ANGELS : Autry Optimistic on Both Fronts

Major league players have ridiculed replacement players and many baseball fans have scoffed at them, but Angel owner Jackie Autry remains confident there will be interest in games played with strikebreakers.

“It’s too early to tell, but every survey we’ve done shows fans will support replacement players because their anger is such that they may come out just to prove a point,” Autry said. “I think people would just like to see baseball, period.”

Autry said she has not been directly involved in the owners’ negotiations with the players union, but she receives periodic updates and talks with other owners twice a week on conference calls.

She remains optimistic that major league players will return soon, along with disgruntled fans.

“I’d like to think that people who love the game will be back, but it may take a while,” Autry said.

Angel President Richard Brown hopes to start the healing process by developing a discount ticket plan for senior citizens and children, which would be implemented even if major league players return. He has also asked Ogden, the Anaheim Stadium concessionaire, to develop a lower-priced kids’ meal.

“We have to go out of our way to give fans the promotions they want, let them know how important they are,” Brown said. “We need to keep prices at reasonable levels, unlike football and basketball, which have priced the middle class out.”

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Notes

The Angels suffered their first replacement injury Friday when Dan Lewis, a 27-year-old outfielder who played at El Camino College, pulled a hamstring in a running drill. Manager Marcel Lachemann projects Lewis as one of the team’s top replacement outfielders. . . . The Angels will begin polling players this weekend to see how many want to be replacements. Virtually all of the 49 in camp have indicated they would be willing to cross picket lines. . . . Two photographers from Fleer Trading Cards were in camp Friday shooting potential minor league prospects. There are no plans for a replacement player trading card set, “but that could change next week depending on the labor talks,” photographer Don Smith said.