BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Ueberroth to Begin Negotiating Soon

Former baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth has completed his “due-diligence” review of the Angels and will soon begin negotiating to purchase a minority share of the team.

“The only thing left is to work out the terms,” Ueberroth said Friday. “Whether they are acceptable will determine whether we buy the team. With no labor agreement in baseball, you had better get the right terms.”

Among the major issues to be negotiated is who will be responsible for the Angels’ debt. Jackie Autry, the team’s executive vice president, said the Angels lost more than $11 million during strike-shortened 1994, and the team expects to lose more money this season.

There has been speculation that Ueberroth, who is expected to become the team’s managing general partner after purchasing 25% of the team for about $30 million, is having trouble financing the deal.

But Ueberroth said Friday that “the funding is long since locked up. It’s a done deal.” Ueberroth will have the option of buying the rest of the team upon the death of owner Gene Autry, 87.

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Former Angel left fielder Brian Downing called the Anaheim Stadium lights the worst in the American League. Luis Polonia had trouble with the lights when he played left for the Angels.

Now Tony Phillips, who lost two balls in the lights Thursday night against Oakland--he managed to catch one--is encountering the same problems.

“It’s scary, man, knowing you can get hit in the coconut with a ball,” Phillips said. “I may have to go out there with a helmet and a mouthpiece. You can’t catch what you can’t see. They’re going to have to do something, because it’s dangerous out there.”

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Designated hitter Chili Davis, who signed a three-year, $11.4-million contract with the Angels on Thursday, will donate $75,000 over the next three years to benefit inner-city youth throughout Orange County. . . . Davis was named new player representative Friday and Tim Salmon alternate, replacing Mark Langston and Gary DiSarcina, who served in those roles for the past two years.

X-rays of pitcher Shawn Boskie, who suffered a slight strain of a neck muscle in Thursday night’s bench-clearing brawl with Oakland, showed no structural damage, and the right-hander will start tonight against Seattle. . . . Catcher Greg Myers (broken toe) will be activated off the disabled list tonight and might start against the Mariners. Catcher Jorge Fabregas was sent to triple-A Vancouver.