Angels Pay Langston $16 Million : Baseball: Left-hander’s five-year contract, the first since 1987, is richest in the sport’s history.

There was a time, as he rode off into the sunset of the silver screen or paraded Champion around a rodeo ring, when Gene Autry could be heard singing his popular recording, “There’s a Gold Mine in the Sky.”

On Friday, with Autry’s help, free-agent pitcher Mark Langston found it to be right in Anaheim.

The 29-year-old left-hander agreed to a five-year, $16-million contract with Autry’s Angels, the first five-year deal since Eddie Murray signed with the Baltimore Orioles in 1987, and the richest in baseball history.

The terms are guaranteed and there is a no-trade provision, another measure of security and commitment that Langston was seeking--and one that the Dodgers, as the other finalist in bidding that had included a dozen teams, would not offer, citing recent club policy.

Langston, who received $1.409 million in salary and bonuses while compiling an overall record of 16-14 with the Seattle Mariners and the Montreal Expos in 1989, will receive $3 million in 1990, half of it as a signing bonus to give him a hedge against the possibility of a spring lockout by the owners.

He will receive $3.25 million in each of the final four years of the contract, a single-season record, eclipsing the annual $3 million that Rickey Henderson and Kirby Puckett are guaranteed in their recently signed contracts.

Speaking from his home in Bellevue, Wash., Langston said he felt very lucky, very blessed and very much boggled at the thought of $16 million.

“It’s totally flattering to have the biggest contract in baseball, dollar-wise, and totally flattering to have the top clubs wanting your services,” he said. “I’m still in a state of shock.”

Langston is a three-time American League strikeout leader who has pitched 225 innings or more in five of his six seasons and was 70-62 in five seasons with the Mariners, pitching in the Kingdome for a team that was 87 games below .500 during that period.

Will there be pressure in Anaheim? Will $16 million create a comparable level of expectation?

Langston said it should be similar to what he experienced in 1989, when he was traded in May and then confronted with the high expectations of the pennant-minded Expos, who gave up three top pitching prospects for him.

Langston responded with a 2.39 earned-run average, the National League’s third best, and 235 strikeouts in 250 innings, second in the majors to Nolan Ryan’s 301 strikeouts.

“I’m the type of person who expects to win every time I pitch,” he said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself, but I realize you can only do what you’re capable of doing. I don’t have an ‘S’ on my chest.

“Last season, there were a lot of distractions, a different set of questions in just about every city. Would I be traded? Would I sign? Would I stay in Montreal?

“I think having gone through that will help me, but more important, I think Anaheim is a good situation for me.

“The Angels already have a pitching staff that can compete with the (Oakland) A’s, and are proven contenders. That was the key consideration for me.”

Frustrated--and embarrassed--by their futile bids for free-agent pitchers Ryan and Bruce Hurst a year ago, the Angels have guaranteed Langston more than their entire 1989 payroll of $15.3 million.

And it may be only the start of an attempt to overtake the A’s in the American League West.

After reaching agreement with Langston early Friday, General Manager Mike Port and his assistant, Dan O’Brien, left for baseball’s winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn., stopping off at Phoenix to meet with Robin Yount, the Milwaukee Brewers’ free-agent center fielder, and his agent brother, Larry.

Yount, 34, the American League’s most valuable player, is sought by the Dodgers and other teams, but it is believed that he will either return to the Brewers or sign with the Angels, depending in some measure on which team offers the better chance for him to go out a winner.

Yount’s perception of the Angels in that regard may have improved Friday.

“I think this signing will give our own players a shot of confidence and prove to everyone that we’re committed to building that winner,” Autry said.

“Now we may go after a couple of others if we feel we have a chance. We need a couple of guys to hit the ball out of the park.”

Yount is one possibility. Joe Carter of the Cleveland Indians is another.

The improved pitching depth seems to make a trade more likely. The Angels now have six starters, the others being Bert Blyleven, Chuck Finley, Kirk McCaskill, Jim Abbott and Mike Witt, the most likely candidate to be traded.

One more consistent pitcher, Autry said, and the surprising Angels of 1989 might have reached the playoffs.

“I was criticized a few years ago when I decided to sign players like Reggie Jackson and Fred Lynn,” Autry said. “A lot of owners got all over me for paying that kind of money, so I got out of it for a while.

“Then the last couple of years, the door has been opened again and it’s been the other owners who have walked through. It’s crazy, but what do you do?”

The need for one more pitcher--and what that pitcher may also open up in the way of a trade--prompted Autry to join the others at the door, he said.

The cost?

It meant a natural escalation of a market already gone crazy and a reflection of what it takes to sign a front-line pitcher in competition with other clubs, according to Autry. He said that if it hadn’t been the Angels, it would have been the Dodgers or the New York Yankees, and he felt as fortunate to have Langston as Langston did to have $16 million.

The Dodgers, by contrast, weren’t feeling as fortunate. They are believed to have offered almost $15 million for five years, but would not include a no-trade clause.

In February, Executive Vice President Fred Claire signed Orel Hershiser to a then-record $7.9 million for three years. He said Friday that the current escalation made that seem like a distant memory.

Claire also said he was disappointed at the loss of Langston and conceded that it would be tougher to trade for a center fielder now because he doesn’t have the surplus pitching. In addition, questions about the physical stability of several Dodgers, including Mike Marshall, a potential trade candidate, compound that situation.

“It’s not going to be an easy week. I don’t have an easy task,” he said, alluding to the winter meetings.

Will he now seek a compromise with free agent Fernando Valenzuela? Claire said he was concerned about the potential absence of a left-hander in his rotation but said it wouldn’t prompt him to go beyond the one-year guarantee to Valenzuela.

For Langston, it came down to the Angels, Dodgers and Yankees, whose interest may have inflated the bidding but who were never a factor, Langston said. His desire to pitch in Southern California stemmed from his wife’s acting interests and his relationship with local friends and relatives.

The Angels prevailed, he said, because they are a contender, their stadium is one of his favorites, they agreed to the five-year contract with no-trade clause, and he was impressed by the caring of Gene and Jackie Autry.

“They set the tone,” Langston said. “They were first class from the start. I was looking for a team to take the extra step and the Angels did. There was a period when I’d change my mind from minute to minute, but at the end it was clear. The Angels were the team.”

The five-year contract, attorney Arn Tellem said, was a critical requisite--for what it meant to Langston and all players.

“If a team can give five years to a pitcher, there’s no excuse now for not giving five years to a player at any position,” he said.

The next step? Port refused to say, but a fringe benefit of Langston’s acquisition is that he and Carter are good friends. Carter is eligible for free agency after the 1990 season and the Indians are definitely expected to trade him during the winter meetings.

His cost in players and money will be high, but everything should seem modest now. Modest? In 1961, in another time and place, Gene Autry, new owner of the American League’s new franchise in Los Angels, selected 30 players in the expansion draft. The cost: $2.1 million.

CAREER STATISTICS

Career statistics for Mark Langston, who signed a five-year, $16-million contract with the California Angels on Friday.

Year Team Inn. Rec. K ERA ’84 Seattle 225 17-10 204 3.40 ’85 Seattle 127 7-14 72 5.47 ’86 Seattle 239 12-14 245 4.85 ’87 Seattle 272 19-13 262 3.84 ’88 Seattle 261 15-11 235 3.34 ’89 Seattle 73 4-5 60 3.56 ’89 Montreal 177 12-9 175 2.39 Totals: 1,374 86-76 1,253 3.80