--Eric Byrnes of the River Cats became known by fans - particularly teenage girls - as a nice guy during his 67-game stay in Sacramento last summer. Major League Baseball wants to make sure he stays that way. With newspaper headlines decrying the latest indiscretions of professional athletes - everything from spousal abuse to drug use to murder - baseball is taking a proactive approach in an attempt to keep its players' activities confined to the box scores.

Byrnes, a Bay Area-born outfielder, was one of four River Cats players to attend baseball's Rookie Career Development Program recently in Landsdown, Va.

The four-day seminar is devoted to helping baseball's next generation of stars make the right decisions.

"It's a very challenging transition from the minor leagues to the majors," said Kevin Hallinan, head of security for Major League Baseball. "We wanted to do whatever we can to prepare them for the journey."

Every winter, each major-league club is allowed to send four up-and-coming players to the seminar. The Oakland A's, the River Cats' parent club, sent Byrnes, first baseman Jason Hart, pitcher Justin Miller and second baseman Jose Ortiz.

During the four days, the players attend sessions ranging from media relations, alcohol and drugs, steroids, financial planning and interpersonal relationships - on and off the field.

"They don't preach," Byrnes said. "Nobody sits up there and says 'No. No. No.'

"That's not how you get through to young men. They just go through every decision that you can make and talk about the effects it can have on your life."

Hallinan, a former New York City cop, conceived the program in 1989. He readily admits stealing the idea from the NBA, which originally started its program to combat rampant drug use in the league during the late 1970s.

"I went to one of their seminars, and I was the smallest man in the room," Hallinan said. "It was something I immediately believed in. I came back from the meeting and talked to (then) Commissioner Fay Vincent. Not much discussion was needed to convince him."

The program evolved as an equal partnership between the commissioner's office and the players association, a novelty in itself.

"Both sides realized that there are a lot of circumstances young players come up against," Hallinan said. "We wanted to give them the opportunity to think them through. Give them some strategy for various situations in life."

The program has evolved over the years, but the premise remains the same.

A major part of the seminar are presentations by the Creative Arts Team from New York University, a troupe of actors and teachers who play out various scenarios.

Byrnes recalls one session from which tight end Mark Chmura could have benefited.

"It's like if you are in a bar and you are approached by a couple of women who turn out to be minors," Byrnes said. "They talked about how to deal with it."

The program uses former players, doctors and psychiatrists, who are available to talk about potential circumstances and problems and how to best resolve them.

"We have a lot of breakout groups, where players can talk about anything," Hallinan said.

But mostly, they just deal with real life.

"It's about 50 percent baseball and 50 percent real life," Byrnes said. "They talk about stuff like how to handle relationships at home. Like if your wife just fixed a big, wonderful dinner and your mother calls and says she needs you to help with something. What do you do? How do you not hurt either one's feelings.

"They discussed things, like what to do if you go home for the winter and you're out with a high school buddy and he pulls out a joint. That's kind of a tough one because you don't want them to think you've changed, but at the same time you still have to disassociate yourself from that kind of thing.

"The worst part is they start thinking, 'Oh, so you're a big shot now. You're too cool to hang out with us.' That's a hard one."

Another part of the seminar dealt with gambling. And, no, Pete Rose wasn't the guest speaker. In fact, Byrnes wouldn't say who the speaker was, fearing he'd find a horse's head under his covers.

"They brought in a guy who was a former underboss with the mob," Byrnes said.

"He talked about people who would try to befriend you and then want something out of you. He told us to stay away from bookies."

The first day of the seminar features a special program for Latin players, done completely in Spanish. This year, Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda was the guest speaker. In previous years, the speakers included Montreal Expos manager Felipe Alou.

The Latin players have special needs in the world of baseball. Not only do they face the same temptations, in many cases they don't speak English well.

"It's a real eye-opener for the Latin kids to listen to stars like that discussing the problems they faced and offer advice on how to handle the situations," Hallinan said.

Earphones are provided for each subsequent session so the Latin players can listen to all the presentations in Spanish.

For Byrnes, among the most interesting of topics was a full day spent on dealing with the often contentious relationship between the athlete and the media.

It started with a presentation from Andrea Kirby, a former CBS anchor, who played a video tape showing the types of behavior exhibited by players - from non-communicative and combative postgame interviews to ebullient clubhouse reactions.

Kirby's presentation was followed by a panel discussion featuring ESPN's Peter Gammons and Jayson Stark and USA Today's Hal Bodley. It was an eye-opener for Byrnes.

"They talked about the essence of what (the media) wants in an interview," Byrnes said. "I think it gave both sides more of an understanding of the media. It made me realize that they have a job to do, just like us.

"They want to tell the stories from the viewpoint of the players. There are times when I have a terrible game, and all I want to do is take a shower and go home. But they still have to write a story. They just want to know what you are thinking.

"The way I see it now, it's a player's civic duty to answer their questions. If a fan comes to the park and pays his money, he wants to pick up the paper the next day and see what the players had to say about the game. I think it's our job to talk about it. We owe it to the fans."

The remainder of the seminar focuses on various topics, from taxes and financial planning to how to deal with obnoxious fans and other off-the-field situations.

"They want to prepare you for the big leagues and for life," Byrnes said.

"Lots of situations happen in real life, on and off the field, and they want to give you alternate courses of action. They want you to be prepared for the realities of life."

Even after 10 years - they missed the strike season - Hallinan said the seminars are still a work in progress. But it's been the most satisfying work he's ever done.

"I believe the program has made a difference," he said. "It's not a panacea, but it's been more successful than we could have imagined. When you look in the papers these days, baseball is coming out OK."