The Name of Angel Stadium

What is it about the Angels and their identity crises. 

Now for years the stadium where the Angels played was called "Anaheim Stadium."

It made sense.
It was a stadium. They played in Anaheim.

Not a very creative name, but certainly not a confusing one.

When Disney took it over and inexplicably decided to install the rocks from the Thunder Mountain Railroad in centerfield, they decided to rechristen the stadium "Edison International Field" in the age old tradition of corporate names on parks.

(Before anyone cries for the good old days... Weegman Park was renamed Wrigley Field. It's not new.)

Then Arte Moreno, the most underrated owner in sports, took over and took the corporate name off of it.

Now I personal think they should have reverted back to Anaheim Stadium... the Big A.
But Arte wants people to believe they play on Hollywood and Vine and nowhere near the Orange groves of Anaheim.

If not Anaheim Stadium, I thought that Gene Autry Stadium would have been a good name. After all, Mr. Autry owned the team for decades and poured his heart and money into the club.

But I understand an owner not wanting to honor another park.

For the record, I'd be fine with Arte Moreno Stadium for that matter.

But they went with Angel Stadium. I guess officially it is Angel Stadium of Anaheim... but the "of Anaheim" is written in 8 point Helvetica font on the front entrance.

Look at that picture on the top again for a second.

It says Angel Stadium and has the Angels logo between the worlds Angel and Stadium.

On first glance, doesn't it read ANGELA STADIUM?

How about on second glance?

On the 8th glance, I am still reading ANGELA STADIUM!

That's bad placement of an A.

Maybe there can be a MONA STADIUM, JONATHAN STADIUM and SAMANTHA STADIUM to finish the "Who's The Boss?" series of ballparks.

Hey Angels fans... how did the 1982 Angels LOSE the AL Pennant?

I buy ballgames on iTunes every once in a while and it is a blast to watch whole broadcasts of old games.

I picked out Game 5 of the 1982 ALCS between the California Angels (which should still be their name) and the Milwaukee Brewers (back when they were in the American League.)

I remembered watching those games and taping them to send to my friend P. J. Jurack who was a big Brewers fan living in Europe. Obviously I knew the Brewers won the game, but I couldn't remember how.

Ergo, it is fun to rewatch these games when the details are hazy.

I'll tell you what stuck out to me... the players introductions.

It was in Milwaukee, so when the Angels were introduced, it was either silent or they were booing.
But they were probably wetting their pants.

First player introduced...

Brian Downing

Then... Rod Carew

Then... Reggie Jackson

Then... Fred Lynn

Then... Don Baylor

Then... Doug DeCinces

Then... Bobby Grich

Then... Tim Foli

Then... Bob Boone

Are you kidding me?
Was this the 1982 California Angels or the 1982 American League All Star Team?

Think about that... numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the line up were all recent American League MVPs.

The lead off hitter, Downing, was an All Star who got some points in the 1982 MVP race.

The #6 hitter, DeCinces, would finished 3rd in that year's MVP vote.

The #7 hitter tied for the Home Run title the year before.

The #9 hitter, Boone got some points in the 1982 MVP race.

Even Foli, the weak link in the line up, was a former #1 pick over all and hit .333 in the 1979 NLCS and World Series for the Pirates.

I sat there, 27 years after the fact, thinking "Wait... this is the LOSING team?"

And then I watched the game unfold... the Brewers looked terribly overmatched.

Gorman Thomas was literally limping.

Pete Vuckovich had control issues.

And I began wondering "Am I watching an alternate universe? Has iTunes opened up a parallel dimension where I can watch ballgames that have different outcomes?"

That would be cool! Maybe I could see the Red Sox win the 1986 World Series!

The game crept along to the 7th inning with the Angels 7 outs from a trip to the World Series and I sat riveted, all the while questioning myself.

"Wait... the 1982 World Series was St. Louis vs. Milwaukee, right? Not St. Louis vs. California" I kept asking myself.

And then I wondered "Am I really Sully? Am I really in South Pasadena, California?"

With two outs in the 7th and the Angels still up and reliever Luis Sanchez laboring after a walk to Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper came up.

