Baseball : Jackie Autry Says Economics, Not Collusion, Causing Solidarity

Collusion? Jackie Autry, the wife of Angel owner Gene Autry and a self-described owner in training, supports the party line.

“Collusion?” she asked rhetorically. “That’s ridiculous. When have you known the 26 owners to agree on anything. If there was collusion it would be an all-time miracle.”

So how does she explain the owners’ notable solidarity of the last two winters, the fact that spring training has started with Tim Raines, Lance Parrish, Rich Gedman, Andre Dawson, Bob Horner, Ron Guidry and Bob Boone unemployed?

“I think it’s a combination of factors,” she said, then listed them:

--Warnings by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth that the owners have to put their financial house in order before the network TV contract expires after the 1989 season. The six-year, $1.1-billion package provides each of the 26 clubs with an average annual windfall of between $6 and $7 million.

“Ueberroth has explained to the owners that we can’t anticipate getting the same type revenue in the new TV contract,” Autry said. “If, in fact, that’s true, it would have a significant impact on every club. How many sources of revenue are there? We’ve got ticket sales, concessions, parking and TV, and not every club has access to, or even shares in, concessions and parking.”

--The decision to open the books during the 1985 collective bargaining negotiations shocked the owners by providing evidence of the widespread losses. It prompted her husband to end his spending on free agents, Autry said.

“Gene’s in it because he loves the game,” she said. “He probably would have been satisfied if the club had been breaking even. But it had been 25 years to that point of basically losing money every year, and he decided that he didn’t want to go into his own pocket anymore to underwrite the players. I mean, many of them never even played543254132contracts. Let’s face it, we’re talking about a business here. If you’re going to stay in business, it takes smart management.”

--Concern that the unimpeded growth of salaries would ultimately send ticket prices soaring.

“We can’t threaten the concept that this is still a family game,” Autry said. “We don’t want to price ourselves out of the market. I know we always hear the argument that how can the franchises be worth so much money if everyone is losing money, but the truth is that many owners were faced with a situation in which they had to change their approach if they wanted to keep their franchise and maintain its value.”

It’s sound logic, of course, but there’s still only one conclusion:

Collusion or coincidence, it’s s-m-e-l-l-e-d the same.

Attorney Tom Reich, who represents about 90 players, including Raines and Parrish, is among those who believe that the owners are getting their signals from Ueberroth’s Park Avenue office.

Reich came up with a new indication of that last week when he seemed to have Parrish signed to a $1-million contract with Philadelphia, only to have the Phillies’ lawyers insist that Reich agree to a clause prohibiting Parrish or himself from taking future legal action against the Phillies or baseball because of the way Parrish had been treated as a free agent.

Reich refused, apparently ending the talks and reportedly infuriating President Bill Giles of the Phillies, who really wanted to sign Parrish and felt that the entire matter had been taken out of his hands. The implication is that the club’s lawyers, in demanding that Reich give up his legal rights, were acting on a directive from the owners’ Player Relations Committee, which takes its orders from Ueberroth.

Said Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Players Assn.: “I don’t know what all the facts are, but this seems as clear an indication as you could find of concerted action (by the owners in violation of the collective bargaining agreement).”

U-turn? There is mounting suspicion among some executives that Ueberroth, who meets with the owners quarterly and will hold his next meeting Thursday in Dallas, will ask them then to make realistic bids to the remaining free agents, destroying the union’s conspiracy charge.

That doesn’t jibe with the PRC’s alleged intervention in the Phillies’ negotiations with Parrish or the belief that the PRC’s primary goal is to force Raines, Parrish and the others back to their original clubs on May 1, but part of the owners’ strategy has been to keep the union off balance.

The shocking demise of the Angels last October apparently hasn’t cost the club any support. The sale of season tickets has already equaled last year’s 17,290 and is expected to easily break the 1983 club record of 18,075.

A competitive season would put the club within reach of its 1982 American League record of 2,807,360 in total attendance and give the Angels a shot at 3 million, previously reached only by the Dodgers.

What was that about losing money?

Apparently stimulated by the acquisition of Reggie Jackson and Ron Cey and the inclusion of an All-Star game ticket, A’s season sales are up 60% in Oakland. The club record of 6,000, set in a Billy Ball year of 1982, is expected to fall.

That total may not be impressive when measured against the Angels and Dodgers, who recently cut off season sales at 27,000, but remember that as late as 1979, Charlie Finley’s second-to-last year as owner, the club sold only 327 season tickets and kept the subscribers’ names in a shoe box.

The Numbers Game:

--San Francisco Giants outfielder Jeffrey Leonard, who formerly wore No. 20, will switch to No. 00. It is believed that he will be the first major leaguer to wear 00, one-upping retired Al Oliver, who wore 0, and Oddibe McDowell, who wears 0 for the Texas Rangers.

Since last August, Leonard has had surgery on a wrist, shoulder and both knees, and said: “I feel like I have an entirely new body and will be starting all over again,” implying that he wants his number to reflect that fresh start.

--Minnesota Twins’ Manager Tom Kelly will yield No. 41 to Jeff Reardon, who has always worn it. Kelly will wear No. 10, which he said he was planning to switch to anyway. Why?

“All the women in the stands can say, ‘There goes Kelly. He’s a 10.’ ”

Rick Sutcliffe of the Chicago Cubs is willing to help break the free-agent logjam by contributing $100,000 toward his club’s bid to sign Dawson.

“On the day Dawson signs, I owe the Cubs $100,000,” he said. “It’s no joke. I think Dawson is the guy that can put us over the hump.”

Though Ueberroth may be heard from on this, New York Yankees ‘owner George Steinbrenner has bought a piece of Balmoral race track, near Chicago, in the name of his wife and children.

“I prefer horses,” Steinbrenner said. “They don’t talk back to you. They don’t talk to sportswriters. They don’t have a union. They don’t have agents and they don’t take you to arbitration.”

Lou Piniella is bucking odds in his second spring as Steinbrenner’s manager. No Yankee manager has survived two straight seasons since Billy Martin in 1976 and ’77.

Orel Exam: The inconsistency in the arbitration process was revealed again in Ron Darling’s recent hearing. Darling made $440,000 last season, when he had a 15-6 record. The arbitrator ruled in favor of his bid for $1,050,000.

The Mets filed at $800,000, arguing that Darling’s three-year record of 43-21 was similar to Orel Hershiser’s 44-25 and that an arbitrator had just lowered Hershiser’s salary to $800,000.

“The crux of their case was Hershiser,” Darling said. “What we tried to reiterate was that I’ve been more consistent.”

The convincing statistic for Darling was that the Mets have a 68-34 record in games he has started during the last three years, which compares favorably to a 70-29 record in games started by Dwight Gooden, who earns $1.5 million.

Tom Haller, the Chicago White Sox general manager under since-fired Ken Harreleson last year, remains unemployed. “It seems as though all the clubs are cutting back and that includes the front office,” Haller said.