Angels Reporting $8 Million Loss; Wage Freeze Used to Avoid Layoffs

Angel owner Jackie Autry said Tuesday that with the anticipated end of the baseball season today, the club will lose $8 million this year.

The loss ranks as one of the largest in the franchise’s 33-year history, Autry said, and is more than a third of the team’s $23.3-million payroll.

Even so, she added, there will be no front-office salary cuts and possibly no further layoffs.

“There’s too many layoffs already in Southern California,” Jackie Autry said, “and Gene Autry doesn’t want to add to that misery.

“We decided that we don’t want to penalize our employees because of the actions of others.”

Instead of wage cuts, the Angel employees have been notified there will be no raises until 1996.

The move is in contrast with most baseball clubs, including the Dodgers, who recently announced a 15% pay cut for management personnel, and 10% cut for non-management personnel.

“We talked about doing this as painless as possible,” Angel President Richard Brown said. “We decided programs will be cut in lieu of people.”

The Angels pulled their scouts off the road early and saved another $120,000 when they canceled their instructional league program.

They laid off three full-time employees in August, and now have 47 front-office employees--the fourth-smallest total in the major leagues. The Dodgers have 100 front-office employees.

Notes

Angel pitcher Mark Langston will begin training for the Salsa soccer team today, the Salsa announced Tuesday. Langston is scheduled to take the field for a practice at 7:30 p.m. at Titan Stadium.