100 Things Angels Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

by Joe Haakenson, Tim Salmon (Foreword by)

Overview

Inspired by and written for the devout Angels fan, this lively and detailed book explores important facts and figures from the baseball team's storied history. Decades of tradition, victories and defeats, name revisions, and Hall of Fame inductions are distilled into an entertaining list that journeys from one to 100 into what makes a true fan of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. From the essentials, such as the Nolan Ryan era, to the lesser-known tidbits, including the team's origin and what started the Rally Monkey, this book is the ultimate resource to Angels knowledge and trivia and even suggests the best places to eat and drink before a game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623682354
Publisher:	Triumph Books
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Series:	100 Things...Fans Should Know Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Joe Haakenson is a veteran baseball writer and a voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the Angels’ beat writer for 15 seasons in Southern California newspapers that include the Los Angeles Daily News, and is the author of Out of the Blue. He lives in Huntington Beach, California. Tim Salmon is a former professional baseball player who helped guide the Angels to their first world championship in 2002. He is the founder of the Tim Salmon Foundation, which supports Orange County charities assisting children in need. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Read an Excerpt

100 Things Angels Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

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By Joe Haakenson

Triumph Books

Copyright © 2015 Joe Haakenson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-62368-235-4

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CHAPTER 1

Won for the Cowboy

It was a mantra that was rooted in admiration and devotion for their owner, but one that in all likelihood prevented them from achieving it.

"Win one for the Cowboy."

Gene Autry was the beloved original owner of the Angels, and those in the organization wanted nothing more than to get the Singing Cowboy what he so desperately desired — a World Series title.

From the time Autry purchased the American League's expansion franchise in 1961 for $2.1 million until his death in 1998, a seemingly endless parade of general managers, managers, and players came and went, ultimately failing to get the entertainment legend to the top of the baseball world.

Autry paid millions of dollars to players with Hall of Fame credentials, such as Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, and Don Sutton. Autry gave his general managers the freedom to make the deals they felt would put the team at the top. But those decisions often came at the expense of building a strong future, mortgaging the farm system for a big name with diminishing skills.

Ultimately, "Win one for the Cowboy," became "Win one for the Cowboy, and hurry up." However, according to Autry's wife, Jackie, it was a philosophy that was perpetuated not by Autry himself, but by those in the organization who felt more and more pressure to win immediately as Autry got up there in years.

"To my knowledge, Gene never once said, 'Look guys, I'm not going to be around much longer, we've got to get it done this year,'" Jackie Autry said in Ross Newhan's The Anaheim Angels: A Complete History. "Gene wanted to win for the fans and the people who worked for him in the organization, but as he aged and his health began to fail, there were times I got a sense of urgency and even panic from our baseball people that if we don't do it this year, he may not be around next year, and that wasn't beneficial to the organization.

"We started skewing in wrong directions. We simply mortgaged the future at times. We probably could staff two major league teams with the kids we lost from our farm system."

As fate would have it, the Angels finally won that elusive World Series, beating the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the World Series on October 27, 2002, just four years, three weeks, and four days after Autry died at age 91.

And though Autry was not around to personally witness it, his legacy was felt strongly within the organization. It reached all the way into the clubhouse where Tim Salmon, the club's right fielder who had also experienced the disappointing losses and crushing failures with the team, had been thinking about it as the Angels got closer and closer to a championship.

"What if we really win it all?" Salmon remembered thinking. "We've got to find a way to get Gene Autry on the field any way we can. What would be reflective of that idea? It was his hat."

A few days before Game 7, Salmon asked Jackie Autry for one of Gene's cowboy hats — a pristine-looking white Stetson — and hid it in the Angels clubhouse. Moments after the final out of Game 7, Salmon raced into the clubhouse and retrieved the Stetson, then he took it onto the field, holding it aloft as he and his teammates danced and skipped across the Edison Field outfield in celebration.

In their 42nd season, they did it. The Angels won one for the Cowboy.

