Angels' Mgr. Collins Resigns

September 3, 1999 / 7:41 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A tearful Terry Collins resigned as the Anaheim Angels' manager on Friday, less than three months after the last-place team gave him a two-year contract extension.

Joe Maddon, the Angels' bench coach, will take over as interim manager for the rest of this season.

Collins, 50, resigned by mutual consent, general manager Bill Bavasi said. The Angels have lost nine straight and began Friday 51-82, the worst record in the major leagues.

Collins said he was not forced out.

"I know he's not bitter, but I'm bitter," Bavasi said. "This club had every reason to respond and didn't. This is just bad chemistry in the clubhouse."

The Angels were still in contention at the All-Star break, but lost 37 of their next 47.

"The bottom line is, the team's got to perform," Collins said. "When you don't perform, the manager's accountable. I had a feeling today that this is the time."

Collins said he hadn't spoken to any of the players about the decision.

Anaheim could be headed for the poorest season in the Angels' 39-season history worse than the 1980 team's 65-95 mark.

"It's like they're the Harlem Globetrotters out there, and we're the Washington Generals," Angels shortstop Gary DiSarcina said after Thursday night's 6-5 loss at Cleveland.

Collins, hired before the 1997 season after managing the Houston Astros to second-place finishes in the NL Central from 1994-96, had a 220-237 record the Angels.

The team had high expectations after signing free agent Mo Vaughn to an $80 million, six-year contract last November, and began the season with baseball's 13th-highest payroll at $51.5 million.

But the season was filled with injuries and discontent.

DiSarcina was one of several key players sidelined for an extended period, along with Vaughn, outfielders Jim Edmonds and Tim Salmon, and pitchers Ken Hill, Tim Belcher, Jason Dickson, Mike James, Pep Harris and Jack McDowell.

Collins, criticized in the past for being too intense, signed the extension on June 22.

"I really on't believe there's a better place to work," he said then.

Although several players voiced concern to management in late May about Collins' style, Bavasi said the team never wavered in its plan to offer him an extension through 2001. Bavasi said the situation was "in the real world, a blip on the screen."

Some players seemed to take sides, at least for a brief period, after several unidentified Angels spoke to Bavasi about Collins.

Second baseman Randy Velarde, who publicly took issue with Collins, was traded to Oakland along with starting pitcher Omar Olivares for three minor leaguers on July 29.