Popular Wally Joyner Is an Angel No More : Baseball: He rejects a 4-year, nearly $16-million offer in favor of 1-year, $4.2-million pact with Kansas City.

The Angels lost one of their most popular players Monday when first baseman Wally Joyner rejected a guaranteed, four-year contract worth nearly $16 million to sign a one-year, $4.2-million agreement with the Kansas City Royals.

Putting his principles above his market value and resisting the power of Whitey Herzog’s persuasiveness, Joyner explained his stunning departure at a news conference during which he periodically was moved to tears.

Although he didn’t say so specifically, Joyner seemed to blame the deterioration of his relationship with the Angels on Jackie Autry, the club’s executive vice president and the wife of owner Gene Autry.

Joyner pointedly praised Herzog, the Angels’ senior vice president for player personnel, and his eyes overflowed in discussing Gene Autry’s kindness. But by not mentioning her name, Joyner implied that Jackie Autry drove him away, at least partly because she rejected two agreements forged by Herzog.

Joyner had been a fan favorite at Anaheim Stadium since his spectacular 1986 rookie season. He inspired creation of the mythical “Wally World,” and Monday’s transaction prompted comments of frustration.

“He’s my favorite player,” said 13-year-old Mike Prather, although he added that he felt “the Angels were treating him like dirt.”

Although the Royals agreed to waive their arbitration rights so that Joyner can become a free agent again after the coming season and promised to discuss a long-term contract with him, he nonetheless took a huge gamble by rejecting the Angels’ offer.

“I think we all know who Whitey is and what he stands for. . . . If he had control and was able to do what he wanted to do, it might have been different,” Joyner said. “What I found out, as far as myself was concerned, was that he did not have the power he thought he had with me.”

Joyner’s smile as he strode into the news conference soon vanished as the finality of his decision appeared to hit him. He had also negotiated with the Milwaukee Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he could not get the long-term deal he wanted with the Dodgers, or a lucrative one-year deal with either team.

His agreement resembled the one negotiated by Jack Morris when he left Detroit to play for the Minnesota Twins.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have an opportunity to play with the Kansas City Royals. It was . . . “ he said, pausing for a teardrop. “It was probably the toughest decision I’ve made. I’ve enjoyed my time with the California Angels. That’s where Wally World started.”

Hesitating again to compose himself, he said:. “But in my opinion, I didn’t see any future with myself and the Angels. Obviously, signing a one-year deal wasn’t. . . . It never has been a money issue. I think I have a lot of integrity and I think for me doing this, I got a new start, a fresh start, an exciting start.”

Joyner, a career .288 hitter who batted .301 with 21 home runs and 96 runs batted in last season, added: “This morning shows my frustration and disappointment that I couldn’t play for a great man like Whitey. We tried as best we could to go with what we had, and it didn’t work.”

The deal doubles Joyner’s salary.

Jackie Autry said she never called Joyner a malingerer or questioned the seriousness of his medical problems, such as the staph infection that sent him to the hospital after Game 3 of the American League playoffs in 1986 or the sprained ankle that curtailed his 1991 season.

“Nobody can blame a player if he’s injured. If the doctor says he can’t play, he can’t,” she said. “Certainly, our contract offer was indicative of our thinking about Wally Joyner. . . . We put a lot of money on the line. I don’t think anywhere have you seen an indication from ownership that he couldn’t play because he was injured. If he felt that way, he should have come to us. I haven’t spoken to Wally because I don’t come down to the clubhouse.”

Angels President Richard Brown said if Joyner based his departure on Jackie Autry’s dislike for him, “it’s really tragic, because it’s untrue.”

Mike Port, the club’s former general manager, also said he never heard Jackie Autry criticize Joyner.

“You make objective evaluations on every player in line with their performance statistics, nothing on a personal basis,” Port said. “Any time you tread into that with players, you have a lot of different personalities. . . .

“But I also submit, as (former Angel general manager) Buzzie Bavasi used to say, ‘You don’t get mad at .300 hitters.’ ”

Herzog negotiated with Joyner because of Joyner’s previous acrimonious dealings with Senior Vice President Dan O’Brien. Joyner took the Angels to arbitration and won in each of the past two years, and had his contract unilaterally renewed the year before.

He said he tried to forget the past, “but after what happened the last two weeks, I thought it might affect the way I play and I didn’t think that was fair to the California Angels or California Angels fans.”

During the past two weeks, the talks stalled for eight days--which Joyner blamed on Jackie Autry--and he was given a deadline of 4 p.m. last Friday to sign with the Angels or have the club rescind its offer.

Their differences, which centered on Joyner’s desire to be paid $9.5 million in salary and bonuses by Jan. 15, 1994, to minimize his losses in case of a 1994 lockout, were largely resolved by the weekend. And at about 11 p.m. Sunday, Herzog bridged the final gap when he visited Joyner in the Miami Beach hotel suite that Joyner shared with Michael Watkins, one of his agents.

“I honestly said to Wally: ‘Don’t let him come over. You know how persuasive Whitey is,’ ” said Joyner’s other agent, Barry Axelrod. “If Whitey had been able to do what he did last night, we’d absolutely have had a deal. We were ready 10 days ago. Whitey and us had actually talked about when we were going to have a press conference.”

Herzog’s arguments led Joyner to reconsider his options through a sleepless night. He reaffirmed terms with the Royals at 8:40. a.m. Monday.

“My higher priority is to take care of my family, and with a guaranteed contract, that was a stronger possibility,” Joyner said. But because “there was a different set of rules for Wally Joyner than anybody else,” he said he told Herzog, “‘I wish I can be an Angel, but I can’t.’ ”

Herzog said he was frustrated that negotiations didn’t start until Nov. 13 and more frustrated that he met Joyner’s conditions but was still rebuffed.

“If he wanted to remain an Angel, he could have. I was going to do (the contract payout) the way he wanted it,” Herzog said. “I think Wally made a decision that he didn’t want to be with the Angels. I’m not saying it’s the wrong decision. I respect that decision very much. . . .

“I’m sure Wally thinks ‘I go for one year to Kansas City and they refuse arbitration, and the guy with Blockbuster (Wayne Huizenga) has got millions. I can offer myself to Miami.’ ”

The reference was to the Miami-based National League expansion team, which will begin play in 1993.

Joyner’s departure leaves the Angels’ lineup nearly devoid of power and will force them to make at least one other major deal. “With Von Hayes (in right field), Lee Stevens just moves to first base,” Manager Buck Rodgers said. “Before, we were going to give a chance to Lee Stevens. Now we’ll have to depend on him a little more.”

His initial nervousness gone, Joyner said he felt “great relief” and no regrets.

“Money isn’t everything and I don’t want it to ever be the reason I do anything,” he said. “Playing with the Angels has been tremendous. I’ve had my problems with them, and what has transpired over the last two weeks kind of did me in. I had some long talks with a lot of people and I didn’t sleep a whole lot. . . .

“I’m not trying to get even. There’s nothing for me to get even with.