ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Gene Autry may never have seen the Angels in the World Series, but the team's late owner will have a new jersey with his number in the club house at Edison Field.

His No. 26 -- which honored him as the 26th man on the 25-man roster -- has been hanging in the middle of the Angels' club house since 1997. Since the team changed uniforms before this season, going to red as the dominant color, Autry's jersey needed an update.

"We're getting one in the new uniform color to put up. We hope to have it up for the start of the World Series,'' said Ken Higdon, the Angels' equipment manager.

Autry, who brought the team into the league as an expansion franchise in 1961, didn't live to see the Angels finally make it to their first World Series. The former "Singing Cowboy'' of movies and records died in 1998 at 91.

The new jersey will have a World Series patch.

Root, root, root for the Italian-managed team
Dusty Baker believes Tommy Lasorda will root for fellow Italian-American Mike Scioscia in the World Series.

Baker, the San Francisco manager, and Scioscia, his Anaheim counterpart, both played for Lasorda on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Tommy used to tell me about all the Italian managers: (Tony) La Russa, (Billy) Martin, (Joe) Altobelli), Chuck Tanner,'' Baker recalled. "I said, 'Chuck Tanner's not Italian.'

"He said, 'His mother is.'''

Under the rocks
The suddenly historic home plate from the Angels' pennant-clinching game is headed for "Club Rocks.''

The Angels are autographing the home plate from the win over Minnesota and presenting it to the Edison Field grounds crew.

The plate and the rubber from the pitcher's mound in that game will be displayed in the grounds crew's office, under the phony rocks beyond left-center field.

The workers call their office "Club Rocks.''

Angels pitchers get their licks
Unlike some other AL clubs heading into the postseason, the Angels didn't have their pitchers taking batting practice until this week. At Thursday's workout, the pitchers took their licks in the batting cage under the watchful eye of pitching coach Bud Black.

While the designated hitter will be used for the games in Anaheim, the pitchers will bat in games in San Francisco.

"I think all AL pitchers get excited when they have a chance to bat,'' Black said. "You just hope they don't get too excited, too much adrenaline going.

"A couple of them, Jarrod Washburn and John Lackey, have some hitting in their backgrounds. It would be interesting to see Lackey hit.''

Washburn, the starter for Saturday's opening game against the Giants, batted cleanup in high school and has a .357 batting average in interleague play, going 5-for-14.

Lackey, a rookie, went 10-3 for Grayson County (Texas) College in 1999 and hit .428 with 15 homers and 81 RBI while playing 100 innings. He had eight hits, two homers and seven RBI to lead that team to the junior college title.

"I'm more worried about my pitching than my hitting,'' said Lackey, who's never been to the plate in the majors. "But I guess if I pitch well enough, I could stay in the game and get to bat some.''

Another rookie, reliever Francisco Rodriguez, said: "I'm not really very good with a bat in my hands. I think the last time I had a hit was in a tournament game four years ago.''

Also, getting ready to play defense against the Giants' pitchers for the games in San Francisco, the Angels had a spring training-like drill at practice Thursday, with pitchers and infielders lining up to field bunts that might be anticipated when the opposing pitchers come up with a runner on.

Full circle for Snow
When he was a youngster living a 20-minute drive from Anaheim Stadium, J.T. Snow was disappointed when the Angels failed to make the World Series each of the three years he cheered them on to the postseason.

Not only are the Angels playing in their first World Series, so is former Anaheim first baseman Snow -- but with the San Francisco Giants.

He became an Angels fan when he was 11. That was in 1979, when the Angels made the playoffs but not the World Series. They came up short in the postseason again in 1982 and 1986.

"Those were all crushing to me,'' he recalled. "It was agonizing to get so close and not make it.''

Snow, who began his major league career with the Angels in 1993 and was traded to San Francisco in 1996, added, "I didn't like the Giants as a kid.''