Almost from the moment he arrived in the big leagues in 1977, his Baltimore Orioles teammates treated him like a 10-year veteran. For the bulk of his 21 major league seasons, he was regarded as the clubhouse wise man, the person whose advice to other players carried tremendous weight. So for Eddie Murray, the transformation that he has made this spring training -- from Hall of Fame player to rookie bench coach -- really hasn't been that dramatic.

"I don't think it's any different than it's been the past 12 years," Murray said. "I don't think it's a big change. Most of the guys laugh about it, but they really enjoy the idea of me being here."

Even before Ray Miller agreed to become the Orioles' manager last fall in the aftermath of Davey Johnson's resignation, Miller secured a pledge from one of the club's all-time greats -- Mike Flanagan -- to be the team's pitching coach. Soon thereafter, Miller struck a deal with another Orioles legend, Murray, to be the club's bench coach. For Murray, that signaled the end of a playing career in which he established himself as one of the most consistent run producers ever. He is a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer, even if he spent some of his time alienating the reporters who will vote for his enshrinement.

Murray, 42, has been one of baseball's most intriguing personalities for years. As a player, he declined most interview requests with a polite but firm, "No thank you very much." Players, however, would swear by him as the most loyal, helpful teammate that anyone could have.

"I know the rapport he has with players," Miller said. "What you guys {reporters} think of Eddie and what he is on a club are completely different. He's great for a club. He's like a 15-year-old on the bench during games, he's so excited. He sees the whole field, like any good coach does."

It was Murray, Cal Ripken says, who taught him the importance of being an everyday player when the future iron man arrived in the majors. And it was Murray, Ripken says, who showed him the proper way to lend a helping hand to a struggling player.

"Eddie has always been very good at giving advice without drawing attention to himself," Ripken said. "He does it quietly, and he's not looking for credit. He's just looking for a positive result."

Murray's most visible moment of the spring came during the Orioles' third game of the Grapefruit League season, when he was ejected by umpire Ken Kaiser. Murray and Kaiser have a long history, and Kaiser had no problem picking out Murray's high-pitched voice coming from the Orioles' dugout. Kaiser had called out Danny Clyburn on strikes, and Murray and others in the dugout were upset because the young outfielder had been having the kind of at-bat that they wanted to see from him.

But it is the quieter spring moments that have had Miller going out of his way to praise Murray. During workouts early in the spring, Murray would sit alongside Miller watching pitchers throw and provide the hitter's perspective to the former pitching coach. Miller says that he and Flanagan had been urging reliever Alan Mills to work at a quicker pace, but the point didn't really hit home with Mills until Murray walked by one day in the clubhouse and told the pitcher, "You know, you're really tough when you work quick."

He is one of three major league players -- along with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays -- ever to amass 3,000 career hits and 500 home runs, and what he says matters to players.

"It carries a lot of weight," Miller said. "It backs up what I've been saying to someone or what the other coaches have been saying to someone. He likes to share his knowledge. It really frustrates him when people do things the wrong way or the stupid way."

Said Murray: "The satisfaction of it is seeing someone go out and put it into action after you've been talking about something and working on something. You have to realize that it isn't going to happen in a few minutes. Just because you tell somebody something doesn't mean that they correct it. It doesn't mean it's going to happen at that particular moment. But if you can get them to stand back and look at the situation, maybe they can see it and correct it."

Murray says he would like to be a major league manager one day, and he indicates that he has no second thoughts about retiring as a player. A tendon injury in his right wrist contributed to a 1997 season in which he hit only .222 with three homers and 18 RBI in 55 games for the Anaheim Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers. He'd driven in at least 75 runs in each of his previous 20 major league seasons.

"It was no fun being hurt," Murray said. "You can't really put a date on it {as to when he decided that he wouldn't play this year}. You thought it would be a knee or a shoulder. This was just a little tendon in the wrist, but it's a big part of your swing."

He played for 12 1/2 seasons over two stints with the Orioles, and he's now a coach for many of the players who were his teammates as recently as 1996.

But Murray said: "That's not a problem. The newness of it has worn off. The guys feel good about having me here and management feels good about having me here."

Orioles Notes: The Boston Red Sox beat the Orioles, 3-0, in an exhibition game this afternoon. Red Sox starter Pedro Martinez notched eight strikeouts while allowing only three hits in his five innings. Orioles starter Scott Erickson issued five walks but permitted only one hit and kept Boston scoreless for his five innings. . . .

Roberto Alomar hit right-handed against left-handed Red Sox reliever Ron Mahay in the eighth inning and dumped a soft single into right-center field. The hit left Alomar 3 for 5 this spring batting right-handed. The switch-hitting second baseman hit only left-handed for most of last season because of an injured left shoulder, on which he underwent offseason surgery. . . .

Orioles left fielder B.J. Surhoff may return to the lineup within the next few days. He hasn't played since the Orioles' opening game of the exhibition season because of minor ligament damage in his right ring finger, but he has resumed swinging a bat. . . . Alomar's agent, Jaime Torres, attended today's game and said that he's scheduled to speak to Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos soon about a contract extension for the second baseman. "We're going to be having some discussions," Torres said.

The Orioles announced today that they've sold more than 3 million tickets for the upcoming season, leaving fewer than 800,000 available for games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The regular season opener, scheduled for March 31 against the Kansas City Royals at Camden Yards, is sold out, the team announced. CAPTION: Murray reaches out, striking rapport with Roberto Alomar, left, teammates. "Eddie has always been very good at giving advice," says Cal Ripken. CAPTION: Eddie Murray, 42, has made a smooth transition from 21-year Hall of Fame career to first-year bench coach. "I don't think it's a big change," he says. (Photo ran in an earlier edition) CAPTION: Roberto Alomar strikes out against Pedro Martinez in Orioles' 3-0 exhibition loss to Red Sox. Martinez struck out eight, gave up three hits in five innings. (Photo ran in an earlier edition)