Angels Mired in Debt, Says Jackie Autry

The California Angels face unprecedented financial losses that could exceed $8.5 million this year and will force the baseball club to borrow throughout the season, co-owner Jackie Autry said Friday.

Autry said escalating salaries were outrunning revenue and that the situation might eventually force a sale of the franchise her husband, Gene, purchased during the American League’s expansion in 1961. She added, however, that there were no immediate plans to do so.

“Can we stay in there forever? The answer is no,” Autry told reporters in blunt remarks during a breakfast just 10 days before the start of the season.

“How long can Gene Autry borrow money to keep his options going? I can’t answer that. Are we borrowing money to keep going? Yes. Historically, we’ve gone into our credit line for two or three months, usually in October. This is the first time we’ve been in constant debt. . . . “

Autry publicly acknowledged for the first time that she had been been given complete authority in running the club by her 84-year-old husband, whose day-to-day involvement has dwindled to “very little” because of health reasons. She said she was optimistic about the prospects for the season, but added that the cost of fielding a competitive team is becoming prohibitive.

Autry, a banker before her marriage to the onetime Singing Cowboy 10 1/2 years ago, said an audit showed that the Angels lost $3.6 million in 1991. She predicted serious consequences unless “players realize owners are not a money pit and realize owners have to see a return on their investment.”

“Players still perceive there is a great deal of money to be spent, and if it’s out there, it’s not with the California Angels,” she said. “We’re not one of the New York clubs (who get a lot of money from local TV deals), and we’re not the L.A. Dodgers. We don’t have the financial resources.

“I see this from a banker’s standpoint. I foresee owners having difficulty meeting their payroll. . . . My greatest fear is seeing a club fold, and I think that’s a very strong possibility.”

While saying baseball owners must accept responsibility for escalating salaries and the resulting difficulties they face, she said players must share the onus because they refuse to abolish salary arbitration. In that process, players and management submit figures and most accept an arbitrator’s decision without compromise. Player victories in the process have helped send payrolls skyrocketing.

Including a final payment required of all clubs to settle a collusion case, Autry said the Angels could lose more than $8.5 million if there is an unbudgeted expense, such as replacing an injured player if the team is in contention for the division title. And that deficit would not be made up if the Angels reached the playoffs and advanced to the World Series.

“In 1993, we have five ballplayers who will consume better than 50% of the budgeted salaries we had for 1992,” Autry said. “Those five will get $16 million, 50% of the entire budget. We go into that knowing we have to field another 20 people on the field and have to deal with arbitration and re-signing some of our own free agents.”

Jackie Autry, who also holds the title of executive vice president of the club, also elaborated on her increased role in its operations.

“Gene has had major eye problems the last five years,” she said, “and it’s become increasingly more difficult for him to read things and deal with what comes up. I’ve become his eyes. If something comes up, do we talk about it? You bet we do. From the standpoint of ownership, Gene and I talk about everything of consequence. Do we talk about minute details? No.

“This man is going to outlive all of us. When we buried Champion No. 3 (his horse), he was 41, which is very old for a horse, and I said (to Gene), ‘I didn’t know which of you was going to go first.’ ”

In reviewing the team’s progress this spring and its prospects for the season, she said she is pleased with the work of Whitey Herzog, senior vice president for player personnel, and Manager Buck Rodgers.

“Between Whitey and Buck, they’ve done an outstanding job of bringing together a good team,” she said. “We’re going to have an outstanding organization on and off the field. . . . Buck had expressed interest in getting some blue-collar players. The sense we got from Buck in the five, six weeks he spent on the field (following his hiring Aug. 26) was that there was a country-club attitude. He wanted a down-in-the-dirt attitude.”

Citing the five first-round picks the Angels will have in this year’s draft, she said: “With a man like Whitey Herzog and the people he put in place, if we can’t grab some prospects, I’m going to be disappointed.”