I realize a lot of people, especially Anaheim Angles fans aren’t
particularly fond of this cap, but honestly, I kind of dig it. It was first introduced
in 1997, the same time the California was
dropped from the name and the Anaheim
was added. For five grueling years they wore this cap under managers Terry
Collins, Joe Maddon and Mike Scioscia just as he was starting out. It served as
their game cap, unlike its counterpart with the light blue bill which I wrote
about on April 8th. While the Angels themselves didn’t fair out too
well under this cap, there is one moment that occurred while they were wearing
this bad boy that I can’t shake for my mind.
As an Oakland Athletics fan it’s hard for me to tip my cap
to an accomplishment by a rival player; however, there are just some moments
that occur in sports that one needs to cast differences aside and realize that
what they just witnessed is truly spectacular. Even more impressive is when
someone I’ve had a history with and I agree upon the same thing. This story
takes place on a random day in April while the other eight Cave Dwellers and I
were watching “Top 50 Countdown- Greatest Defensive Plays” edition on MLB
Network while we were sitting around waiting for our production assignments for
the day in the MLB
Fan Cave.
I’m having a little bit of difficulty remembering which day
in particular it was, but I think it might have been on April 27th
as we were waiting for Detroit Tigers players Collin Balester and Miguel
Cabrera. The two were running just a little bit late and all eight of us had
gotten there especially early for prep-work on the Miggy Poco sketch that we
would be filming that day. With time to kill until they arrived we turned a few
of the televisions on the Cave Monster on and tuned into MLB Network since all
we were really allowed to watch was baseball no matter what hour of the day it
was. Due to it being so early in the morning, 8:45 AM EST, there wasn’t
anything live on air quite yet, so we were regaled with “Top-50 Countdown.” The
funniest part of this moment is that St. Louis Cardinals fan Kyle Thompson,
Atlanta Braves fan Ricky Mast, New York Yankees fan Eddie Mata and I really
knew all of the plays that they were going to show. So of course, to make
things interesting, we all started predicting the order of the Top-10 plays.
The only problem with this is that this particular activity, much like the crew
who assembled the stories and highlights, based everything around lore and
personal opinion. There really isn’t an accurate way to rank any of these
moments, especially when it comes to something like robbing a home run. At the
end of the day, as long as the ball was caught, the job was done. I suppose a
degree of difficulty could be added onto it, but a lot of that is arbitrary too
because the ground covered by the defender is really based on how well they
read the person at the plate and where they’re stuck when it comes to defensive
positioning. Yes, I take a lot of these things into consideration when making
important judgment calls.
By the time we started out little game the show had all
ready cracked the Top-20. Not having any idea of what the previous 30 plays
were made it a little more challenging. Eddie, being the homer that he is, of
course said the Derek Jeter flip play was going to be number one. My response
to that has simply giving Eddie the finger. I don’t really remember what Ricky
said, but both Kyle and I ended up with the same answer. It was probably the
only time he and I ever really agreed on anything.
This is another befuddling moment for me because I don’t
remember exactly where the moment landed on the list. I’m pretty sure it was
Top-five, possibly even at number 3, but to this day I still stick to my guns
as it is not only the greatest play I have ever seen as it occurred, but quite
possibly the best play in history. Once again, this is merely a matter of my
opinion and should be taken as such. No sense in starting a Holy War over
something so trivial.
6/10/97- One of the really cool things about living in Bakersfield, California
during baseball season was that I got a seemingly endless fill of Major League
Baseball games on TV even without the assistance of MLB.tv or MLB Network, both
of which didn’t exist at the time. Now, the only drawback to this is that I was
stuck watching Los Angeles Dodgers and Anaheim Angels games. Sadly I was too
far away from the cusp of where we had a signal to the Bay Area sports stations
so I could only watch Athletics games if they ever played on ESPN or against
the Angels.
