RAMS GO FOR GOLD : Angel Owner Says Her Team Could Be Next to Skip Town : Baseball: Jackie Autry says the county needs to address stadium lease problems, which she blames for the franchise’s continuing financial losses.

Angel owner Jackie Autry said Tuesday night that if Orange County doesn’t begin to acknowledge the team’s stadium lease woes, it may be following the Rams out of town.

“It’s time for Orange County to wake up,” Autry said. “If they don’t, the only team left in Anaheim may be a hockey club.

“Believe me, this is a devastating day for Orange County. People forget how important a sports franchise is to a community. It’s going to cost Orange County mega-million dollars, no matter how lousy they were on the field. And it will cost much more to ever get a team back. It’s an absolute travesty.

“It’s too late to save the Rams, but maybe now they can save the Angels.”

Autry, who says the Angels have lost nearly $24 million the past five years, believes the lease with Anaheim Stadium is the primary reason for their financial woes. Autry contends the lease is the worst in baseball, and until it changes, the Angels will have difficulty fielding a championship-caliber team.

The Angels had the American League’s lowest payroll last season, and this year have budgeted only $25 million for their 25-man roster.

“We cannot be competitive with our fellow teams because of our stadium lease,” Autry said. “We have the same problem with the lease as the Rams. I’ve been trying to tell that to people for years, and maybe now they’ll believe me. We simply can’t afford it.

“Nobody seems to understand what kind of money we’re losing.”

The biggest obstacle in persuading the public of their financial troubles, Autry said, is her gender. It’s the same discrimination that Rams owner Georgia Frontiere battled, Autry said, preventing her from being accepted in Orange County.

‘From Day 1, Georgia didn’t feel welcome in Orange County,” Autry said. “And I can say I’ve never been accepted either. That’s why there are times you say, ‘Look, is owning a team worth all of this aggravation?’

“Georgia took a lot of abuse. It was like the media had a personal vendetta against her. They took potshots at her all the time. She didn’t deserve that.

“I don’t blame her one bit for leaving.”

The Angels could not depart now even if they desired. They have a lease that binds them to Anaheim Stadium until 2001, but they are hoping for a new stadium by 1998. Angel President Richard Brown recently resumed negotiations with the city of Anaheim, and is hopeful of completing a deal before the opening of the 1995 season.

“The city of Anaheim is still very serious about a new stadium,” Brown said, “and so are we.”

If the Angels don’t get a new stadium--or if their lease is not drastically altered--Autry said that she will have no choice but to entertain offers that would require moving the club. Autry has been contacted by several cities in Southern California, but she refused to identify them.

“It’s up to the city and county officials,” Autry said. “Do they want to see Anaheim without baseball? Do they want to see what would happen to the quality of life in the community without football and baseball?

“Instead of, ‘Save the Rams,’ it should be, ‘Save Orange County Sports.’ ”

Perhaps no Angel player was more upset by the Rams’ move than first baseman J.T. Snow.

“Even though everybody pretty much knew this would happen six months ago,” Snow said, “it was something I didn’t want to believe. It’s just so weird. You really don’t think it’s going to happen.

“Then, today comes along, and wow, it’s over.”

Snow also had no idea what this meant for his father’s future. Jack Snow, the former Rams’ All-Pro receiver, has not been informed whether he’ll be retained as a color commentator when the team moves to St. Louis.

The younger Snow, who grew up believing that every kid was supposed to spend summers at the Rams’ training camp, and Sundays each fall watching their father perform, could hardly believe Tuesday that it’s all over.

“It feels really weird for me today, especially growing up in that lifestyle,” Snow said. “The team I was raised with is gone.

“If you ask me, everything turned when they moved from the Coliseum (in 1980) and moved to Anaheim. It went from the L.A. Rams to the Orange County Rams, and never got the support. It didn’t seem like they were L.A.’s team anymore. Once the Raiders came into L.A., that became their team.

“It seemed natural for every other team in the NFL to sell out their games, but you’d go to a Rams’ game, and nobody was there.

“I guess you really can’t blame them.”