CHAPTER 2

World Series 2002, Game 6 — Spiezio Lifts a Franchise

It wasn't one of those no-doubt-about-it type of home runs, such a mammoth blast that the ball seems to disappear in an instant. Scott Spiezio's home run was merely a high fly ball hit in exactly the right spot at the right time — just inside the right-field foul pole and only a couple of rows deep. Although some might say it was long overdue.

Spiezio's three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series not only started a rally that led to the Angels' Game 6 victory but also carried over to the series-clinching Game 7 win over the San Francisco Giants.

"I didn't know it was gone when I hit," Spiezio said. "I was praying. I was saying, 'God, please just get over the fence.' It seemed like it took forever."

The same could be said about the Angels, who, in their 42 season, after years of heartbreak, disappointment, failure, and even tragedy, finally won the World Series. Spiezio was in the middle of it all after taking over first base from Mo Vaughn a year earlier.

The Angels trailed in the series 3–2 and appeared destined for a Game 6 loss, trailing 5–0 to the Giants entering the bottom of the seventh. Giants starting pitcher Russ Ortiz had shut out the Angels on just two hits through six innings, and he opened the seventh by getting Garret Anderson on a ground-out. But the Angels got the rally started on consecutive singles by Troy Glaus and Brad Fullmer, bringing up Spiezio.

Giants manager Dusty Baker took Ortiz out of the game but gave the ball to Ortiz to take with him to the dugout as a keepsake — bad move. Felix Rodriguez replaced Ortiz, and Spiezio worked the count full before golfing a low-and-inside fastball — clocked at 95 mph — into the right-field seats just beyond the reach of Giants right fielder Reggie Sanders.

The Angels still trailed 5–3 going to the eighth but put together another rally. Darin Erstad hit a solo homer, and Glaus hit a two-run double to give the Angels a 6–5 lead. But when fans reflect on Game 6, it is Spiezio's home run that first comes to mind.

"Yeah, I guess it's the biggest at-bat I've had in my life," Spiezio said, "and the biggest hit."

It was such a peak moment that maybe it was natural for Spiezio's career to spiral downward from there. He played one more season with the Angels and put up decent numbers, hitting .265 with 16 homers and 83 RBIs in 158 games in 2003. He turned that into a three-year, $9 million free-agent contract with the Mariners but was a bust and was released by the club before his contract was up.

He later hooked up with the Cardinals and briefly revitalized his career, playing in 119 regular season games for the 2006 World Series champs, even getting a few more World Series at-bats but going 0-for-4 with a walk in the Series victory over the Tigers.

Ultimately, the Cardinals released Spiezio after he was arrested on charges of drunk driving and assault. His baseball career eventually ended after playing for the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League in 2010 after a stint with the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League, a meager finish for the player who hit the biggest home run in Angels history.

CHAPTER 3

Game 7

For those who experienced the Angels' run through the 2002 playoffs, it was an emotional blur. After 41 years of futility, the Angels reached the brink of winning the World Series, and it was hard to believe.

The Angels beat the Yankees and Twins in the playoffs then rallied with a dramatic Game 6 win in the World Series to force Game 7 against the San Francisco Giants.

The first six games of the Series featured impressive offense, but Game 7 was all about pitching. The Angels used four pitchers in the decisive game, and three of them weren't on the major league roster when the season began six months earlier.

Only closer Troy Percival, who pitched the ninth to finish the 4–1 victory, wasn't a rookie. Brendan Donnelly, a 31-year-old rookie who had toiled in the minors for years and also pitched as a replacement player during the player's strike in 1994, blanked the Giants in the sixth and seventh innings. Francisco Rodriguez, just 20 years old and not called up to the big club until September, threw a scoreless eighth.

The Angels' starting pitcher for Game 7 was rookie John Lackey, and his appearance was the result of a bold move by manager Mike Scioscia that might have won the game for the Angels. Ramon Ortiz was on schedule to make the start on a normal four days of rest. But Ortiz, despite a live arm, was inconsistent and jittery under the spotlight. Scioscia turned to Lackey, a tall Texan who played quarterback in high school in front of big crowds, and Lackey responded by allowing only one run in five innings, becoming the first rookie to win Game 7 of the World Series in 93 years.

