100 Things Angels Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (100 Things...Fans Should Know) - Softcover

Haakenson, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1600787762 ISBN 13: 9781600787768

Verlag: Triumph Books, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

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.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

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.

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100 Things Angels Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

By Joe Haakenson

Triumph Books

Copyright © 2015 Joe Haakenson
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60078-776-8

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...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Triumph Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1600787762
• ISBN 13: 9781600787768
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 272
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: eucomply OÜ; hello@eucompliancepartner.com; ; Pärnu mnt 139b-14; Tallinn; 11317; Estland