ANGELS GET HALL OF FAMERS, USUALLY WITH TARNISHED HALOS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Same old Angels. Emphasis on you-know-what.

Dave Winfield was elected Tuesday to the Baseball Hall of Fame, where he'll stand as the latest monument to the Angels' knack for employing great players at precisely the wrong moments in their long careers.

But the club didn't rest on its laurels.

Later in the day, the Angels announced they have signed Jose Canseco, the often-injured power hitter, with the hope he'll be their designated hitter this season.

Anywhere else, occurrences like this would be a coincidence. In Anaheim, they're proof that some things never change.

Winfield was 38 years old in 1990, a former .300, 30-homer, 100-RBI hitter coming off the back injury that cost him an entire season, when the Angels got him from the New York Yankees in a trade for pitcher Mike Witt. He was 40 when they let him go to the Toronto Blue Jays as a free agent - and promptly watched him get a World Series-clinching hit.

That was then, this is now.

Canseco is 36 and has been sidelined with back and foot problems for six seasons in a row, as he leaves the Yankees for a $200,000 minor-league contract that could pay as much as $5 million if he achieves a list of incentives.

``There's just not a downside to this whole idea,'' Angels general manager Bill Stoneman said when he was asked whether this is another example of bad timing.

Not unless you describe this part of Canseco's career as the downside.

Hand this much to the Angels. No matter the names on the front-office door through the years, they've always had an eye for talent. All they need to see is a hint of ability and they pounce.

Usually the hint is that the player already has 293 pitching victories (Don Sutton), four World Series championship rings (Reggie Jackson), two MVP awards (Frank Robinson), seven batting titles (Rod Carew), 935 relief appearances (Hoyt Wilhelm) or 406 home runs (Winfield).

All of those are ex-Angels in the Hall of Fame, having joined the team at ages ranging from Carew's 33 to Wilhelm's 45.

The seventh ex-Angel in Cooperstown is Nolan Ryan, whom they wish they'd had in old age, but instead let go at 32 - before he pitched 14 more seasons.

The club is still waiting for a Hall of Famer to wear its cap on his plaque. The Angels media guide doesn't even list their Hall of Fame alumni.

And don't look now - Eddie Murray will be Hall of Fame-eligible in a couple of years.

It isn't the players' fault they come to Anaheim at the wrong time, usually after their Hall of Fame credentials are established, and in Ryan's case before. For Winfield, it sure felt like the right time.

Winfield had been through 9 1/2 ``acrimonious'' years under Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. It was nice to hear Angels owner Gene Autry and general manager Mike Port say they knew he could still hit.

``To play for Gene Autry was an honor in itself,'' Winfield -elected to the Hall of Fame along with Kirby Puckett - said Tuesday in a news conference in Bel Air, where he has lived for two years with his wife Tonya and twin son and daughter. ``We wanted to win for him.''

They didn't even break .500 for him in Winfield's two seasons. He led them in RBI the first year (72 in 112 games) and in home runs (28) the next, but batted in the .260s and weakened late in 1991 as new vice president Whitey Herzog watched.

The Angels paid Winfield $400,000 to leave, instead of paying him $3 million to stay for 1992.

He is a deserving Hall of Famer, a walking response to the charge that baseball players aren't athletes. You just couldn't prove his greatness by anything he did in Anaheim.

Maybe it will be different for Canseco, a 446-home-run hitter and a potential Hall of Famer. For now, though, he's an old guy in fragile health, an offensive star joining a team in desperate need of pitching.

For fans of any other club, a day like Tuesday, when they sent a player to the Hall of Fame and acquired one of the most exciting players of a generation, would be something to celebrate.

For Angels fans, it's a reminder of sad old stories.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, 5 boxes

Photo: (1 -- color) ``I played every day like it was my last. I loved all my blood, my sweat and my tears. I was definitely an over-achiever.''

-- Kirby Puckett, Former Minnesota Twin

(2 -- color) ``I'll tell you what hat I'm wearing today. It's the Hall of Fame hat.''

-- Dave Winfield, Who played for Padres, Yankees, Angels, Blue Jays, Twins and Indians

(3) no caption (Dave Winfield)

(4) no caption (Kirby Puckett)

Box: (1) Highlights

(2) Hall of Fame Voting

(3) Milestone Hits

(4) DAVE WINFIELD

(5) KIRBY PUCKETT