Red Patterson, 76, Quits Angels After Squabble

Arthur E. (Red) Patterson, one of baseball’s most innovative and successful publicists and marketing executives, resigned Thursday as a member of the Angels’ board of directors and assistant to owner Gene Autry.

Patterson, still an indefatigable worker at 76, said that the hiring last year of advertising executive John Hays as the club’s vice president of marketing had stripped him of any authority in the organization and ultimately led to his decision.

Hays’ hiring--to a new position in the Angels’ hierarchy--was orchestrated by Jackie Autry, the owner’s wife. The Autrys have been attempting recently to build a younger organization, on and off the field.

Said Patterson, when reached by phone at his Fullerton home Thursday:

“The Autrys told me time and time again that they wanted Hays to come to me for advice, that they wanted him to lean heavily on my recommendations. But the fact is that the only time he came to me was when something was already a fait accompli. Then, if I had to correct it, I was made to be a meddler, a villain.

“I reached a point where I felt my continued zeal was unappreciated. I felt useless. I told Gene the other day that the only way to straighten out the situation was to put a baseball man back in charge, but I knew that wouldn’t happen. I have my pride. I could only take so much.”

Hays, in response, said: “Red is entitled to his perception, but I would describe our relationship as a working partnership. He has been a mentor and close friend, a big asset to me and the club. I’m disappointed. His decision was unexpected.”

Said Autry: “Before we even hired John Hays, it had been Red who was hollering that he couldn’t do it all. Then we hired John to strengthen our merchandising department, and Red felt that some of his authority was gone. He had seemed to forget that he was the one who had been saying that he needed help.

“I like Red. I respect what he’s done in baseball. I tried to talk him out of this, but if he doesn’t want to work here, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

In a prepared statement released through the club, Patterson alluded to the legal conflict between the Angels and Anaheim regarding, among other things, use of the stadium parking area, and said: “I feel I should have been allowed more leeway to tell our story to the dedicated Angel fans. Not having this authority, I found it impossible to carry on our battle with the city while wearing handcuffs.”

In addition to resigning from the Angels, Patterson also left the board of directors of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.

He said the final straw in his decision to quit the club was the Angels’ refusal to let him speak Tuesday at a Chamber of Commerce baseball luncheon, an annual event he pioneered in 1975.

Patterson said he had wanted to deliver a personal plea to the business leaders there, asking them to work toward a peaceful settlement of the litigation. He said club lawyers already had approved the speech, but “I’ve since found out that the person that wanted me to curtail it is right at the top (of the Angel organization) and wears a skirt.”

This was the same luncheon at which Autry refused to accept a proclamation from the city or share the dais with Anaheim Mayor Don Roth.

Roth said Tuesday that Patterson had told him there would not be a place for him at the head table and that Autry would not accept the resolution.

Autry said Tuesday that he wasn’t aware of the call from Patterson to Roth but said it made more sense than accepting a proclamation from a city the Angels have been bitterly feuding with for years.

“I can’t understand how the council can approve stuff like that (the proclamation)” when they do “little things to us all the time,” Autry said.

On his decision to reject Patterson’s luncheon presentation, Autry said Thursday: “I told Red that he could give it to the press but that I didn’t think this luncheon was the proper place to get up and make a speech of that kind.”

Said Patterson: “I simply decided that if that’s what they think of a hell of an idea, then I don’t belong there, that I have nothing to offer them.

“It’s a case of too many bosses. You have Hays getting into the act, her (Mrs. Autry) getting into the act, (finance director) Jim Wilson getting into the act, (Vice President) Mike Schreter getting into the act. Who among them knows baseball?”

A former sportswriter with the New York Herald Tribune, Patterson spent 28 years as a publicist with the Yankees and Dodgers and is credited with introducing old-timers’ days, yearbooks and many of the most popular promotional events. He was also the first to apply a tape measure to one of Mickey Mantle’s home runs.

He was hired by Autry as club president in 1975 and a short time later was named assistant to the owner. The Angels have since enjoyed their best years at the gate, setting an American League attendance record of 2.8 million in 1982.

Said Autry, in a prepared response to Patterson’s resignation: “Red has been a dedicated man in the sports world for many years. I regret his decision . . . but I respect his right to make it.”