Autry Says Boone Was Too Hasty : Angels’ Owner Blames Both Catcher and Mike Port

Still shaken by Bob Boone’s bolt-and-jolt defection to the Kansas City Royals, Angel owner Gene Autry said Friday that the 41-year-old catcher “cost himself a lot of money” by not contacting the Angels before agreeing to play elsewhere.

“He should have called me first,” Autry said. “Hell, yes. If he had, we wouldn’t be talking about this today.

“We were going to give him a raise. . . . We were talking about the $1-million range. After all, he did have a good season, his best year with the bat.”

Wednesday, without giving the Angels a chance to make a counter-offer, Boone signed a 1-year contract with Kansas City worth $883,001. That total represented Boone’s 1988 Angel salary, plus $1--technically his first raise since 1986.

“I didn’t have any idea Boone would sign as quick as he did,” Autry said. “If they were offering him something like $1 million, I could see it. But for what he made last year plus $1 more? I didn’t understand it.

“The day it happened, Jackie (Autry’s wife) and I went down to Anaheim to go over all of this--to decide what free agents we were going to try to sign, and to talk about our own (unsigned) players.

“We were talking with (Angel General Manager) Mike Port in his office about this, and while we were talking, Mike got a phone call saying Boone had signed with Kansas City. I just couldn’t believe it.

“If he had at least called us first, I think we would have taken care of him and he would have been paid right.”

Instead, Autry said, that phone call didn’t come until Friday--2 days after the fact.

“Bob called me today,” Autry said, “and all I could do was wish him well. The horse is out of the gate.”

Boone could not be reached for comment, but according to Autry, the catcher called to explain his reason for leaving the Angels so suddenly.

Basically, Autry said, it came down to a personality conflict between Boone and Port, who had sparred over contracts the previous 2 years.

“Sometimes, you have a conflict between a player and a general manager, and I think there was something there,” Autry said. “I think Boone and Mike Port were a little slow in getting together, and both are to blame for that.”

Although he suggested that Port ease up on the militant negotiating style that has alienated so many Angel players--remember Wally Joyner, Kirk McCaskill and Doug DeCinces?--Autry defended his general manager.

“He is a good general manager--and he’s going to be a better general manager,” Autry said. “Sometimes, I think a lot of people take him differently than he really is. He can’t just have players coming in and saying, ‘I want that, I want that.’ A general manager is on the hot seat. He can’t go around making everybody happy.

“I think people may get the wrong impression of Mike Port. He’s a very thorough guy. He knows the rule book. It’s just that Mike is a little bit on the cold side (during player negotiations). I think Mike could be a little more friendly with the people he deals with.”

Said Port: “I assume responsibility--I did not call Bob Boone. I’ll be up front and totally honest about that. But wouldn’t you think, as other of our players have done, that he could have done something. I’ve had other players exert enough muscle power to come on by and say, ‘Mike, let’s talk about my contract.’ And if not me, couldn’t he have spoken with Mr. Autry?”

Boone had also bristled at Port’s decision to trade for catcher Lance Parrish and then sign him to a contract worth $1.4 million including incentives. Another possible factor: Boone’s spurned bid to become the Angels’ player-manager in 1989. According to Autry, the two discussed the possibility in early November, a possibility quickly nixed by Autry. The Angels then hired Doug Rader as their manager on Nov. 15.

Said Autry: “Bob called me, just before he left to go to Colorado for a hunting trip. He said, ‘Look, I’d like to manage this ballclub. I’d like to manage it and catch, too, for the same money.’

“I told him, ‘Well, Bob, quite frankly, I don’t think a player-manager is a good thing. We had so much trouble last year (with an inexperienced manager). We put Cookie (Rojas) in there, and it just didn’t seem to work out. Then, we put in Moose (Stubing) for 10 days and he didn’t win a game.

“Frankly, I’m a little bit tired with putting in guys who have never managed before. I told Bob, ‘You’ll get your chance, but you should manage a year or two in the minors first.’ I think being the everyday catcher and manager is just too much.”

The next time Boone spoke with Autry, it was as a member of the Kansas City Royals.

“That’s yesterday,” Autry said. “The train’s gone. We’ve got to catch the next one.”

Toward that end, Autry has dispatched Port to Atlanta for baseball’s annual winter meetings with a mission: To sign Nolan Ryan and Bruce Hurst. Having already lost a Gold Glove catcher, and anticipating a loss of fan support, Autry acknowledged the need for his club to make some impact moves.

“I think everybody’s concerned about the fans,” Autry said. “I think we have to spend some money for a couple of top pitchers. If we get them, and a power-hitting outfielder, I think we’ve got a ballclub that can contend.”

Getting them, of course, is easier said than done.

For Ryan, a native Texan, the Angels are competing against both the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers. And all negotiations with Ryan have been placed on hold as Ryan attends to an illness in his family.

The Angels entered the bidding for Hurst late and are believed to be running a distant third to the San Diego Padres and the Boston Red Sox. The Angels’ 3-year, $4.9-million offer is more than San Diego’s ($4.7 million) but less than Boston’s ($5 million).

Acquiring a power-hitting outfielder will cost the Angels players--and they have little of that commodity to trade. Shortstop Dick Schofield is the most-demanded Angel property--the Montreal Expos reportedly offered Tim Wallach for him--but Autry isn’t keen on breaking up his infield. “We want to keep Schofield,” he said.