JUST CALL HIM KING OF COVINA WOOTEN DOESN'T STRAY FROM HOMETOWN.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Shawn Wooten never has to worry about forgetting where he came from. It's impossible.

``I was born and raised in Covina,'' he explains. ``I'll probably die there. It's that old, familiar territory.''

As the Angels' part-time designated hitter this season, Wooten made $250,000. While many ballplayers opt for swankier, more opulent communities once they make the big leagues, Wooten still calls Covina home.

Today, when the Angels converge on Edison Field for Game 1 of the World Series, most will depart from their well-appointed Orange County residences in communities such as Tustin Ranch, Yorba Linda or Newport Beach.

Wooten will make the same drive he always does, east on the 10, south on the 57, about a half-hour trip.

It's safe to say Wooten enjoys familiarity.

Wooten is so Covina he actually has two homes there. He bought his mother a house there last year after his father, Bob, passed away from lung cancer. He lives there part of the time and also rents an apartment in the city, a place many of his associates don't know about, a place where he finds some solitude.

He said he sticks to the same daily routine 90 percent of the time. If he wants to enjoy a late-night cocktail, he frequents the same watering hole in town.

He eats lunch every day at the same buffet-style restaurant more popular with the senior-citizen crowd, at least when the Angels don't play an early game. He orders a steak. He loads up at the salad bar. In fact, he's such a loyal customer, he has a 10 percent discount card he uses to save a few bucks.

His teammates rib him for shaving a few pennies even when he enjoys a six-figure income and a generous per diem. Of course, many of them didn't emerge from the same modest baseball background he did.

Wooten, a South Hills High of West Covina graduate, twice was the conference player of the year at Mt. San Antonio College. He was an 18th-round pick of the Detroit Tigers in 1993 but was released in '95 after he and the organization clashed over changes they wanted to make to his swing.

That earned him a season and a half of exile in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, with an independent-league team. Before the '97 season, he tried out for 10 different teams, including the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Finally, the Angels called, signed him to a minor-league deal, and three years later he was in the major leagues.

Wooten hasn't disappointed; he's a lifetime .322 hitter, giving the Angels a perfect right-handed complement to Brad Fullmer at designated hitter.

``All the stuff that has happened, you have to forget about it,'' Wooten said. ``All the battles I've had, it's made me stronger mentally and physically.''

That's one reason why Wooten seems immune to playoff pressure. He hit the game-tying home run in the Angels' victory in the decisive Game 4 of the AL Division Series against the Yankees. He had six hits in nine at-bats against New York and is hitting .470 in the postseason.

A lot more people know his name now; the other day, his mail stack at the ballpark included correspondence from Connecticut and New York. And because the Angels are in the World Series, the personal demands have increased considerably. He secured 19 tickets for family and friends, and jhe could have used 50 or 60 more.

That they're watching him play in Anaheim and not Chavez Ravine seems ironic for Wooten. He grew up an ardent Dodger fan, his parents toting him to games regularly. He enjoyed collecting the giveaway batting gloves, wearing one on each hand even though the glove on his right hand didn't fit properly.

In fact, the first game he attended at Anaheim Stadium was a game he participated in - the 1988 Southern Section championship game between South Hills and rival Covina.

``It was always about the Dodgers,'' Wooten said. ``When you think about going to the World Series, you think of wearing Dodger blue and hitting a game-winning home run.''

Now, he could be the one hitting that home run, albeit in Angel red. Such a thing would change his life forever. Just don't count on it changing him.

``The playoffs, none of that stuff has impacted me,'' he insisted this week. ``Maybe once it's over, I'll take a step back and take it all in.''

Then, he'll go home. Like he always has.

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Shawn Wooten still calls Covina home, commuting to work each day in Anaheim.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer