BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : Wolfe Up in the Air on His Birthday After Signing With Athletics

Last Tuesday, on his 21st birthday, Joel Wolfe boarded a plane traveling from Southern California to southern Oregon to begin his professional baseball career in the Class-A Northwest League.

He called it the best birthday present he ever received.

Wolfe, the former Chatsworth High standout, was selected in the third round of the draft by the Oakland Athletics and signed a contract last Monday.

“What better present than getting a chance to live out something I dreamed about since I was a little kid?” Wolfe asked.

Wolfe, an outfielder who played third base in high school, batted .345 with six home runs and 47 runs batted in for UCLA and led the Pacific 10 Conference with 35 stolen bases.

“In my eyes, in almost every area, it was a dismal year,” Wolfe said. “The only areas that I even came close to achieving my goals were stolen bases and defense.

“No matter how much I tried to tell myself not to think about it, the draft was still a looming presence over my head. I did not do a good job of blocking that out. I need to learn from that and focus better.”

Wolfe played in his first professional game Friday night against Everett (Wash.) and was hitless in four at-bats.

Said Wolfe: “I just need to go out there and play the way I can play and everything will work out fine.”

Around the block: Dana Ridenour is eager to pitch in the major leagues, if for nothing else a chance to visit some different cities.

During the past four years, Ridenour has seen all there is to see in triple A, having played in the American Assn., International League and Pacific Coast League.

Ridenour, a 25-year-old right-hander who played at Sylmar High and UCLA, is the No. 1 short reliever for Indianapolis, the Montreal Expos’ affiliate in the International League.

Ridenour was originally signed by the New York Yankees in 1986 and was in triple A at Columbus (Ohio) two years later.

He was traded to the Seattle Mariners in 1989 and played at triple-A Calgary until he tore ligaments in his ankle and missed the second half of the season.

Last year, Ridenour pitched in double-A Williamsport (Pa.), for which he compiled a 4-7 record and 2.86 earned-run average with six saves in 45 appearances.

During the winter, the Mariners left Ridenour unprotected on their double-A roster. The Expos drafted him and paid the Mariners $12,500 and Ridenour has responded with a 2-0 record, 2.00 ERA and three saves in 36 innings this season.

“I was in triple A with the Yankees when I was 22,” Ridenour said. “I didn’t get up to the big leagues then, but that experience is paying off now.”

Making the jump: Sometimes all a player needs is a change of scenery. Take Chris Haslock, for example.

At the end of May, the 26-year-old right-hander from Burbank was 0-1 with a 4.74 ERA for High Desert, the San Diego Padres’ affiliate in the Class-A California League.

A week later, he was promoted to double-A Wichita in the Texas League for what was thought to be a temporary assignment.

It’s been three weeks and Haslock has given the Padres no reason to ship him back to Class A, where he played the previous three seasons.

Haslock has a 1.29 ERA in 14 innings. He made only his second career start two weeks ago and pitched six shutout innings with five strikeouts against San Antonio.

“I haven’t pitched that much different than the way I was earlier this season,” Haslock said. “At High Desert, I had some real bad luck. Now, the cards are falling my way.”

Filling the gap: While Haslock is getting acclimated to Wichita, catcher Pete Kuld said goodby to that the city on Friday when he was traded from San Diego to the Texas Rangers, thereby completing the Ivan Rodriguez odyssey.

Rodriguez made headlines after he was called up to the Rangers from double-A Tulsa (Okla.) on Wednesday night, got married Thursday morning in Tulsa, then flew to Chicago and threw out two runners in the Rangers’ victory over the White Sox on Thursday night.

On Friday, the Rangers filled Rodriguez’s spot on the Tulsa roster by acquiring Kuld, who played at College of the Canyons and Pepperdine.

Kuld was batting .206 with two home runs and eight runs batted in in 29 games for Wichita.

Pitching in: Jim Vatcher has played in the major leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres because of his offensive production and defense as an outfielder.

But the former Cal State Northridge slugger demonstrated his pitching ability a few weeks ago for Las Vegas, the Padres’ affiliate in the triple-A Pacific Coast League.

It was the 12th inning of a game against Tucson and Las Vegas Manager Jim Riggleman had run out of pitchers and asked for volunteers. Vatcher, who had pitched at Palisades High, took the mound for the first time in his four-year professional career and pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three as Las Vegas won, 10-9.

Vatcher is batting .280 with 10 home runs and 32 RBIs.

Recommended reading: Actually, there is not much to read in “Baseball in America” (Collins Publishers, $45), but that only enhances this collection from more than 50 photographers.

The color and black-and-white photographs were taken at sandlot, high school, college and minor league games and off-the-beaten-baseball-path locales such as Yosemite National Park.

The book, edited by Karen Mullarkey, director of photography for Sports Illustrated, does not feature your favorite major league all-stars. Instead, it attempts to convey the essence of America’s love affair with baseball by capturing poignant images from the periphery of the games.

The one big knock is its big price. For $45, a baseball fan can get four field-level seats at Dodger Stadium, 40 packs of baseball cards or more than 800 swings at the Glendale batting cage.

The book, however, is worth checking out. And by the time the holidays arrive, it might be a reasonably priced gift for someone counting the days until the start of spring training.