On one particular summer day on June 10, 1997 I found myself
especially bored out of my mind I was watching the Angels on the road against
the Kansas City Royals. Just to let you know how bad things were back in those
days, Angels’ skipper Terry Collins had the team sitting is second place in the
American League West with a 32-28 record while Bob Boone was on the verge of
getting canned as the manager of the Royals as they were in third place in the
AL Central at 28-31. The Angels struck first in the top of the second inning
with a 1-0 lead after Tim Salmon crossed the plate from second thanks to a
Garrett Anderson single. The Royals would make a charge in the bottom of the
fifth inning, tying the game a one apiece after a Jeff King double followed up
by an RBI single by Chili Davis. Johnny Damon then followed that up with a
single while the next two batters, Mike MacFarlane and Scott Cooper lined out
to Anderson in
left field. With two outs, a runner on first in the bottom of the fifth inning,
Royals’ right fielder David Howard came to the plate.
The look of a true baller.
Howard had broken into the Major Leagues in 1991 and was 59
games into his final season with the Royals at the time when he stepped into
the batters box. The best season he had ever put together was in 1996, the only
season in which he played in over 94 games (143). In ’96 he hit .219 with four
home runs and 48 RBI. He got cot caught stealing more often than he was
successful, which goes to show that he wasn’t that quick for as fit as he was.
His four home runs in ’96, 11 for his career show that he didn’t have a lot of
power. And despite how mediocre his career may have been, stats wise, he will
always be remembered for this at-bat.
The eyes say, "I'm stone cold," but the sideburns say, "I came to party."
Jason Dickson was pitching for the Angels that day. Dickson
had been called up the previous season, 1996, and made seven starts for the
Angels, going 1-4 with a 4.57 ERA. 1997 was proving to be a much better year
for the 24-year-old right-hander who would go on to make his one and only
All-Star Game appearance that year and finish in third place for the AL Rookie
of the Year award with a 13-9 record, a 4.29 ERA and 115 strikeouts.
Unfortunately for Dickson, some “flash in the pan” (sarcasm) named Nomar
Garciaparra made short work of every rookie in the league.
Dickson threw a hanging curveball to Howard
which he immediately turned on. For a guy hitting in the nine-hole it’s not
exactly expected the he’d make contact, but for the lack of power he usually
put behind the ball, Howard sent this was screaming to centerfield. Angles
centerfielder Jim Edmonds then had to get on his horsey and haul ass to even
come close to making a play. Wait… did I say Jim Edmonds? Did I say come close
to making a play?
"Thanks for the stupid jersey Disney."
Edmonds
made his MLB debut on September 9, 1993 as a late-season call up for the 40-man
expansion roster. In 1994 he played in 94 games (94 in ’94, funny) and hit .273
with five home runs and 37 RBI which was good enough for an eighth place finish
for AL Rookie of the Year. In 1995 he made his first of only four All-Star Game
appearances as well as a 14th place finish for AL MVP after going
.290/33/107. It was a really stupid year for on the voter’s behalf. Edmonds produced another solid year in 1996, but it would
be on this day in 1997 that Edmonds
became a household name.
As the ball sailed into centerfield Edmonds could tell that he was playing way
too shallow to make a play. However, while most people would make the play off
the wall after realizing they’re doomed, Jim “F---ing” Edmonds will do everything in his power to
make that out. Rather than me blab about it anymore, take a look at the play here.
Now, there are plays that a truly worth of note, and then
there are some like this that are beyond words like “boner-inducing,” as I
would use. “The Catch,” as it’s known throughout the baseball community, pretty
much cemented the first of eight Gold Glove awards that Edmonds would win throughout his career. Now,
I realize that there are some purists out there who still hold Willie Mays’s
over the shoulder basket catch during Game one of the 1954 World Series as the
greatest play of all-time; however, all I can really say to those people is,
“Shut your mouth. Shut it.” While the importance of Mays’s catch is what makes
his so amazing, the pure athleticism and sacrifice of the body is why I hold what Edmonds accomplished in such high regards, even if it is an early June game against a team that
hadn’t been to the playoffs since they won the World Series in 1985. It’s a
level of play that very few will ever display in their careers, and Edmonds did it on a
regular basis.
The Angels, energized by what they had witnessed, went on a
scoring tear and beat the Royals by the final score of 6-2. But even with the
win all anyone wanted to talk about that night on ESPN’s Sportscenter was that amazing play which we still talk about to
this day.
Like I said, “boner-inducing.”
Yet another great blog...and another bad ass hat!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Billy! Always appreciated.
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