Wednesday, April 28, 1999 | 10:23 a.m.
After a three-year stint in the majors, he finds himself back in the bushes.
Now all he can do is wait for another call-up.
Oh, and he'll be 50 years old a few days after his next televised game.
But Jerry Reuss is neither frustrated nor pessimistic about his future. He's happy to be in the Las Vegas Stars broadcast booth again.
"Being that my wife and I have been living in Las Vegas for five years and the people and city are wonderful," Reuss said, "I guess it's as good of a situation as you could expect."
Reuss, an all-star who pitched 22 big-league seasons and won 220 games for eight teams, will call around 30 Stars games on the radio and at least one on television (June 10 at Tucson).
He was a Stars color commentator for two years before joining the then-California Angels broadcast team in 1996, adding analysis for KCAL Channel 9 in Los Angeles.
But the Angels shuffled crews over the winter, leaving Reuss in the cold.
Instead of splitting color commentators between KCAL and Fox Sports West -- Steve Physioc did play-by-play for both, but Sparky Anderson handled color for FSW -- the Angels wanted one unit. Anderson was ruled out over a travel disagreement and Reuss was passed over because of his ties to KCAL, a local rival of FSW.
"Jerry was caught in the middle of the philosophical difference of what everybody wanted to do," Anaheim Sports vice president of advertising sales and broadcasting Bob Wagner said.
"We liked Jerry. We thought he brought a lot to the broadcast and he's known in the marketplace. For me, personally, it was very tough. But unfortunately it's part of the business."
The Angles hired the overbearing Rex Hudler to fill the void. Hudler pleased both sides as a former Angel and analyst for "Fox Sports News."
Reuss didn't find out about the move until after baseball's annual winter meetings in December, when Hudler announced his gig on Jim Rome's nationally syndicated radio show.
"I didn't expect it after three years of doing Major League Baseball," Reuss said.
"Our ratings were high. The people at KCAL were happy with my work. I even asked them during the season 'Is there anything you want me to do to improve as we look toward the future.' They said 'Keep doing what you're doing. We want you back.' "
The winter meetings provide a hotbed of job opportunities as executives, managers and coaches talk shop. Reuss has considered breaking into the coaching ranks, and had he known he wasn't coming back to Anaheim, he would have hobnobbed.
But once the winter meetings were over, most openings were sewn up.
"I went into the winter thinking it was just a formality for me to be rehired," Reuss said. "I could have gone to the winter meetings looking for a job. I talked to a lot of baseball people who said 'I wish we would have known you were available.' "
The Stars were happy to find out Reuss, who called ESPN games in the early '90s, was available. With usual No. 2 broadcaster Tim Neverett doing fewer games this summer and TV color man Dick Williams working as a scout for the New York Yankees, the Stars needed an extra voice.
"Jerry's knowledge of the game warrants his being in the major leagues," Stars director of broadcasting, advertising and public relations Jon Sandler said. "He knows the game inside and out. It's great to have him back on the Stars broadcast team because he brings such a great perspective."
Reuss views his latest stop as a chance to hone his craft. In fact, he is excited enough to be practicing. Look closely in the Cashman Field stands this week and you might see Reuss calling a mock broadcast into a hand-held recorder.
"His desire and willingness to work with us after doing a variety of things at the next level indicates his desire to be a baseball broadcaster," Sandler said.
Reuss, who is searching for a Las Vegas voice coach, said he must improve his play-by-play capabilities, especially on radio, to have the best chance of reaching the majors again.
"There have been a number of people -- mostly former players who have gone through the process of going from the field to the booth -- who have told me I need to be more than just an analyst," Reuss said.
"Television is how I've been trained, but there is a unique challenge in radio to use my words and my knowledge of baseball to present a unique side of the game.
"That's something that has to be harvested. This is a perfect chance for me to do that."
* STATIC: ESPN and ESPN2 add 41 1/2 hours of Triple Crown coverage to sister network ABC's coverage of the prestigious horse races. The post-position draw for Saturday's Kentucky Derby airs today at 2 p.m. on ESPN. ... The ESPN networks also announced their Arena Football League schedule on Tuesday. The 20-game slate begins Sunday at noon with the Orlando Predators at the Iowa Barnstormers. ... Fox Sports West has the beisbol rematch between the Baltimore Orioles and Cuban National Team on tape-delay Monday at 10 p.m. A Los Angeles Lakers basketball game precluded the network from airing the game live. ... CBS led all networks in sports Emmy Awards with eight. The results were announced last week for the 1998 calendar year. Seven of those Emmys were from the Winter Olympics.
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