Starved for Victories, Angel Players Get One From Outside Source

The mood in the Angel clubhouse, dark and drab throughout most of September, brightened measurably Monday when the players learned of victory from afar--arbitrator Tom Roberts’ ruling that the owners did indeed conspire to undermine the baseball free-agent market of 1985.

“The ruling is everything I’d thought it’d be,” Angel player representative Mike Witt said before the Angels’ 5-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Anaheim Stadium. “(The owners) broke the basic agreement, they colluded, they broke free agency.

“We felt going in that this was the decision we expected.”

In the winter of 1985, the Angels had six players eligible for free agency-- first baseman Rod Carew, second baseman Bobby Grich, outfielder Juan Beniquez, and pitchers Donnie Moore, Don Sutton and Al Holland. None were able to move to another club by their own volition.

Carew was forced into retirement, Grich, Moore and Sutton re-upped with the Angels, and Beniquez and Holland were released. Beniquez eventually signed with Baltimore and Holland with the New York Yankees, although at cut-rate prices.

During that winter, Moore and Detroit’s Kirk Gibson were regarded as the cream of the free-agent market. Moore was coming off his finest season, saving 31 games and compiling a 1.92 earned-run average. Yet, he claimed he received scant attention from other teams, eventually settling for an 11th-hour, 3-year, $3-million agreement with the Angels.

“I know what was going on in ‘85,” Moore said. “There definitely was collusion. . . . I was expecting this decision. I was hoping the arbitrator would see things the way I saw it and the way millions of other people saw it.”

Moore was asked about the lack of response he received when he decided to test the free-agent market.

“What to you mean, ‘lack of?’ ” Moore replied. “There was no response.”

Third baseman Doug DeCinces, a free agent during the winter of 1986, agreed with Moore’s findings.

“There was no free agency last year,” DeCinces said flatly. “None. C’mon, Tim Raines (another ’86 free agent) can’t play for anybody?

“This decision proves (the owners) were wrong and proves what they did. The way the basic agreement was put together and started, there were certain rights and regulations both both sides agreed to work by. This proves that one side was not working in accordance to the regulations.

“The fact that we won in 1985,” DeCinces added, “puts a mortal lock on ’86.”

Members of the Angel front office reacted predictably to the ruling. Both owner Gene Autry and general manager Mike Port denied that the Angels took part in collusion against any free agent.

“All I know is I didn’t conspire to do anything,” Autry said. “I don’t think I ever said we would never go into the free-agent market again. . . . If a free agent was available, and the price was not outlandish, I’d say, yes, we’d try to sign him. But I’m not going to sign a free agent because we have to.”

Said Port: “Any decision we’ve ever made on free agency, for better or worse, has always been our decision alone. There was no collective course to be considered and there’s no collective course now to be changed.

“We disagree with the decision.”

Burned over the past decade by such free-agent washouts as Frank LaCorte, John D’Acquisto and Bill Travers, the Angels have the market since 1983, signing only one re-entry free agent--Ruppert Jones in January, 1985--during that span. Last winter, the Angels abruptly rejected a proposal from free-agent pitcher Jack Morris, beginning and ending negotiations in a matter of hours.

“In many cases, the signing of a free agent didn’t pan out for us,” Port said. “Given the Angels’ history with free agents, (we) would continue to stress development first, trade and acquisition second, and, at some point in time, the possibility of signing some free agent, providing he’s in the right range of salary and length of contract.”

After Monday’s ruling, Moore and 61 other 1985 free agents await the assessment of punitive damages, to be designated as potential income lost.

Angel Notes

Monday’s loss was the fifth straight for the Angels, who can be eliminated from the AL West race today. A Minnesota victory, coupled with an Angel defeat would officially end the Angels’ 1987 playoff hopes. . . . Chuck Finley, making his second big league start, was the losing pitcher, allowing six hits and four runs in five-plus innings. His record dropped to 2-7. Sidenote: The Angels are 2-32 in games in which Finley has appeared this season. . . . The Angels received a solo home run from Jack Howell, his 19th of the season, and a run-scoring double from Wally Joyner. The RBI was Joyner’s 110th of the season. . . . Baseball’s ironman catchers, Bob Boone and Al Lopez, met at home plate for a pregame ceremony to note Boone’s new standing as the man who caught the most major league games ever. Last week, Boone broke Lopez’s record of 1,918 games caught. Lopez flew from his Florida residence to present Boone with a trophy--a catcher’s mitt enclosed in a glass case.