Schofield Wins $475,000 Salary in Arbitration

There are two ways to look at Angel shortstop Dick Schofield’s $475,000 victory Saturday in salary arbitration.

One, Schofield, 24, was rightly rewarded for having the best season of his major league career.

Or, two, the price tag on .249-hitting shortstops has gone through the roof.

The result of arbitrator Donald Sears’ decision will more than double Schofield’s salary in 1987. Last year, Schofield earned $210,000 while batting .249 with 13 home runs, 57 runs batted in and 23 stolen bases--all career highs.

The Angels noted that this was nice but argued that Schofield, after hitting .193 and .219 in his first two seasons, had really nowhere to go but up. The figure the club submitted for Friday’s hearing was $305,000.

“There was nothing mystical about our presentation,” Angel General Manager Mike Port said. “We laid out the barren and basic statistics that pertain to Dick Schofield.”

Among those: Before 1986, Schofield had a career batting average of .206 with 15 home runs, 66 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. And in 1986, Schofield batted nine points lower than center fielder Gary Pettis, who received $400,000 in an arbitration defeat a week ago.

Dan Grigsby, Schofield’s agent, focused on his client’s offensive improvement during the past season. Schofield’s 57 RBIs were one less than Reggie Jackson’s total, and his 23 stolen bases were second on the team to Pettis’ 50.

Schofield also hit two grand slams in 1986, including one to beat the Detroit Tigers, 13-12, after the Angels trailed by seven runs in the ninth inning. In the American League playoffs against the Boston Red Sox, Schofield batted .300.

Schofield also did not commit an error through the first 40 games of last season and finished with a total of 18--down from 25 in 1985.

But perhaps the most significant numbers aiding Schofield’s case were the recent salaries awarded to some of his peers at shortstop--$350,000 to Boston’s Spike Owen, $385,000 to the New York Yankees’ Wayne Tolleson and $485,000 to the Texas Rangers’ Scott Fletcher.

Schofield’s victory left the Angels 1-1 in their only arbitration cases this year.

Port: “I think these (arbitration) awards are a good thing. In the case of Dick Schofield, we’re looking at it as a helpful thing. Now, there is no reason why he can’t go out and have two times the best season of his career. He got what he wanted. And if that type of season comes about, the club benefits as well.”