June 10- Anaheim Angels

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 8^th. 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 27^th 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 14^th 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.”

April 8- Anaheim Angels

By no means am I a Los Angeles Angels/Anaheim Angels/California Angels/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim fan; however, there have been a few moments in time when I can honestly say that I have a lot of respect for their team, players and fans. 2002 is not one of those years, but that’s the Oakland Athletics fan inside of me talking.

Unlike their Southern California counterpart the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Angels have had a lot of weird years and certainly made their fair share of bad deals in order to entice talent to make the pilgrimage out to the West Coast in order to buy a World Series title. Unlike the New York Yankees and Dodgers, the Angels have also made a lot of interesting attempts to usher in the new era of their recently acquired superstars with a changing of their logo and colors. In fact, of all the teams who have been around since the early 1960s, the Angels have been one of the more notorious teams to not follow my unwritten rules of how to be successful when making such drastic changes to the uniform. Those rules would be:

1. Don’t do it unless you have a more than capable general manager.

2. Don’t do it unless you have a competent designer and marketing staff.

3. Don’t do it unless your intention was to make the fans cower under their throw blanket door prize with a brown paper sack in which to barf in because the amount of activity on the uniform has made them nauseous.

With that, I give you the 1997-2001 Anaheim Angels.

During this five-year span the Angels introduced three caps. One of them featured the “A” logo with angel wings like in the picture above, but with navy blue panels and a navy blue bill and the other was exactly like the one above but was made of mesh with a red bill and served as the team’s batting practice cap. Both of those hats will be talked about at length in later posts. This hat served as the team’s alternate hat from 1999-2000, and to be honest, it’s actually a pretty sweet cap. My biggest issue with this era lies more heavily on the pinstriped jerseys with navy blue sleeves. The really sad part in all of this is that I actually own one of those jerseys. This one to be exact…

Oh the humanity!!! It’s one thing to class up a jersey with pinstripes, but it’s another thing to make the sleeves a different solid color and adding patches to them.

1999 was an interesting year for the Angels. The team finished the season in fourth place in the American League West division with a record of 70-92, and with a changing of the guard at the end of August. Former manager and current New York Mets manager Terry Collins had managed the team since the start of the 1997 and produced back-to-back second place finishes within the division, both of which were winning records. After taking the team to 51-82 the Angels brass had enough and replaced Collins with former bench coach and current Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon. Maddon finished the season going 19-10, yet for some reason was demoted back to bench coach in 2000 to make way for current manager Mike Scioscia. Even though Scioscia and company won the World Series in 2002, the team has yet to taste similar success after Maddon and one of Scioscia’s other coaches, Bud Black, took managerial jobs with other teams. The best way to look at this is how former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Holmgren had a so-so career after assistant coaches Andy Reid, Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden all took head coaching jobs elsewhere after winning the Super Bowl in 1996. But I’m getting way too ahead of myself.

Very few people could see it, but 1999 was the key turning around point for all of the Angels’ misfortune even as peculiar as my rationale may be. Mo Vaughn had just been signed to a hefty long-term deal after the 1998 season and had modest success in the two full seasons he played with the team; however, it wasn’t until they traded him to the Mets for Kevin Appier that the team became well-rounded on both sides of the ball. From 1999-2000 the Angels lineup had become more offensive heavy and they overlooks rebuilding their pitching staff; kind of funny how in 2013 the same things appears to be happening. Solid draft picks and a keen attention to their farm system helped, but the most critical thing to change prior to the 1999 season was the passing of owner Gene Autry on October 2, 1998.

With that, my marks for this cap…

#25- One of the best moves the Angels ever made in the history of their franchise came in 1997 when they drafted a power-hitting third baseman out of UCLA with the third overall pick in that year’s amateur draft. On July 31, 1998 he made his debut wearing #12 and had a modest impact in the team batting .218 with one home run and 23 RBI in 48 games. Despite those numbers, Terry Collins named Troy Glaus as his starting third baseman at the start of the 1999 season.

It’s kind of shame that Glaus played in so many games in ’98 because his .240 average with 29 home runs and 79 RBI probably would have made him a legitimate contender for the AL Rookie of the Year award which went to Carlos Beltran of the Kansas City Royals. In 2000, under this hat, Glaus awkwardly and quietly had the best season of his career. He hit career highs in batting average (.284), stolen bases (14), walks (112), hits (160), OPS (1.008) and home runs (47), which was also the highest amount in the League that season. Glaus also had 102 RBI, which is the third best for his career and 37 doubles, which is the second best for his career. Despite all of those numbers, Glaus didn’t even crack the Top-30 for MVP votes that season. Instead all he was given was a Silver Slugger award and a trip to the All-Star Game. Based on the numbers of the other parties involved, Glaus should have finished at least in the Top-15 for the award. This is one of the few times I will admit that the Angels got hosed.

Glaus’s career with the Angels ended in 2004 after he suffered a shoulder injury that the Angels felt would be an issue for the rest of his career. When his contract expired at the end of the season the Arizona Diamondbacks signed him to a four-year $45 million deal while the Angels opted to make Dallas McPherson their new third baseman with the hopes that he’s be just as productive as Glaus. Ha! Glaus finished his career with the Angels with a .253 average, 182 home runs, 515 RBI, three trips to the All-Star Game, two Silver Slugger awards, a World Series ring and a World Series MVP award after going .385/3/8 in the series.

