not really here in camp," Boone said. "But games . . . yeah . . . I get pretty intense in games."

He can get intense at the batting cage, too. The deep discussion between these friends of a dozen years goes like this:

Campanis: "I have more power than you."

Boone: "Get serious. I hit more homers than you last year (19-15 at Class AA Jacksonville)."

Campanis: "You had more at-bats (475-387). I hit more homers per at-bat."

Later, Campanis says. "It's always like that. But it sounds worse than it is. We're good for each other, help each other when we're struggling. I know he picks me up."

While the two are similarly competitive, they are dissimilar in many other ways.

Campanis' looks are roly-poly to Boone's rapier. Their personalities as different as their positions, Campanis is a steadier sort, with a ready smile, affably open, chatty as a car salesman.

He gets his shots in, but he is a blunderbuss to Boone's dueling pistol. High-voltage, Boone is frank with a direct, blue-eyed stare. He is friendly but private with humor as dry as a day in the desert. Check his eyes to see if a laugh is there.

"Boonie," Campanis said, smiling. "He thinks he's `GQ' good looking and California beach guy. But he wasn't always tank tops and cutoffs and sun-bleached blond. I remember when he showed up looking like he came out of prep school, Lacoste shirts and hair parted in the middle."

"I came from New Jersey and we were used to dressing nice," said Boone, who is sun-drenched handsome.

But he hadn't wanted to come from New Jersey at first, when his father, former big-league catcher Bob Boone, was sold by the Philadelphia Phillies to the California Angels in 1981.

"I flipped out," Bret said. "I didn't want to move. But I'm glad we did. California is the only place to grow up playing baseball."

Baseball brought them together when Campanis was 14 and Boone 12.

Preston Gomez, a friend of the Campanis family and an Angels coach, invited Jim to work out at Anaheim Stadium while the California team was on the road. There he met Bret.

They grew up five miles apart in Yorba Linda, right neighborly by California standards. They attended different high schools but remained close friends.

"Actually, our upbringing was a lot different," Campanis said. "My dad was in Triple A most of the time, and retired when I was eight. I'm not saying we struggled, but it was a lot different than Bret, with his father in the majors for so long and retiring only last year."

Being the son of a big-league star is not all that easy, Boone quickly pointed out. "There are negatives, too. Overall, I don't see it as anything special. There's no pressure being Bob Boone's son but maybe it makes some people form an opinion."

It might be different were Bret a catcher like his father, but that was never a possibility. "Anytime my dad saw me with catching gear on," Boone said, "he would make me take it off. Now, it's the last position I'd want to play."

Boone and Campanis are on the brink of making major-league history. They would both be the third generation of their families to play in the big leagues.

Campanis' grandfather, Al, played seven games with the Dodgers in 1943 and later was their general manager from 1968 to 1987. His father, Jim Sr., was a catcher with the Dodgers between 1966 and 1973.

Boone's grandfather, Ray, was a first baseman with Detroit and Boston from 1948-1960. His father, Bob, retired last year after a distinguished 18-year career and will manage Oakland's Triple-A club at Tacoma.

Both youngsters are edgy about the focus on their genealogies.

"My dad and granddad are their own persons, deserving of recognition for what they did," he said. "I'm proud of them, but now it's my turn."

"We were born into baseball," Campanis said. "But both of us know that carries no weight here."

But it did carry some weight when they were younger.

"Background does not make a kid a prospect," said Jongewaard, himself a longtime friend of Al Campanis, who is now starting up a player agent business, and Ray Boone, a scout for Boston. "But when you know the name and the family, it's not just another guy. You tend to watch a bit more."

While Boone carries the link of having a father who may be headed for the Hall of Fame, Campanis' notoriety is of a different sort.

Al Campanis lost his job as Dodgers' general manager after a 1987 ABC Nightline show in which he said blacks lacked "necessities" to become major-league managers or officials.

"His comments were misinterpreted," Jim said. "My grandfather was talking about experience, not intelligence or anything like that. He had worked his way up through the Dodgers' organization from a second-string catcher to scout to farm director and finally general manager.

"He spent 50 years in the game, his life. And he saw no blacks working their way through the Los Angeles organization and that's what he was talking about. He believed in earning your money and promotions. He's no racist. He's a legend in the Dominican Republic for all he did for them over the years."

