COMMENTARY : Angels Turn Away From Port in Storm

The cold war in the Angels’ front office is finally over and if Mike Port didn’t quite hand over his sword, he totes a smaller model today.

Two years ago, Port’s Angels were a one-man show. His title was nearly as long as one of his declarative sentences--Executive Vice President-General Manager-Chief Operating Officer--and his responsibilities ranged from trades to player development to contract negotiations to marketing to community relations.

If it said Angels , Port oversaw it.

Since then, Port has overseen:

--The hiring of a senior vice president in charge of baseball operations, Dan O’Brien, who now negotiates most Angel player contracts.

--The rehiring, for two more years, of Manager Doug Rader on the stipulation that Rader would have a greater say in trades, scouting and player development.

--The hiring Thursday of Richard M. Brown as Angel president and CEO, who now ranks as Port’s superior and answers only to Gene and Jackie Autry.

The erosion of Port’s power base has mirrored, roughly, the erosion of Devon White’s hitting skills. Port wasn’t sent down to the minors, but he no longer bats leadoff in the Angels’ organizational directory. The Autrys detected a hitch in his swing, so to speak, and have enlisted special assistance.

“I felt for a long, long time that Mike Port and Dan O’Brien had a load on their shoulders that was perhaps too heavy,” Gene Autry said. “I’m very happy to welcome Rich Brown. We think he can fill the job and take some of the weight off Dan O’Brien and Mike Port.”

Port is now Angel general manager, nothing more. He will still investigate trade and free-agent possibilities, but the final say in any personnel matter, in Brown’s words, “goes to me and the ownership.”

At the same time, Rader’s voice in any personnel matter got a whole lot louder. In Brown, Rader has gained a major ally.

“I endorse Doug Rader and his comments, specifically with respect to renewed emphasis on minor league baseball operations and scouting,” Brown said. He also sat in on Rader’s recent contract talks. “I vigorously supported the contract extension,” Brown said.

Brown is also aware of the midseason communication breakdown between Rader and Port. He wants the phone lines repaired and the buttons on the dial punched often.

“What suffered was trying to do things succinctly,” Brown said. “Within the organization, some people didn’t have the opportunity to express some of their concerns. Problems were addressed but perhaps they could have been addressed more timely.

” . . . To me, if I’m going to deal the manager some cards and he’s going to play them, he’s got to at least tell me what cards he needs. I’m sure he and Mike got along and had done that, but I’m going to stress that. When we talk about long-term planning, the manager has to be an integral part of that.”

Brown has the right ideas.

It isn’t altogether clear, at this early juncture, though, that he is the right man for the job he has been given.

According to Autry, Brown is “very well qualified to take this job because he’s a baseball fan and because he’s a native of L.A.” So are a scant 6 or 7 million others, so it’s a good thing Autry didn’t post the position.

Brown’s background in baseball rivals that of your basic season ticket-holder. Owner of a satellite dish, he claims to have seen every Angel game either on screen or in person for the last four or five years. But so has Al Conin.

Brown also played baseball at Los Angeles High School in the ‘60s--average catcher, average hitter--and semipro softball later, which, he concedes, “sounds ridiculous.”

Beyond that, he has spent nearly 10 years as the Angels’ general counsel, nearly five on the club’s board of directors and negotiated the team’s broadcast packages with KMPC.

Basically, he’s a lawyer in love with baseball.

That’s OK for “L.A. Law,” but what about the American League West?

“There have been two lawyers who, I think, have achieved more than a modicum of success in baseball,” Brown argues. “(Oakland General Manager) Sandy Alderson and (Chicago White Sox owner) Jerry Reinsdorf. I also believe Walter O’Malley was a lawyer by training.”

At least Brown doesn’t sound like a lawyer. “I’m the kind of person who, if I go to a party and there are other attorneys there, I run,” he said with a laugh.

So that’s the trade the Angels have made. A lawyer who talks like a general manager takes over for a general manager who talks like a lawyer.

To his credit, Port has made some good trades (Lance Parrish, Luis Polonia, Dave Winfield), jump-started the Angels’ farm system in the mid-1980s and rooted out the right manager after Operation Cookie crumbled. But the Great Communicator he is not. One of Autry’s stated reasons for hiring Brown was that he possesses “great people skills.” Skeptics must be won back.

For the record, Port says he is pleased with the new arrangement.

“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “You all know my background is in baseball. It makes sense that I now get back to baseball, 100%.”

Maybe next, the Angels can get back to .500.