GENE TRAINING: Buck Rodgers’ first spring training...

GENE TRAINING: Buck Rodgers’ first spring training as the Angels’ manager is getting started in Mesa, Ariz. (C10) But Rodgers recalls other Angel camps as a catcher for owner Gene Autry in the 1960s. One year in Palm Springs it was decided that the players make the five-mile trip from their hotel to the stadium by bicycle--part training, part publicity stunt for Schwinn bicycles. . . . “Gene led us the first day,” Rodgers says. “I think that experiment was cut short after about four days.” Pitchers and catchers arrived Friday; the rest start Wednesday.