BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : List Spurns JFK Role to Explore New Frontiers With the Pirates

It was two opportunities of a lifetime and Paul List was faced with a single decision.

After four years of trying to convince three organizations to let him play the outfield rather than pitch, List was being offered a chance to chase his major league dream by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

At the same time, though, a Hollywood casting director was offering him a part in director Oliver Stone’s film about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

“All my life, people have been telling me I look like JFK,” List, 25, of North Hollywood, told Baseball America magazine. “So I sent some pictures in. The casting people called and said, ‘We want to see this kid right now.’ I couldn’t believe it.

“I went down to see the casting lady. They put me on film and their jaws dropped. They told me I was a shoo-in for the part. It was crazy.”

But the film’s shooting schedule conflicted with spring training. The Pirates said they would not grant him permission to leave.

“Just to be in a movie like that could have been a big thing for me,” said List, whose father, Joel, is a character actor. “But I couldn’t quit. I wanted baseball so bad.”

During spring training, List got word from the Pirates that they had changed their minds. He could take the part if he wanted it. But by that time, the role had been filled.

“Hey, the show goes on,” said List, who played at North Hollywood High and Hawaii.

List was originally signed as a free agent by the Angels in 1987. He also was the property of the Oakland and Seattle organizations, but had never played above the Class-A short-season level.

This season, he batted .306 for Salem (Va.) in the Class-A Carolina League before being rewarded with a promotion to Carolina (N.C.) of the double-A Southern League. List batted .188 in six games for Carolina, and was sent back to Salem when a shoulder injury limited his availability.

Skilled laborers: List was among three former Valley-area players included among Baseball America’s annual “Tools of the Trade” survey. The survey featured 19 categories with managers in each of the minor leagues selecting the top players in each category.

List was chosen by Carolina League managers as the outfielder with the best arm.

Former Cal State Northridge outfielder Jim Vatcher, who is playing for Las Vegas, the San Diego Padres’ triple-A affiliate, was selected in the same category by Pacific Coast League managers. Saugus High product Roger Salkeld, who is playing for Jacksonville (Fla.), was tabbed as the best pitching prospect in the double-A Southern League.

Easy as Pi-oneer: The transition from college to professional baseball has hardly been a problem for Jeff Cirillo.

Cirillo, the Southern Section Small Schools Division player of the year at Providence High in 1987, was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 11th round of the June draft out of USC.

Cirillo, a third baseman, hit seven home runs in more than 60 games last season for the Trojans but he already has six homers for Helena (Mont.), a rookie affiliate in the Pioneer League.

“I can’t really pinpoint the reason for the surge in power, but I like it,” said Cirillo, who is batting .320. “I think at school, there was a little different approach to hitting, more of a contact-type thing.

“Here, I’m striking out a little more than I did in school but I’m swinging a little harder. I’m using what I learned at school, but I think it’s just the repetition of swings I get playing every day.”

Recommended reading: Let’s be honest. For most people the national pastime is not playing baseball, it’s talking about it.

That’s why “Bluff Your Way in Baseball” (Centennial Press, $3.95) is so much fun.

Jerry Bobrow’s 77-page guide includes a “very, very, extremely abbreviated history of the game”; one-paragraph profiles of famous players, and assorted minutiae to drop into any conversation. It’s a how-to book, as in how-to sound like you know something about the game even if you don’t.

In discussing baseball’s early history, for example, Bobrow writes: “. . . don’t hesitate to make up facts. Randomly toss in the names of Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Robert Redford. These names will be the answers to most questions.”

Hard-core trivia buffs might be offended, but they are more likely to find themselves laughing along.