Langston Bang, Cowboy Bucks

Gene Autry had the most expensive seat in the house Wednesday night, having spent $16 million--parking included--for the chance to see Mark Langston make his pitching debut with the Angels.

Autry had squirmed in this seat many times before. John D’Acquisto. Bill Travers, Bruce Kison. Frank LaCorte. Autry paid to see them all, millions upon millions, and for what? Ruins with a view? Surgeons’ scars of the rich and famous?

Langston was going to be different, Autry kept telling himself. He’s young, right? His rotator cuff’s fine, right? He’s worth it, right?

Wednesday night, Autry got an early return on his latest investment.

Wednesday night, Langston combined with Mike Witt to no-hit the Seattle Mariners.

“Certainly, we expected him to be good,” Autry said from his business offices in Los Angeles. “He proved last night to be worth everything we paid for him. I hope his next two are just as good.”

What do you want for 16 mil?

Early on, though, Anaheim Stadium had the distinct feel of a D’Acquisto flashback. Langston’s first six pitches as an Angel were outside the strike zone. Langston walked the first batter he faced, Harold Reynolds, and the third, Alvin Davis.

The audible moan that went up from the crowd was a knowing one.

This was an act that had been caught here before.

But as long as Langston wasn’t wincing, Autry wasn’t worried. The Angel owner said he had seen this type of behavior often in the past, but usually in front of cameras and a director.

“I don’t have much experience as a pitcher,” Autry said, “but from my experience in show business and in the pictures, I’ve seen it a lot of times. You’re an actor and you walk out on stage for the first time in four or five months, especially if you have a new theater or a new script, and you’re always a little bit shaky. It takes you five or 10 minutes to get back on track.

“That was kind of the way (Langston) felt. He was with a new team, this was his first time with this group, he was pitching against his old team, all of that.

“And, there’d been so much publicity about his salary. He was probably a little bit tense.”

Langston settled down to pitch out of the inning, followed by six more. By the eighth, the no-hitter was still alive, but in the hands of another man, Witt, the last Angel to pitch a complete no-hitter.

Autry was disappointed Langston didn’t go all the way, but didn’t blame the pitcher (“I’m sure he felt he’d just given all he had”) or Doug Rader (“I think the manager did the right thing”).

No, Autry blamed Major League Baseball. First, Texas’ Nolan Ryan is forced out of a five-inning no-hitter, then Langston leaves after seven.

The legacy of the lockout.

“All the pitchers have been set back a little bit,” Autry said. “They’re actually where they usually are three weeks into spring training.

“If we’d had another 10 days of workouts, I think he would’ve finished.”

As it was, Autry could appreciate this finish. His team won a 1-0 ballgame--a probable portent for the summer, taking into account the state of the Angel offense--and Witt, booed upon his entrance, retired each of the six Mariners he faced.

“Mike Witt looked like his old self,” Autry said. “When he was younger, Witt used to remind me of Nolan Ryan. They were both tall, they threw hard and they had similar deliveries.”

Recent seasons have seen Witt lose speed off his fastball and control of his curveball, but Autry offers another theory for the decline of the pitcher who was perfect on the Texas afternoon of Sept. 30, 1984:

Witt’s role as Angel player representative, a weighty baton he passed to Bert Blyleven this spring.

“Maybe he took on too much,” Autry said. “Being a player rep takes a lot out of you. Once, Nolan Ryan was the player rep when he played for us and he just couldn’t do it. He had players calling him in the middle of the night, over every little old thing. Finally, he just said, ‘Give it to someone else.’ ”

Wednesday’s game wasn’t the first combined no-hitter to be pitched at Anaheim Stadium. In 1975, four Oakland A’s--Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers--took turns at stumping the Angels. It was, however, the first pitched by the home team in Anaheim Stadium since that man Ryan, who blanked Baltimore on June 1, 1975--also by a score of 1-0.

It also left the Angels with a .667 shutout percentage for 1990. Three games played, two victories by shutout.

“I’ll take that any time,” said Autry, for once laughing at the idea of money well spent.

“I think we have a pretty strong pitching staff,” he continued. “I think we have the most outstanding pitching staff in baseball. The only thing is, we’ve got too many of ‘em.

“We’ve got so many pitchers, we’re going to have to come up with a way to use them.”

Wednesday night, Doug Rader found a way.