Notes on a Scorecard - March 27, 1991

Richard Brown, the Angels’ new president and chief executive officer, forecasts an exciting but unprofitable season for the franchise. . . .

“We’ll probably lose $2 million,” he said. “That’s based on an attendance of 2.5 million or 2.6 million. We will be among 10 or 12 clubs in red ink. The way baseball is headed is murder.” . . .

However, Brown believes a solution may be near. The answers are an NBA-type salary cap, revenue sharing and perhaps even unlimited free agency. . . .

“This is Richard Brown talking, not the Autrys or anybody else,” he said. “When we go to the players and recommend they work on a percentage of the gross revenue, I think we should offer them free agency, too. If they want to keep their present contracts, fine. If not, they can declare themselves free agents. Let’s start all over again.” . . .

Brown thinks what is hurting the owners most is arbitration and points out that the Cleveland Indians’ payroll is up $7 million this year although they stayed out of the free-agent market. . . .

“I don’t like hearing people say baseball can afford to pay all these big contracts,” he said. “We can’t. It’s a lot like customers buying things with plastic. Some teams are dipping into their line of credit.” . . .

Brown, 48 and personable, is strictly an L.A. guy. He graduated from Wilshire Crest elementary school, John Burroughs Junior High, L.A. High, UCLA and UCLA Law School. He caught for the L.A. High junior varsity, although his exploits somehow escaped this fellow former Roman. . . .

“I’m excited about our team,” he said from the Angels’ late-March headquarters in Palm Springs. “Four months ago, I wasn’t so excited. But we’ve addressed our problems. Gary Gaetti had an off-year, but he still would have led us in RBIs last year. Dave Parker, along with Dave Winfield, gives us a presence in the clubhouse. And Parker provides us with power from the left side.” . . .

Brown is an active participant in the baseball end of the operations. He talks at length daily with personnel people Mike Port and Dan O’Brien, and will watch every inning of every game at Anaheim Stadium. . . .

“I didn’t come here as a baseball man,” he said, “but I’m going to leave as a damn fine one.” . . .

Is Mouse Davis’ favorite songwriter Cat Stevens? . . .

The National League is crazy if it doesn’t select Denver as one of its two expansion cities. . . .

I’ll be surprised if Chris McCarron doesn’t pick Dinard over Sea Cadet and Excavate as his mount for the Santa Anita Derby on April 6. . . .

Robbie Davis is still another jockey who found the Southern California circuit much tougher than New York. . . .

The Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic is working with athletes from USC as well as the Lakers and Rams and jockeys. . . .

No wonder people think Sacramento would support major league football and baseball in a big way. The Surge of the World League of American Football has sold 16,000 season tickets, and the past two fights by Tony Lopez, the International Boxing Federation junior-

lightweight champion, for promoter Don Chargin at Arco Arena have drawn a gate of more than $1 million. . . .

San Francisco may have let Ronnie Lott go, but 49er owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. showed he’s still committed to winning by signing Plan B free-agent guard Roy Foster from the Miami Dolphins. . . .

The Raiders are hoping that Lott can do even more for them than free-agent defensive backs Everson Walls and Dave Duerson did for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. . . .

For the record: The first time mentor John Wooden coached against pupil Denny Crum in the NCAA tournament was in 1972, when Wooden’s UCLA Bruins beat Crum’s Louisville Cardinals, 96-77, in the semifinal game at the Sports Arena. . . .

Only NBA point guards who lead their teams in scoring are Kevin Johnson of Phoenix, Sherman Douglas of Miami and Michael Adams of Denver. . . .

NFL Films, which miked Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, is putting together a highlight film of Operation Desert Storm. . . .

Isn’t it about time for boxing to realize that people are bigger than they used to be? The classic weight divisions haven’t been changed in decades. And asking somebody to make 108 pounds for a title match is ludicrous. . . .

Rolando Pascua had to lose 10 pounds in four days before his ill-fated defense of the World Boxing Council light-flyweight championship against Melchor Cob Castro at the Forum Monday night. Trimming to 108 often isn’t helping IBF champion Michael Carbajal, either. . . .

Razor Ruddock ought to thank Richard Steele for making the rematch with Mike Tyson possible.