3 Heavy Hitters Played Key Roles in Disney-Angels Tale : Business: Autry and Eisner elbowed aside Ueberroth group, which had been odds-on favorite for a deal.

When the Walt Disney Co. agreed to purchase part of the California Angels on Thursday, it created a formidable union between a billion-dollar corporate giant and a homespun, cash-strapped but highly coveted major league sports franchise.

The negotiations leading up to the deal involved three heavy hitters in the Southern California sports business: Angels owner and singing cowboy of yesteryear Gene Autry, corporate superstar Michael Eisner and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics czar Peter V. Ueberroth.

In the end, it was Eisner and Autry who formed an alliance, elbowing aside Ueberroth’s group of potential investors, which for almost a year had been the odds-on favorite to buy into the team. And Autry’s search for a partner and eventual successor, which had lumbered along for five years, came to a swift and surprising end.

The inner workings of the deal were revealed in interviews with several of the key players, including Autry’s wife, Jackie, who is co-owner of the team, and Ueberroth, a former commissioner of baseball. Eisner declined to comment.

The sale, giving Disney a 25% stake in the Angels, was announced Thursday--only one hour after team officials received notice. But the roots of the deal can be traced beyond last week, or last month, to 1990.

Major league baseball was in the midst of yet another labor dispute, and Gene Autry and his wife had begun to sour on the business side of the game. Jackie Autry approached Disney at her husband’s request to discuss the possibility of selling the Angels, but Eisner said the company did not want to get involved.

“They thought the timing was not beneficial,” she recalled.

Instead, her husband effectively retired from the day-to-day operation of the Angels and appointed Richard M. Brown, the club’s longtime legal counsel, to handle that side of the business. It proved to be the beginning of the end of Autry’s hands-on business dealings. Now 87, he has slowly but surely sold many of his holdings, including radio and television stations and a hotel in Palm Springs.

Jackie Autry said she talked off and on over the next few years with Jack Lindquist, then Disneyland president and still a member of the Angels advisory board. He told her repeatedly: “Disney really ought to own the team.”

Disney--flush with the success of its two-season-old National Hockey League franchise, the Mighty Ducks--finally took Lindquist’s advice in February. This time, the company approached Jackie Autry about buying the team.

“We were far down the line with Peter Ueberroth and didn’t have permission to talk to Disney, so I told them there might be problems,” she said. “I don’t like playing one group against the other; I have too much respect for Peter. I didn’t know whether it was doable at the time, because we had started the process with Peter.”

Gene Autry personally liked Ueberroth and had asked him to put a group of investors together late last summer. Ueberroth, a member of the Angels board of directors, spent two months looking into the team’s financial records and conducting marketing surveys. As the talks progressed into May, it became clear that Ueberroth might have a set of demands too imposing for the Autrys to accept.

One of the main stumbling blocks probably centered on Ueberroth’s reluctance to assume the Angels’ debts on what has been a money-losing franchise. The team lost $11 million in 1994 and is projected to lose $12.5 million this year, Jackie Autry said.

On May 5, Ueberroth said he expected competition for the purchase. He was right; a source familiar with the negotiations said it was about then that Eisner and Disney entered the picture and Eisner began calling Jackie Autry in earnest about purchasing the team.

Gene Autry and Walt Disney had been friends, and the cowboy liked the idea of having the Disney Co. on board. But there was one major area of concern. Would Disney and Eisner treat Autry with the kind of respect and deference he believed he deserved? Although Autry no longer handles day-to-day management of the Angels, he still wants to feel involved.

“That was important to him,” the source said. “The deal was structured over a long-term buyout to make sure that happens. If Eisner talks to Gene Autry [about the team and its plans], he won’t have any problems.”

Jackie Autry finally met with Eisner at his home Sunday. They spoke for about three hours, hammering out the rough details. Monday and Tuesday were spent drafting a written agreement, and on Wednesday, it was delivered to the Autrys for signature.

She said she did not inform the Angels staff of the decision until 3 p.m. Thursday. An hour later, the formal announcement was made: The company would spend $30 million to purchase 25% of the club Autry bought for $2.45 million in 1960, pending the approval of major league owners. There is an option to buy the remainder after Gene Autry’s death.

The news stunned most people, including some who have worked most closely with the Autrys over the years.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly said that he knew the two parties had been in discussions but that he did not expect any kind of announcement to come “for at least three or four more weeks.”

Said Anaheim City Manager James D. Ruth: “We’re only in the loop in terms of what the interested parties would share. We’ve had very limited involvement. But Disney has always expressed a strong interest in owning the Angels and saw an opportunity to put their best foot forward. There really was no magic to it. I know they had had discussions from time to time. I know there was strong interest on the part of Disney.”

At Anaheim Stadium, home of the Angels, General Manager Greg Smith was surprised at the speed of negotiations.

“I knew that Disney was interested,” he said, “but I didn’t know that there were real serious discussions going on at that point in time. When we heard the announcement, we were very surprised and pleased.”

Times staff writers Mike DiGiovanna, Greg Hernandez and Greg Johnson contributed to this story.

* UNWINDING: Gene Autry the businessman is selling off his holdings. D1