Conversely, Dusty Baker opted against starting Kirk Rueter on three days of rest despite the Angels' trouble with soft-throwing lefties. Rueter had given up three runs in six innings of Game 4, a 4–3 Giants win.

Baker instead went with Livan Hernandez on his regular four days rest, even though the Angels hammered Hernandez for six runs in 32/3 innings of a 10–4 victory in Game 3.

Still, the Angels found themselves in a familiar spot early, falling behind and needing a rally. The Giants got singles by Benito Santiago and J.T. Snow followed by a sacrifice fly from Reggie Sanders for a 1–0 lead in the second inning.

The Angels put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning when Game 6 hero Scott Spiezio walked and then scored on a double by Bengie Molina, tying the game at 1–1.

The Angels went ahead for good in the third inning, getting the rally started on consecutive singles by David Eckstein and Darin Erstad. Tim Salmon was hit by a pitch, bringing up Garret Anderson.

Anderson left the Angels after the 2008 season as the club's all-time leader in extra-base hits, but in the World Series to that point, he had none. When he stepped into the box in the third inning of Game 7, all of his eight hits in the Series had been singles. But that changed in a dramatic way when he ripped a fastball from Hernandez into the right-field corner for a three-run double and 4–1 lead.

"[Hernandez] didn't want to walk me because he didn't have anywhere to put me," Anderson said. "It was still early in the game, and he needed to throw strikes."

Lackey and the Angels' bullpen — so good all season — took it from there with Donnelly to Rodriguez to Percival. Throughout the Series, Percival had to battle more than Barry Bonds and the Giants hitters. The night before Game 7, Percival said he didn't sleep "because I had death threats."

It turns out he started receiving those threats after hitting Alfonso Soriano with a pitch in the playoff series against the Yankees. "I carried a gun with me to the park," Percival said. "It was not a very comforting time, but I had a job to do."

After retiring Kenny Lofton on a fly to Erstad in center field, Percival, his Angels teammates, and all the long-suffering Angels fans could rejoice.

"What stands out more than anything about the whole playoffs and World Series was that I saw the fans and the game from a whole different perspective than I'd ever seen in Anaheim before," said Tim Salmon, who suffered through many disappointments with the club ever since breaking into the majors as the American League Rookie of the Year in 1993. "The fans were electric, the color, the excitement, the true sense of home-field advantage in every sense was evident."

CHAPTER 4

1979 — Yes We Can!

The credit for the Angels winning their first division title in 1979 is widespread.

Jim Fregosi was in his first full season as the club's manager after taking the job during the 1978 season, and he brought with him a no-nonsense attitude earning the respect of the players. Don Baylor settled his differences with the club, rescinded a trade demand, and ended up winning the franchise's first MVP award. General manager Buzzie Bavasi made astute moves, trading for Rod Carew and "Disco" Dan Ford and refusing to trade Carney Lansford. But if there was a singular moment that pushed the Angels over the top for the first time, credit might be given to the Cowboy himself, owner Gene Autry.

In mid-September, the Angels were in Kansas City for a four-game series with the Royals. The Angels had lost two of the first three games of the series, with the second-place Royals cutting the Angels' American League West lead to two games. With one game to play in the series, a Royals victory would reduce their deficit to one game and put the pressure on the Angels. But Autry had other ideas.

Autry was in the radio business, so it was easy for him to secure previously aired tape from radio shows. He was able to get a tape from a Palm Springs radio station that aired Royals owner Ewing Kauffman saying he didn't care who won the division ... as long as it wasn't the Angels.

Kauffman didn't want to see the Angels win, knowing that Autry had been active in the free-agent market since free agency had been granted to players three years earlier. Ironically, Autry was against the idea of free agency, knowing that players' salaries would escalate.

But Autry bought into it anyway, knowing he had to in order to compete.

