Angels Fail In Second Try To Get Santo

HOUSTON -- Last-minute efforts by the California Angels to acquire veteran third baseman Ron Santo from the Chicago Cubs ended in failure early Saturday morning. Harry Dalton, general manager of the Angels, and Chicago Cub officials, including manager Whitey Lockman, emerged from an 11-hour meeting to report the breakdown of the attempted deal.

Santo earlier this week blocked an attempt by the Cubs to trade him to the Angels, invoking the option which allows players with 10 years of major league experience and the last five years with the same club the right of approval of any trade. "I talked to Ron myself," said Dalton. "We extended the deadline as long as we could but we are still not able to make a trade. In my judgment one of the problems has been Ron's strongly stated feelings that he didn't want to leave Chicago." Dalton said that another possible inter-league deal involving the Montreal Expos had been affected by the failure to swing the Santo trade and also fell through.

[source: ap]