Angels Are Looking for a Former Player to Take Fairly’s Job

With Angel radio broadcaster Ron Fairly having departed for the San Francisco Giants, the Anaheim team and its flagship station, KMPC, are said to be looking for a former Angel as his replacement.

Don Sutton would be a logical candidate, but he has decided to continue pitching for one more season.

Also mentioned is retired second baseman Bobby Grich. Jeff Torborg, who played for the Angels in the early ‘70s and is now a New York Yankees coach, reportedly is also interested in the position.

Rick Burleson was a possibility before he signed with Baltimore, and Jay Johnstone, who played with the Angels in 1966-70, has also been mentioned.

The radio job was offered to TV commentator Joe Torre, but for various reasons he turned it down. One source said that Torre, who earns about $100,000 for working 50 telecasts a season, wasn’t keen about taking on 162 games for only $150,000 more.

Another source said that the team is high on the TV pairing of Bob Starr and Torre and doesn’t want to mess with it.

KMPC’s Joel Meyers has expressed interest in the radio job, but he appears to be out of the running because of the station’s desire to place a former player with No. 1 announcer Al Conin.

Add Angels: Don Drysdale, currently living in Rancho Mirage with his new wife, Ann Meyers, would still like to return to the Angels.

“It’s not going to happen, though,” he said. “There’s nothing you or I could do to change that.

“I’ll tell you one thing. I’d like to have a dollar for every time someone has asked me when I’m coming back. I could retire a rich man today.”

Bob Uecker, Milwaukee Brewers radio announcer, spends a lot of time in Los Angeles these days filming the ABC sitcom, “Mr. Belvedere,” and making commercials. The Angels talked to him about the TV commentating job two years ago before hiring Torre.

Uecker, in town this week making a Miller Lite reunion commercial, said no one from the Angels or KMPC has talked to him this time.

Although he recently looked into the possibility of working for the Yankees, Uecker said: “I’m happy in Milwaukee. Really. The Brewers have been great to me.”

Comeback Dept.: Eddie Alexander, former Channel 7 sportscaster who served a year in prison for fraud from December 1983 to December 1984, has a show on ESPN.

The half-hour interview show, called “One on One,” is televised Monday nights. Alexander, who works for a San Francisco station, Channel 44, is the host and producer.

Alexander has attracted such guests as Vinny Testaverde, Michael Jordan and Joe Morris. Actually, it’s a pretty good show.

An ESPN spokesman said the network, which purchases the shows, was not aware of Alexander’s past.

Speaking of sportscasters who have gotten themselves in trouble, a Chicago radio talk-show host, Vince Andrade, disappeared Jan. 6 amid speculation he had incurred huge gambling debts.

Andrade, 37, called the Chicago Sun-Times this week without revealing his whereabouts.

He told the paper that he owes $175,000, and about $50,000 of that is gambling debts.

In July, Andrade began a business called Sport Marketing, which featured travel packages for fans who wished to attend Chicago Bears road games. He said the business venture went bad and he tried to win back his losses by gambling.

Looking ahead: The CBS schedule for Super Sunday, Jan. 25, will begin at 8:30 a.m. with a DePaul-Georgetown basketball game, followed at 10:30 a.m. by the Philadelphia 76ers vs. the Boston Celtics.

The two-hour Super Bowl pregame show will begin at 1 p.m., game coverage at 3 p.m. Kickoff is scheduled for about 3:10.

Broncomania Dept.: Denver, far and away, attracts higher TV ratings for pro football than any other city in the country. When the Broncos played Cincinnati Nov. 30, the Nielsen rating in Denver was 55.2 and the share 83.

That means the game was being watched in 55.2% of the homes in Denver and 83% of the people watching television at the time were watching the game.

For the New England-Denver playoff game Jan. 4, the Denver rating again was a 55.2 and the share was 82. For a regular-season game against New England Sept. 28, the share was 85 and the rating 46.1.

Only Chicago comes anywhere close to the normal high 40s rating the Broncos attract in Denver. The Bears and the Bengals drew a 41.5 rating and 80 share in Chicago on Sept. 28.

TV-Radio Notes NBC will televise the Bob Hope-Chrysler Classic Saturday and Sunday, live at 1:30 p.m. both days. Larry Cirillo, NBC’s coordinating producer of golf, says he thinks this year will mark the rebirth of the Hope now that it has moved to La Quinta and Pete Dye’s valley of despair, the PGA West course, where most of Saturday’s coverage and all of Sunday’s will originate. “PGA West and its surrounding mountains and desert scenery will probably provide some of the most spectacular and colorful pictures we have seen,” Cirillo said. . . . Tonight’s Sunkist Invitational track meet at the Sports Arena will be televised, delayed at 11, by the USA network. The announcers will be Larry Rawson, Dwight Stones and Phil Stone.

Hype dept.: ESPN will present 22 hours of Super Bowl-related programming next week, with “SportsCenter” originating from the Anaheim Hilton. Beginning Monday, CNN’s “Sports Tonight” programs will originate from the Anaheim Marriott, the NFL’s Super Bowl headquarters. . . . Recommended viewing: If you haven’t seen the “George Allen Show” on FNN/SCORE, check it out Sunday night at 5:30. The coach and co-host Byron Day will take an in-depth look at the Super Bowl teams. . . . Changing times: “Inside Football” on Channel 56, with Bob Elder and Vince Ferragamo, normally on at 9:30 a.m., will be televised Saturday at 5:30, with “Golf Journal” moving to 5 p.m. The “Inside Football” guests will be Jeff Kemp, Mike Haynes and new Cal State Long Beach Coach Larry Reisbig. CBS sportscaster Pat O’Brien, formerly a reporter for Channel 2, is returning to the station as a co-anchor with Ross Becker on the 7 o’clock news. O’Brien will continue doing his “At the Half” segments for CBS Sports. . . . On ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” Saturday will be taped coverage of last October’s Ironman triathlon. Specially designed cameras and microphones were worn by some competitors, including Judy Ryan, a 42-year-old competitor from Huntington Beach. Controversy marred the finish of the women’s race when apparent winner Patricia Puntous was disqualified for drafting during the bike portion. Paula Newby-Fraser, former Zimbabwe runner who now trains in San Diego, was declared the winner, with Sylviane Puntous, Patricia’s twin sister, getting second place. . . . Even if you’re not a fan of yachting, watching ESPN’s America’s Cup coverage is worthwhile. It’s amazing technology when one considers that cameras in the middle of the Indian Ocean, 12,000 miles away, are transmitting live pictures to the U.S.

The Frankie Duarte-Bernardo Pinango World Boxing Assn. bantamweight title fight at the Forum Feb. 3 will be televised as a pay-per-view event by Prime Ticket and Choice Channel, following the format used in televising the USC-UCLA football game. . . . Channel 2’s Jim Hill has been hired as host for the closed circuit/pay-per-view telecast of the Marvin Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard fight April 6. Hill will join Tim Ryan and Gil Clancy on the announcing team.