Autry sent the tape to Fregosi in Kansas City and instructed him to play it for the players before that fourth game of the series. The Angels won that game 11–6, increased their division lead to three games, and ultimately clinched the title against the Royals on September 25 at Anaheim Stadium.

"This is a dream come true," said Angels second baseman Bobby Grich, who grew up in nearby Long Beach and first joined the Angels as a free agent in 1977. "I've been an Angels fan since I was a kid. I used to come out to this park when Fregosi and [Bobby] Knoop were playing. I'd sit in the stands and say, 'I'd like to be out there some day.' Now here I am. It's unbelievable."

It really wasn't all that unbelievable considering how the Angels went into the 1979 season. It started with Fregosi leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates as a player and accepting the Angels' managerial job after the firing of Dave Garcia in June. The difference was immediate.

"When I got here, pitchers did what they wanted to do, regulars did what they wanted to do," Baylor said. "There was no control in the organization. In doubleheaders, pitchers would leave the park once they were taken out of the game. The first time it happened, [Nolan] Ryan said, 'That's the way we do it. That's part of it.' Jimmy said, 'No, that's not part of it. That's not the way we do it.' He stopped it right there."

Baylor took Fregosi's cue and was a leader on the field and in the clubhouse. He hit 36 homers, stole 22 bases, drove in 139 runs, and batted .296 on his way to the MVP award.

"Donny carried the whole team on his back," Carew said. "He came through with the big clutch hits and home runs all year. He was the straw that stirred the drink."

Dave Frost and Nolan Ryan each won 16 games, and Jim Barr won 10. Frank Tanana was hurt for much of the year, but he pitched a complete game in the division-clinching win. But the "Yes We Can" mantra came from the confidence in the offense, which pounded the ball all season.

Besides the contributions from Baylor, Brian Downing hit .326 and drove in 75, Carew hit .318, Grich hit 30 homers with 101 RBIs and batted .294, and Ford hit .290 and drove in 101 runs. Willie Aikens (21 homers, 81 RBIs, .280) and Lansford (19 homers, 75 RBIs, .287) also provided punch to a lineup that averaged 5.3 runs per game.

"We just pummeled everyone," Baylor said. "Every day we went to the park, we had it in our minds that we were going to win."

As ecstatic as the Angels were to win the division, disappointment fell upon the organization once again when they were eliminated 3–1 in the American League Championship Series to the Baltimore Orioles. It started badly even before the playoffs during a party celebrating the club's division-clinching victory. Barr was in a bar and saw a fan with a plastic toilet seat that said "Royal Flush." Barr punched it and broke a finger on his pitching hand.

The Angels lost the first two games in Baltimore, and on the flight home broadcaster Don Drysdale, the former Dodgers pitcher, accused Barr of malingering. The two nearly came to blows before being separated, and Drysdale later apologized.

The Angels rallied to win Game 3 4–3, but the Orioles finished it with an 8–0 win in Game 4 on a shutout by Orioles pitcher Scott McGregor.

Trivia

Question: Who was the winning pitcher in the Angels' first postseason victory?

Answer: Reliever Don Aase, October 5, 1979, in the Angels' 4–3 win over Baltimore in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from 100 Things Angels Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Joe Haakenson. Copyright © 2015 Joe Haakenson. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Foreword Tim Salmon ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction xv