Campanis summed all this up in an article he wrote for the Orange County Register, earning an A in a media class at USC.

Campanis says he yearns for the day when an interview does not include his grandfather's trouble. "I guess," he said, "it won't change until I establish myself in the majors and give people something else to ask about."

Campanis was a high-school All-American before going to USC on a football scholarship, as a quarterback and place-kicker. "Rodney (Peete, now with the Detroit Lions) was there, too, so I wasn't going to see much time at quarterback," he recalled. "But I could kick 50 yards plus."

Given an ultimatum his freshman year, Campanis chose baseball and wound up a first-team All-American in 1988.

"He was OK as a sophomore and had a good junior year," Jongewaard said, "but it wasn't until he had an awesome NCAA regional tournament at Fresno that we made up our minds on him."

Boone was a four-time high school All-American, but only a 20th-round pick by Minnesota as a senior. Teams knew the son of a Stanford grad was headed for college.

"He started out well," Jongewaard said of Boone, who was a preseason All-American as a sophomore and wound up with five USC records, including 160 career RBI. "But he never played that well again. We figured he got a bit bored with the competition."

The way Campanis tells it, Boone might not have been his teammate had he not convinced him, at a party at the Campanis house, to become a Trojan.

"I think he was headed for Arizona but he changed his mind," Campanis said.

"He has his little stories, but that isn't what happened," Boone said. In his version, he gathered information, sat down with his father and chose USC.

It wasn't always fun for him there, records or not. He was not matching his own standards. "I remember one being 0 for 10 and going home and lying staring at the ceiling," he said.

"But I think it was good for me. I learned a lot about putting pressure on yourself and about dealing with it. Everyone says I'm motivated. Well, I use those days for motivation. I remember how bad I felt and how I don't want to feel that way again."

Draft day, 1990, was a shock for him. Once rated the sixth-best player in the nation, he went 150th. "I sat down on the ground and cried," he said.

Campanis, meanwhile, was struggling in the Class A Carolina League, hitting .210 with little power, two years after being drafted in the third round and a year after making the California League all-star team.

So Boone arrived, determined to prove himself but, Campanis recalls, thinking first about his friend.

"He took a look at me and said you never used to swing like that," Campanis said. "He showed me what I did when we played together. I hit seven homers in one week, 10 for the month of August."

As usual, Boone does not recall it that way.

"I didn't just come out and tell him what he was doing wrong," he said. "The way he tells it is flattering to me, but I don't think it is what happened."

Both, according to Jongewaard, have the talent to make the big leagues, though neither is projected as a can't-miss star. Scouts rate Boone as a little better of the two.

Both have power. "Jim's is natural," Jongewaard said. "Bret's comes from his big, hard swing."

Jongewaard enjoys the way the two play off one another, but doesn't know if they will have an opportunity to do it this year. "We're hoping both can start at Calgary, but as you get higher in an organization the competition gets tougher and it's harder to place them together."

Regardless, Jongewaard pointed out, who gets to Triple-A first doesn't determine who gets to the big leagues first. So the bet, reduced from BMW to brag, is alive.

BRET BOONE AT A GLANCE

-- Pos.: Infielder. Age: 22. Ht/Wt: 5-10, 180. Bats/throws: R-R. -- Acquired: The M's fifth-round selection in the 1990 June draft. -- Personal: The son of former major-league catcher Bob Boone (in majors 1972-90), now manager of the PCL Tacoma Tigers, and grandson of Ray Boone (a major-league infielder from 1948-60).

-- MINOR LEAGUE STATS: Yr. Club Avg. G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI

1990 Peninsula .267 74 255 68 13 2 8 38

1991 Jacksonville .255 139 475 121 18 1 19 75

JIM CAMPANIS AT A GLANCE -- Pos.: Catcher. Age: 24. Ht/Wt: 6-1, 200. Bats/throws: R-R. -- Acquired: The M's third-round selection in the 1988 June draft. -- Personal: Son of former major-leaguer catcher Jim Campanis (1966-73) and grandson of former major-league second baseman Al Campanis (general manager of Los Angeles Dodgers from 1968-87).

-- MINOR LEAGUE STATS:

Club Avg. G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI

1989 San Bernardino .255 133 455 116 26 0 11 58

1990 Peninsula .250 112 364 91 22 0 14 60

1991 Jacksonville .248 118 387 96 10 0 15 49