Latest Disney Attraction Gets Good Reviews : Angels: New investor prompts favorable responses by players, fans.

When Angel pitcher Chuck Finley heard Thursday night that the Walt Disney Co. had agreed to purchase a minority share of the Angels, the Newport Beach resident couldn’t help but wonder how vast the Disney Empire would become.

“Pretty soon they’re gonna own all of Orange County,” said Finley, a left-hander who is the second-highest paid Angel with a $4.5-million salary. “They have Disneyland, the Mighty Ducks, now us . . . what else is around there? Knott’s Berry Farm? Maybe they’ll buy that, too.”

Not that any of the Angels are complaining. Several players have taken note of how Disney has run its hockey team, and they’re looking forward to baseball, Disney style.

“Being a Mighty Duck season-ticket holder for two years, I’ve seen the way they market their team and present their product,” said pitcher Mark Langston, the team’s highest-paid player at $5 million a year. “They do as good a job as anyone around.

“Speaking for myself, this is probably the best situation for us from the standpoint that they do everything first class. It’s an exciting move for this team.”

There was excitement surrounding Disney’s arrival, but there also was some regret that the tenure of Gene Autry, who has owned the Angels since 1960 but has never won a World Series championship, would be coming to an end.

“This is the kind of ownership we need in the game,” designated hitter Chili Davis said. “I don’t know any of the guys on the Mighty Ducks, but I know they love playing for that team.

“It’s nice to know we’ll have that kind of ownership, but I’d also like to win something for Gene Autry. He loves this game, and he wants to win as badly as any of us.”

Angel owner Jackie Autry said the team lost $11 million during the strike-shortened 1994 season and team President Richard Brown projects more losses in 1995. That’s one reason there has been speculation that the Angels are trying to trade Langston or Finley.

Finley, in his 10th year with the Angels and the final year of a four-year contract, said he didn’t know how the change of ownership would affect his future.

“I think it would probably affect front-office personnel more than the player development part of it, unless they look at the team and say this guy is making this, get him out of here, this guy is making that, get him out of here.

“I don’t know what their goals are, in the long term or short range, but they’re a proven company. They don’t invest in things that go belly up. From the people I’ve talked to [with the Mighty Ducks], they run a tight ship. I helped support them, too--I bought all those Dumbo dolls for my 2-year-old daughter.”

Finley said he hoped Disney wouldn’t completely overhaul the Angels, “but then again, I’m not Michael Eisner,” he said.

“But the players don’t worry about that. We get paid to get down in the dirt and win games, and it wouldn’t do us any good trying to figure out who was buying this or that.”

The news of the sale was applauded by many Angel fans.

Said Don Comstock of Tustin, who abandoned the Angels after Wally Joyner left the team in 1991: “Wow, that’s cool. Then I might be an Angel fan again.”

Said Pat Sullivan, 33, an Anaheim resident: “With or without Disney’s involvement, I’d still be an Angel fan, “but now that they have a couple of investors with some money behind them, maybe we can get a few more big-name players.”

Sullivan’s interest is also financial. He is a manager at The Catch, a prime fan hangout across the street from Anaheim Stadium. A more competitive team would mean better attendance and more business for the restaurant.

Buzzie Bavasi, Angel general manager from 1977-84 and longtime Gene Autry fan, said: “Gene has been good for baseball and baseball has been good for Gene. I’m glad he hasn’t sold it all and he’ll still be around.

“I know he couldn’t have picked a better partner,” said Bavasi, who is retired and living in La Jolla. “Those people are a first-class outfit and they know how to win. I think it’s a great thing for baseball, a great thing for Gene and great thing for the ball club.

“I hope now we get to keep Mark Langston.”

Times staff writer Martin Beck contributed to this story.