Autry Indicates Interest to Sell : Baseball: Longtime Angel owner says he would deal the team if he received an overwhelming offer.

Gene Autry, Angel owner and chairman of the board, said Saturday that he is willing to sell the baseball team if overwhelmed by an offer.

“I’d hate to sell the club,” said Autry, 85. “But if someone came along with $200 million, I’d consider it.

“We lost about $10 million last year, and I can’t do that anymore. Maybe if I was still making movies, I’d say, ‘OK, I’ll make another movie.’ But I can’t do that.

“We’ve lost a few good ballplayers that we’d like to have kept. But they don’t even talk to you anymore unless you talk about $10 million to start with, and then you get up to $25 and $30 million.

“I might as well give them the ballclub, put on a uniform, and go out there and try to play myself.”

Jackie Autry, the Angels’ executive vice president, said the Autrys have received numerous offers to sell the team since 1983, but the decision belongs solely to Gene.

“Basically, anything is for sale at the right price,” she said. “But Gene will make the decision when he’s ready. If Gene did sell, I really wouldn’t be surprised, because there are so many external pressures in baseball today. Sometimes you wonder why you put up with all this aggravation.

“I mean, why would anybody invest $100 million just to be taken to task on a daily basis?”

Autry purchased the Angels for $2 million in 1960, and in 1983 acquired 100% ownership. The Autrys are not currently negotiating with a potential buyer.

“This year, there are going to be maybe five or six teams who will make a little money,” Gene Autry said. “But there are an awful lot of teams that are losing money. No one wants to lose money to keep a ballclub.

“The players are going to have to come around, and the owners are going to have to review the payroll, or there’s going to be no baseball. That’s all there is to it.”

Gene Autry, on the decision to trade Jim Abbott--his favorite player--instead of paying him a four-year, $17.5-million contract: “It was very hard, but he’s got an agent only Christ could deal with.”

Dr. Lewis Yocum let Angel third baseman Kelly Gruber begin rehabilitative therapy Saturday. Gruber, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder, will not know for several weeks whether he must have season-ending rotator-cuff surgery.

“We want to regain motion in his shoulder first,” Yocum said. “And then we’ll start worrying about flexibility and strength. We’ll give this a chance, and see what happens.”

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said he is not interested in acquiring designated hitter/first baseman Jack Clark, who was released Friday by the Boston Red Sox. Although Clark can be obtained for the $109,000 major league minimum, and once played for Whitey Herzog in St. Louis, Rodgers says signing Clark would be detrimental to the team.

“To me, if we went after him, we’d be going backward,” Rodgers said. “Three years ago, there was no one I’d rather have at the plate. But not now.”

Jackie Autry said the Angels probably will participate again in the expensive free-agent sweepstakes, but not until they are close enough to contend for the American League West title.

“I think we have to get to the point where we’re one or two players away,” Autry said. “Then we’d do that. I’m not sure we can be contenders this year, but we’re probably only one year or two years away because of our young nucleus.”