1 Won for the Cowboy 1

2 World Series 2002, Game 6-Spiezio Lifts a Franchise 3

3 Game 7 5

4 1979-Yes We Can! 8

5 Big "A" Stands for Albert 11

6 Radio Days, Major League Stage-Gene Autry Owns the Angels 15

7 The Ryan Express 18

8 1986-No Series for You 21

9 The Rock-Mike Scioscia 24

10 The Angels Win a Playoff Series, Finally! 28

11 World Series 2002-Game 1 31

12 Watch the Angels Beat the Dodgers in the World Series 33

13 Donnie Moore and "The Pitch" 35

14 World Series 2002-Game 2 37

15 Hall of Famer Rod Carew 39

16 Watch a Gene Autry Movie 43

17 ALCS 2002-They Win, They're In! 46

18 No Fish Tale-Tim Salmon 49

19 Heart of a Hero-Jim Abbott 52

201961 -Expanding Horizons 56

21 The Supernatural-Mike Trout 58

22 "California" (i.e., Anaheim) Here They Come 61

23 1962 63

24 1982 65

25 The Little General-Gene Mauch 69

26 Speak Softly, Carry Big Stick-Garret Anderson 72

27 Division Dominance, 2004-09 75

28 Kennedy for President 78

29 Wally Whirl 79

30 Say It Ain't So, Bo-Bo Belinsky 82

31 Tragedy in Gary, Indiana-Lyman Bostock 86

32 Jim Fregosi 89

33 Saving the Best for Last-Mike Witt's Perfect Game 92

34 Nolan Ryan-No-No No. 1 94

35 Nolan Ryan-No-No No. 2 96

36 Nolan Ryan-No-No No. 3 98

37 Nolan Ryan-No-No No. 4 100

38 Chance of a Lifetime 102

39 Jim Edmonds and "The Catch" 105

40 Fin to Win-Chuck Finley 107

41 Oh No, Mo! 109

42 A Life Too Short-Nick Adenhart 112

43 World Series 2002-Game 3 114

44 Reggie, Reggie! 116

45 Most Valuable Vlad 119

46 Buy a Rally Monkey 122

47 There Is Crying in Baseball-Jered Weaver's No-Hitter 124

48 Spring Training 2000-A New Era Begins 126

49 Skeeter's 1970 Season-Clyde Wright 128

50 World Series 2002-Game 4 131

51 The Enforcer-Don Baylor 133

52 Homegrown Hero-Bobby Grich 137

53 Fred Lynn's Grand Slam 140

54 World Series 2002-Game 5 142

55 Joe Maddon 144

56 Bobby Valentine and a Chain-Link Fence 146

57 Wrigley Field 148

58 Frank Tanana Loves Frank Tanana 150

59 Arte Moreno 153

60 1977 Free Agent Frenzy 156

61 Palm Springs-Spring Training or Spring Break? 159

62 K-Rod Saves the Day (62 Times) 162

63 Bus Crash 165

64 Tim Salmon's First Day in the Majors 167

65 The Eck Factor 169

66 Little Man-Albie Pearson 171

67 Go to Disneyland 173

681966 -Home Alone 175

69 Leading Off-Darin Erstad 177

70 Imagine Mark McGwire Hit 70 Home Runs for the Angels 180

71 Home Run Havoc-Kendrys Morales 182

72 Bill Stoneman 184

73 The Disney Era 187

74 Brian Downing 189

75 Go to Spring Training 192

76 1995 Collapse 194

77 The Colossal Comeback 196

78 Batting Champ or Chump?-Alex Johnson 198

79 G.A.'s All-Star Ambitions 200

80 Talk Baseball with Kurt Loe 202

81 Jack H. and Tony C.-One Pitch, Two Careers Ruined 204

82 1999-A Pivotal Season 207

83 Troy Glaus-World Series MVP 209

84 Bill Rigney-The Original Angels Manager 211

85 The Closer-Troy Percival 214

86 Bo Knows the Angels 216

87 Bob Boone 218

88 Oh My!-Dick Enberg 221

89 1989-The Best Angels Team Nobody Remembers 223

90 Milestone Moments-500, 3,000, and 300 225

91 Bleacher Bum-Charlie Sheen 227

92 The Fungo Kid-Jimmie Reese 229

93 Buck Rodgers 232

94 Bavasi and Bavasi 234

95 Santana No-Hits the Tribe 237

96 Strike Three, Take Your Base 240

97 Have Lunch with Mike Scioscia 242

98 Angels in the Outfield 243

99 Go See Angels in the Outfield 245

100 Dick Williams' Undoing on the Bus 248

Bibliography 251