Angels Say They Will Lose $8 Million, but Halt 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.

Even so, she added, she and her husband Gene have decided there will be no front-office salary cuts and possibly no further layoffs.

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

Angel employees have been notified that there will be no wage cuts but also no raises until 1996.

Most baseball clubs have cut back since the strike began. The Dodgers, for instance, recently announced 15% pay cuts for management personnel, and 10% cuts 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 also are able to forgo wage cuts because of their small front office, Brown and Jackie Autry said.

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