Autrys Say Jackson Is Mistaken : Angel Owners Deny Having Told Him He Should Retire

Angel owners Gene and Jackie Autry, responding Friday to comments made by Reggie Jackson, denied having told him that he should retire and said they were mystified as to why he thinks the club doesn’t want him.

Gene Autry also said that if all this stems from Jackson’s desire to extend his contract through 1987, he is willing to do that--but at the club’s option and not Jackson’s.

“If he wants another year at our option we’ll give it to him, but I’m through giving some of these 40-year-old players another year at their option,” Gene Autry said by telephone from an Orange County hotel. “Let’s see what he does this year first.”

Jackson is now in the option year of a contract signed in 1982, when he joined the Angels as a free agent. He qualified for the option year by satisfying statistical criteria in 1984 and ’85.

His agent, Gary Walker, has been attempting to negotiate an extension through 1987, at Jackson’s option.

Walker, who could not be reached Friday, has said that Jackson would accept half of his current base salary of $975,000 with the rest made up in incentives based on the number of games played.

He has said that Jackson does not want to be “shuffled off,” as he said Rod Carew and Tommy John were, and that Jackson wants to be able to announce his final year in advance, which would allow him to make a grand tour of the American League, in the style of a retiring Carl Yastrzemski.

The Angels have been unwilling to go beyond 1986--unless, as Gene Autry revealed Friday, the club holds the option.

“Reggie talks about how we treated Rod Carew and Tommy John,” Gene Autry said. “Well, neither of those players came to us and said this was it, this was going to be their final year. In truth, we did give Carew an extra year--two, in fact (at a time when Carew had not been selected by any team in the 1983 free-agent re-entry draft).

“You can’t keep giving 40-year-old players an extra year. Nobody ever says they’ll take a cut.”

Jackson was quoted in a Times story that appeared in Friday’s editions as saying Jackie Autry had told him in November he should retire.

He said that he had asked for a meeting with the Autrys after getting a call from General Manager Mike Port, advising him that he no longer fit into the club’s plans.

Port has denied that, saying that he called Jackson out of respect to tell him that the club planned to use him as a designated hitter this year, and if that wasn’t to his liking, maybe something could be worked out in the way of a trade.

“I don’t understand Reggie,” Autry said Friday. “I don’t know how he got it into his head that we don’t want him.

“Jackie never tried to get him to quit. Nobody ever told him he should retire.

“I do remember saying to him that a lot of times ballplayers are like movie stars and don’t know when to quit.

“I told him I was happy that I had quit on top rather than dragging it out, and that Mickey Mantle had told me he regretted not having retired a year or two earlier.

“I was stating facts, not trying to make a suggestion.”

Jackie Autry concurred. She said it had been her impression that Jackson left the meeting satisfied with the understanding that he was to play a major role.

“Aside from discussing where Reggie was going to be five or six years down the line, no one attempted to suggest he should retire,” she said.

“Gene is as mystified by this as I am. Neither of us feels he’s doing the team or himself any good by continuing to talk about it.

“He should be over there concentrating on his preparations. If a player performs to his capability, he’s going to be renewed, whether he plays for the Baltimore Orioles or California Angels.”

Added Gene Autry: “If Reggie really wants to move to another team we’ll try to accommodate him, but we’re not going to release him without getting something in return and we’re not going to release him while we’re still obligated for his salary.

“I have no quarrel with Reggie. I told him the other night in Yuma that we’re counting on him, that we want him to go out and have a big year. Why doesn’t he just go out and hit 30 homers and bat .300? He’ll have a job then. If not with us, somewhere.”