BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : It Was a Bell-Ringing Performance

Bo Jackson took the cellular telephone out of his briefcase Sunday afternoon, while the team was on the way to the Milwaukee airport, and asked Brian Anderson for his mom’s telephone number.

“Mrs. A, I just want to let you know your son pitched a great ballgame today,” Jackson said.

Replied Janice Anderson: “Who is this?

“This is Bo Jackson.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not. Really, who is this?”

Jackson finally shrugged, handed the phone to Anderson and let him tell her.

Jackson, was so impressed by Anderson’s first major league victory Sunday that he told him he could talk to his mother as long as he wanted.

“I said, ‘Hey, you pitched such a good game, you’re sitting with me on the team bus and plane,’ ” Jackson said. “That was something else.”

The Andersons were able to watch their son’s performance via a satellite dish and spent most of the day Monday answering the telephone.

“We’re just beside ourselves,” Janice Anderson said. “And to think, I talked to Bo Jackson.”

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The player most noticeably absent from the home-opener Monday was first baseman J.T. Snow, who currently plays at Vancouver, and probably has played his last game in an Angel uniform.

Barring an injury to Eduardo Perez, the new starter at first, Snow will remain at triple-A Vancouver until he is traded, Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said.

The Cleveland Indians expressed interest in Snow during spring training, after the Angels had abruptly pulled out of negotiations with the New York Mets for Anthony Young, but now appear content with Paul Sorrento.

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As much as the Kings’ Wayne Gretzky loves baseball, he says Michael Jordan can have his fun, but that Gretzky will be finished with sports when his hockey career ends.

“I can’t imagine trying to hit a Mark Langston,” Gretzky said. “That’s something I would not look forward to.”

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Angel left-hander Joe Magrane, who expects to rejoin the rotation by the first week of May, apparently was gone longer than he thought.

He arrived to the clubhouse to find the nameplate over his locker spelled, ‘McGrane.”

“I was wondering who the new guy was,” Magrane said.