BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Perez Says Elbow Is Feeling Fine

Eduardo Perez hung around major league clubhouses before he could walk, cavorted with Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan before he could talk and celebrated World Series championships before elementary school.

Yet, the son of Tony Perez realizes there’s nothing like the euphoria of his first major league training camp as a player.

“This is unbelievable, I’m still trying to get over it,” said Perez, who’s expected to be the Angels’ opening-day left fielder. “I tell people I’m just glad to be here, and they think I’m joking.

“Seriously, I can’t describe how good this feels.”

Perez, who will wear his father’s number (24) this season, wondered a month ago if he would make it to camp. He was training in Miami when his right elbow stiffened. He feared something was wrong, but X-rays revealed no ligament damage. He had inflammation of the elbow, which had sidelined him the final few days of the 1993 season.

“I was worried for a while,” Perez said, “but I’ve been rehabbing so much that nothing was going to keep me back. I’m here now, and there’s nothing in the world like it.”

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The Angels will be unable to reconstruct the 2,500 seats at Anaheim Stadium that were damaged in last month’s earthquake by opening day, according to Kevin Uhlich, Angel assistant vice president. However, they remain optimistic that they will have a temporary scoreboard in place, and hope to have everything fixed by mid-season.

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When Bo Jackson introduced himself to pitcher Scott Lewis, he was stopped and immediately corrected. Lewis reminded him that they already had met.

“Hey, we met before,” Lewis said. “I guess you don’t remember, but the first time we met, you hit a pinch-hit homer off me.

“I don’t know about you, but I sure haven’t forgotten.”

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Jackson, who never has played first base in his amateur or professional career, doesn’t sound like someone who plans to make a career in the infield. “Don’t get any crazy ideas,” said Jackson, who has been taking ground balls at first the last two days. “I’ve just been helping out the pitchers, that’s all.” Said Angel Manager Buck Rodgers: “I just want him to get comfortable with the ballclub, whether he plays first base or not. We’ll find out in (exhibition) games whether he can do it.” . . . Dan O’Brien, former Angel general manager, is considered the leading candidate to become commissioner of the Arizona Fall League. . . . Former Angel outfielder Von Hayes, who sat out all last season, is working out in the Milwaukee Brewers’ minor-league camp. . . . Former Angel third baseman Kelly Gruber, who played only 18 games last season because of rotator-cuff surgery and herniated disks in his neck, told friends that he will sit out this season and attempt to play in 1995. . . . Troy Percival, who a year ago was billed as the man who would replace Bryan Harvey, is recovering quickly from reconstructive elbow surgery. He is expected to begin throwing at full-strength within a month.