The amazing Keith Jackson kept pointing out that the Angels had a full bullpen and lefty Andy Hassler (a member of the 1978 Red Sox) was warm. 

OK, I said in the present... they need to bring in Hassler to face Cooper.

This was not a second guess... I thought this AS IT WAS HAPPENING... 27 years later.

Oddly they stayed with the clearly struggling righty Sanchez instead of bringing in the fresh left Hassler.

Cooper singled in Charlie Moore and Jim Gantner for the lead.

THE VERY NEXT BATTER Gene Mauch brought in Hassler... but it was too late. 

The Brew Crew took the lead and held onto the 4-3 lead to win the pennant.

And suddenly it became so clear to me.

I was focused on all of those All Stars and MVP candidates in the line up... but it was the first name, Gene Mauch, that mattered most.

I'm sure he was a great regular season manager, but you get the sense that if you gave him the 1927 Yankees, he'd make a bad move with the pitching staff and they'd lose.

If they won that game, the Angels would have KILLED the Cardinals.

And Fred Lynn and Rod Carew would have rings, the Angels would have won in Gene Autry's lifetime and Reggie Jackson's legend would be even bigger if that is possible.

Good job Gene.

Everything about the Angels is underrated

The coolness of the Angels is underrated. They've had some of the biggest names in baseball over the past 4 decades pass through town.
Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Nolan Ryan, Fred Lynn, Don Baylor, Bert Blyleven, Lee Smith, Bobby Grich, Doug DeCinces, Mark Langston and Vladimir Guerrero all had All Star years in Anaheim.

They had Jim Abbott, a one handed pitcher for God sake!



The Angels are also as strange as they are cool. They've had 3 city names since the 1996 season (California Angels, Anaheim Angels and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) yet they have never moved from the Big A.

The Naked Gun had its climax at an Angels game, Tony Danza once played an Angels pitcher and its most recognizable tradition is the Rally Monkey.

For years their reputation of collapsing was also underrated.
They blew the 1982 Best of 5 ALCS to Milwaukee despite having a 2-0 lead.
They blew the 1986 Best of 7 ALCS to my Red Sox when manager Gene Mauch made one of the great panic moves of all time and yanked a dominant Mike Witt in the 9th, only to have Donnie Moore serve up Dave Henderson's homer.
And in 1995, they were in first by 11 games in August only to lose a one game playoff to Seattle.

And their owners have been underratedly colorful.
Between the singing cowboy Gene Autry and the flamboyant and free spending Arte Moreno... the Walt Disney Company was the LEAST interesting ownership group!

They also won a World Series (one my dad, a huge Giants fan would rather forget) with an underrated farm system.

In an age where people claim the World Series must be bought, the Angels won it all in 2002 with an entirely homegrown outfield, 2 home grown catcher and a home grown slugging World Series MVP thirdbasemen. 3 out of their 4 starting pitchers, their All Star closer, their phenom set up man, their lefty specialist and two middle relievers were also products of their farm system. Plus, while their middle infielders were drafted by other organizations, they spent their rookie years in Anaheim.

They had 16 players who came up through their system and 3 more picked up as minor leaguers on a team that won the World Series. The Red Sox and Yankees WISH their farm could produce like that.

I'll tell you something else about the Angels that is underrated: Their impact on baseball this decade.

Tonight's 18-9 pounding of the Yankees on the heels of splitting 4 in Fenway should serve notice that the ALCS won't necessarily be latest chapter of Red Sox vs. Yankees.

A lot of people, including yours truly picked the Angels to win it all. And the fact that they can pitch, they can close and they can manufacture runs and neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees really scare them... it doesn't feel like such a bad pick.

And if they win it all, that would mean the underrated Mike Scioscia would have lead the Angels to 4 playoff appearances in 6 years including 3 trips to the ALCS and 2 titles.

Folks, in this day and age where no team can repeat... that could make the Angels the team of the decade!

And it would have all been happening without us even noticing.
Who would have thought a potential dynasty would be underrated?

Now if only they could decide the name of their team!