California Baseball: Day 15
Los Angeles Angels
Baseball is a game steeped in tradition. Its long history has evolved slowly, embracing change reluctantly, reaching back persistently to connect to a simpler past. There is solace in this. A baseball fan knows that the most appealing aspects of the game are everlasting – the layered strategy, the building tension as runners occupy the bases, the explosive crescendo of a big home run. Even in this era of alternate uniforms, instant replay, and spin rates, exit velocities, and a growing list of statistical acronyms, this Grand Old Game of more than 150 years retains many comforting constants.
It is in this spirit that I would like to request that the Los Angeles Angels stop changing their damn name. That’s enough. You’re done. Knock it off.
I get that team names change. When a franchise moves from one city to another, the city and often the nickname are revised so that, for example, you don’t end up going from the New Orleans Jazz to the Utah Jazz. That would be silly.
But what you really don’t do – at least if you are trying to build a strong brand to help compete with a neighboring big-market baseball powerhouse – is to have four different official team names in 22 years, without moving an inch. I would submit that if you make potential fans think, “Wait, what are they called now?” for more than a generation, you have been a bit careless with the brand.
The Los Angeles Angels name goes back to 1892, when the team played in the original California League, first as the Los Angeles Seraphs (definition: “an angelic being”), but soon after as the Angels. The club joined the newly formed Pacific Coast League in 1902 and remained there through the 1957 season. In 1921, they were purchased by William Wrigley Jr., who built the first Wrigley Field in South Central Los Angeles for the Angels in 1925 and sent his Cubs teams to Catalina Island off the Pacific Coast for Spring Training.
The Brooklyn Dodgers took over the affiliation in 1957 and, as they were preparing their own move west, Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley relocated the Angels to Spokane and renamed them the Indians. But when The Singing Cowboy (country music legend Gene Autry) was awarded an Major League expansion franchise for the 1961 season, he purchased the rights to the Angels name from O’Malley, and the Los Angeles Angels were back in business. They played their first season at Wrigley Field, then shared space with their local rivals at the newly built Dodger Stadium for the next four years.
In 1966, the Angels moved south to fast-growing Orange County, into the new 43,000-seat Anaheim Stadium, aka The Big A. To emphasize their separation from Los Angeles, they changed the team name to the California Angels and kept that name for 32 years. They won their first American league West title with that name in 1979, fielding a team stacked with its own legendary names: Nolan Ryan, Rod Carew, Don Baylor, and Brian Downing (who is a clear fourth on that list but hit .326 as a catcher in 1979).
The old Big A scoreboard, now overlooking the stadium parking lot.
The next year, Anaheim Stadium’s top two decks were extended around the outfield to accommodate the arrival of the Los Angeles Rams. The iconic Big A scoreboard was moved to a lonely spot in the parking lot. Another “ballpark” had become a “stadium.” That era of Angels history was when I made my one previous visit to the Big A, sitting with friends and my dad in the upper deck in right field, watching the Angels battle the Red Sox. The game seemed miles away.
In 1997, after 36 years of stewardship, Autry sold controlling interest of the team to The Walt Disney Company, which promptly renamed everything in sight. They would now be the Anaheim Angels (boosting the image of a city that also hosts Disneyland), and they would play in Edison International Field of Anaheim. New ownership eight years later changed the team name again, this time to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a nod both to tradition and lawyers working for the City of Anaheim.
Some measure of linguistic and baseball sanity has since been reclaimed. The team once again is called, simply, the Los Angeles Angels, and the stadium is now named Angel Stadium… of Anaheim. Well, you can’t have everything.
The entrance to Angel Stadium certainly creates a smart impression, flanked by two giant Angels helmets and festooned with photos of current team stars, including 2019 American League MVP Mike Trout. The team was running a “Christmas in June” toy drive when I arrived, so the tableau set against the Southern California June gloom also included a giant decorated tree.
I headed straight for the upper deck to see the restored view of the San Gabriel and Santa Ana mountains, revealed during the Disney-era renovation that removed the outfield football seating. That project also added the “California Spectacular,” a rockpile just left of center field with geysers, a stream flowing through it, and fireworks that fire off after Angels home runs and wins.
The Angels opponent for the night was the Cincinnati Reds, who were on a six-game winning streak and just four games below .500 but tied for last in the NL Central. The Angels were a game under .500 and still had some hope for a playoff run with Trout in the lineup and a strong bullpen.
I headed down to the seats on the right-field line to watch the Reds outfielders warming up. Among them was Cuban star and former Dodger Yasiel Puig, a known hothead sporting a blonde mohawk who would have an eventful evening.
Strolling around the Field Level, I got a strong feeling for Angels pride and tradition, with displays showing team record-holders, Hall-of-Famers, and a mural of Angels postseason memories, capped off by the 2002 World Series trophy, the club’s only title in its 60-year history.
In 2002, the Angels made the playoffs as a Wild Card and won their only American League and World Series titles.
I turned my attention to one of my most important tasks of the day: selecting my dinner from a good variety of ballpark standards and delectable oddities. After circling my options for 15 minutes or so, I chose a Pastrami Dog with sauerkraut, mustard, and crispy onions, and praised myself soon after for the wisdom of my selection..
Andrew Heaney
The Angels started left-hander Andrew Heaney, a six-year Major league journeyman who would finish the season 4-6 with a 4.91 ERA. He struck out his first batter on three pitches, but Joey Votto slapped his fourth pitch over the center field wall. Heaney gave up four more hits and four walks in his 5 1/3 innings, but he did not surrender another run.
Tyler Mahle
The Reds went with a right-hander Tyler Mahle, whose older brother, Greg, spent his entire 24-gamje major league career with the Angels in 2016. Tyler Mahle was in the midst of a rough year in which he would put up a 3-12 record with a 5.14 ERA. The first batter he faced, Angels second baseman Tommy La Stella, rattled a low fastball high and deep into the darkening sky. Reds center fielder Nick Senzel mis-timed his leap at the wall, and the ball bounced away and towards right field. Senzel chased it down — Puig in right field was nowhere to be seen — but by this time La Stella was already heading into third base and on his way home for an inside-the-park home run.
In the second inning, Mahle gave up a single and a walk, then allowed a three-run bomb from rookie shortstop Luis Rengifo. When the two starters left the game in the sixth, the Angels led 4-1.
Andrew Heaney on the mound for the Angels.
Tyler Mahle pitches for the Reds with future Hall-of-Famer Albert Pujols on first.
In the top of the sixth, Puig struck out looking on three pitches, argued with home plate umpire Kerwin Danley, and was promptly ejected. Manager David Bell rushed out of the Reds dugout and approached Danley as the first-base umpire walked Puig away from the scene. Twenty seconds later, Bell was ejected. Puig approached the two men, his bat still in his hand. He then tossed the bat and his helmet aside and got within inches of Danley (and a certain suspension) before being pulled away by Bell. The crowd enjoyed an extended round of lusty booing.
I made another round of the stadium to take in a few more sights — still thrown by all of the Christmas decorations about — as the game settled down and Angels relievers stifled the Reds.
2019 American league MVP Mike Trout and the California Spectacular.
The Angels added a sleepy run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani, but otherwise the game coasted to an inevitable end. Even Trout had a pedestrian outing, with a single in four at-bats. By the time the last out was recorded, about half of the announced crowd of 37,260 had already headed for the gates.
That completed 12 ballgames on our California Baseball Road Trip. Just three more to go, starting the next day with a trip back to the minors.
DH Joey Votto, who homered in the first, after the game.
