Angels Beefed Up Their TV Lineup by Adding Reggie

The best move of the week came from the Angels, who hired Reggie Jackson as their Channel 5 commentator and moved Joe Torre to play-by-play.

Some people may regard Jackson as arrogant, but he is an outstanding broadcaster, as is Torre.

As for Bob Starr, who is being replaced, he is better on football than on baseball.

The worst move of the week came from ABC, which chose not to televise Michigan-Illinois and USC-Arizona as a national doubleheader.

The West Coast gets only USC-Arizona.

ABC said Michigan has already had too much national exposure, but assistant commissioner Jim Muldoon of the Pacific 10 Conference said that is not the case.

“I don’t know why they’re not showing Michigan-Illinois,” Muldoon said. “I know I’d like to see it.”

He’s not the only one.

Earlier this year, it was NBC announcers mourning the loss of baseball.

Thursday, it was CBS announcers mourning the loss of pro basketball.

“Our heartfelt feelings go out to Dick Stockton and the others,” said Dick Ebersol, NBC Sports president. “It’s a tough game being played these days.

“We’ve been on both sides of the fence, so we know the feeling.”

Stockton, reached at his home in New York, was keeping a stiff upper lip. “I’ve had a great professional broadcasting career and a great decade with the NBA,” he said. “Now it’s on to something else.”

That something else for Stockton may not be baseball, as has been speculated.

It appears that Jack Buck will get the job as CBS’ second play-by-play man on baseball.

“I’ve been offered the job,” Buck said from St. Louis. “I have to wait and see if the money is right, and I also have to clear it with the Cardinals. But they are aware of the situation.”

Buck, the Cardinals’ radio play-by-play announcer, would miss as many as 32 games. Buck would be paired with Jim Kaat. Brent Musburger and Tim McCarver will be the No. 1 CBS team on baseball next season.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue could take a few cues from the NBA. The basketball league seemed to have the fans in mind with some of the aspects of the proposal it offered to the networks.

For instance, beginning next season, there will be no playoff telecasts shown delayed at 11:30 p.m., and there will be more regular-season telecasts.

There are many areas in which the NFL could improve when it negotiates a new TV contract, beginning with a more lenient blackout policy.

Also, it should abolish the ridiculous rule that prohibits a network doubleheader in a market where a game is taking place. Los Angeles gets shortchanged almost every weekend.

The next major event up for bidding is the NCAA basketball tournament.

The negotiations begin in earnest later this month in Kansas City, and they figure to produce a dogfight.

CBS, having just lost the NBA and known for carrying an open pocketbook in recent years, will be a serious player.

So will NBC. Ebersol said Thursday that NBA Commissioner David Stern would be thrilled if his network also had the NCAA package.

But maybe ABC will be the most aggressive because its sports inventory is getting rather slim.

Also, Dennis Swanson, ABC Sports president, is a big college basketball fan.

So don’t count ABC out this time.

Pete Rose made several failed attempts at humor during his appearance on “Donahue” Wednesday.

The worst came in the form of a sexist remark directed at Janet Lusk, 27, of Northridge, who stood up to say it was hard to believe that Rose never bet on baseball.

“We’ll take care of your problem after the show, honey,” Rose chided her.

Said Lusk, who phoned Thursday: “It was an uncalled-for statement. I was offended, and my mother, who was at home watching, was offended. Here it is almost 1990, and he’s talking like that.”

Although some of the people at the “Donahue” show were critical of Rose, others clamored for his autograph.

During commercial breaks, many in the audience stormed the stage as security guards tried to fend them off.

Joanne Golditch of Northridge was persistent enough to get three baseballs signed. She said two of them were for her sons, Scott, 13, and Todd, 10.

“He was very gracious, telling the guards it was OK,” Golditch said.

Golditch was there with a friend, Betty Sawyer, who had a different version.

“He was very rude and just brushed me off,” she said.

At one point during the show, Rose said to Donahue: “Aren’t we going to talk about baseball?”

Replied Donahue: “I never told you how to hit a baseball.”

Donahue didn’t have to add: “Don’t tell me how to conduct an interview.”

Donahue showed up for the warm-up period wearing a UCLA jacket. No, he’s not related to Terry Donahue. He’s simply wearing different L.A. sports jackets during his stay here.

The highlight of Donahue’s warm-up came after Executive Producer Patricia McMillen took over for Donahue and explained that the program would be shown live in Los Angeles.

Said a voice from the back: “Would you call my mother and let her know?”

Said McMillen: “Get me the number, and we’ll call.”

Soon the number arrived on a slip of paper, and McMillen gave it to an aide and said, “We will make that call.”

Now, that’s service.

Attention all football announcers on radio and television: Please, please give the score more often, plus a recap of the scoring when possible.

With so many games on the air, people do a lot of switching around. It’s amazing how long it takes to get a score. And you never get a recap.

TV-Radio Notes

Reminders: The Rams’ 1 p.m. game against the New York Giants Sunday at Anaheim Stadium is a sellout and will be televised by Channel 2, and the Raiders’ game against the Chargers in San Diego at 5 p.m. will be televised by ESPN, plus Channel 11 and San Diego’s Channel 10. . . . Los Angeles will get the Denver Broncos again Sunday, and another dose of newcomer Bill Walsh. He and Dick Enberg will work the Broncos’ game against the Chiefs at Kansas City.

Here’s some good news for Laker fans: Channel 9 had 16 delayed telecasts last season but will have only six this season. . . . And some bad news for King fans: There will be 10 more Prime Ticket telecasts delayed until 8 p.m. or later. Next Wednesday’s game at Edmonton will be shown at 10:30 p.m. because of a Laker telecast. There’s one good thing, though: KGIL won’t be delaying any more King broadcasts because of Cal State Northridge football.

Ready for Bob Trumpy on golf? He’s part of the NBC team working the Kapalua tournament this weekend. . . . SportsChannel has hired Joel Meyers as its Clipper play-by-play announcer. He worked his first game Wednesday night. Keith Erickson is back as the commentator.