Although there has never been a tragedy in major league sports that caused a league to implement a so-called disaster plan, such contingencies do exist. The bus accident early yesterday morning involving the California Angels brought these contingency plans into focus.

Major league baseball has had a disaster plan in place since 1965. Other leagues were spurred to develop their own plans after a plane crash in 1970 that killed 38 members of the Marshall University football team along with a number of the squad's coaches.

In all the major sports, if several players are disabled or killed the team is expected to supplement its roster by bringing up minor leaguers or acquiring other players. But in a wide-scale tragedy, each of the other teams in the league would provide players for the disabled franchise.

But what constitutes a wide-scale tragedy is not the same in each league. The 'Rehabilitation Plan'

The Angels play in the American League, which, like the National League, has a procedure it euphemistically labels a "rehabilitation plan."