#26- Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy, was born on September 29, 1907 and was a singer and actor on radio, television and film. He was active in front of the microphone/camera from 1931-1964 and is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Oddly enough, the three songs that brought him the most success for his career, besides “Back in the Saddle Again,” are “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Autry served as a pilot of a C-47 Skytrain for the US Army Air Corps during World War II, flying dangerous missions over the Himalayas between Burma and China.

At the tail end of his showbiz career Autry bought numerous radio stations including KSFO in San Francisco, a handful of TV stations and had been in over 100 films and recorded over 600 albums; however, like most people of the era, Autry was a huge baseball fan. As a teenager Autry had turned down the opportunity to play professionally and did the next best thing in 1950s; he bought a team.

In the 1950s Autry had been a minority owner of the minor-league Hollywood Stars. In 1960, when Major League Baseball announced plans to add an expansion team in Los Angeles, Autry expressed an interest in acquiring the radio broadcast rights to the team's games. Baseball executives were so impressed by his approach that he was persuaded to become the owner of the franchise rather than simply its broadcast partner. The team, initially called the Los Angeles Angels (which came from the Pacific Coast League team which played from 1903-1957) upon its 1961 debut, moved to suburban Anaheim in 1966, and was renamed the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels from 1997 until 2005, when it became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Autry served as vice president of the American League from 1983-1998. In 1995 he sold a quarter share of the team to The Walt Disney Company and a controlling interest the following year, with the remaining share to be transferred after his death. Earlier, in 1982, he sold Los Angeles television station KTLA for $245 million. He also sold several radio stations he owned, including KSFO, KMPC in Los Angeles, KOGO in San Diego, and other stations in the Golden West radio network.

Autry passed away at the age of 91 in 1998 and this patch was worn by the players throughout the 1999 season.

The #26 was actually retired in 1992 as the Angels and the Anaheim community had called Autry the 26^th member of the team. Even though he wasn’t alive during the World Series run of 2002, the media expressed great accolades toward Autry for his work with the team, with MLB and most important the community he had fell in love with who fell in love with him so many decades ago.

January 28- Salt Lake City Bees

Very few people know this about me, even though I openly talk about it often, but I was born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’m short, I’m Mormon. Let that sink in as you think about the foul language I speak, the tattoos I have and the beer I drink. Yes, it’s a bit hypocritical of me in theory; however, I’ve always done my best to be a good person, love my family, help out anyone who needs it and I still love and respect God. I’m an incredibly open person and hope you are too as I continue as bits and pieces of this blog involves my religion and church.

The current incarnation of the Salt Lake City Bees was founded in 1994 after then owner Joe Buzas moved the Portland Beavers to Utah. For those keeping score at home, this is the second post I’ve written in which the Portland Beavers relocated their team. From ’94-2000 the team was known as the Salt Lake City Buzz, but were sued and forced to change their name by Georgia Tech as their mascot, a giant yellow jacket, has the same name. From 2001-2004 they were known as the Stingers. In 2003 Buzas bought the farm and Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller bought the team. In 2005 the team then changed their name again to the Bees, a throwback to the original baseball team that occupied Salt Lake City from 1915-1926. Now, when it comes to other sports franchises, most tend to not only change their name, but also their mascot. By this I mean, and especially when a law suit is on the table, most teams will distance themselves from any trace of the reason for the law suit. The Bees; however, is one of the most perfect mascots and team name for any fixed location in sports.

Back in 1849, when Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers migrated to what is now Utah, they settled in a vast, agriculturally rich territory which they called the State of Deseret. This provisional state existed for only two years and was never recognized by the United States government. The most important part of this story is the word Deseret, which in the Book of Mormon is the word for honeybee. The state of Utah was founded in 1896 and adopted the beehive as their state logo, which is a fixture of the state flag. The state’s motto; industry, for which bees are known.

Back to the hat. This particular hat has been used since the start of the 2006 season. There’s really not that much to it. It’s black with a little bee dude swinging a bat. The logo isn’t even that big, but for some reason it’s perfect. It catches the eyes immediately and can go with almost any outfit combination. As for the marks…

#12- Howie Kendrick spent a fair amount of time in SLC, and did incredibly well every second he took the field. Specifically, I wanted to note his 2006 season. He only lasted 69 games in SLC, but spent 72 games in the Majors that season. His stats definitely helped push his case for a midseason call-up: .369/13/62 plus 11 stolen bases. Kendrick was easily on the fast track to getting up and staying up with the Angels. Unfortunately, Kendrick played a few more stints in SLC (2007-2009) for a total of 35 more games for rehab purposes. In all cases Kendrick averaged well over .400 combined.

#32- I remember Nick Adenhart’s start against the Oakland Athletics on April 8, 2009 as if it were yesterday. I was actually watching the game during class since it started at 3:13 PM PST. Adenhart was dealing like a veteran. He gave up seven hits and three walks, but struck out five and didn’t allow a single run in six innings. The Angels bullpen gave up six runs over the last two innings and the A‘s won 6-4. In mere hours following the game Adenhart and two of his friends were killed after a drunk driver ran a red light. It was strange. I was still awake when the news was announced and I couldn’t help but feel for his family and teammates.

I had only seen Adenhart pitch one game while he was with the Bees in a game against the Beavers in Portland. I honestly don’t remember how he did, but I certainly remember him taking the mound. Adenhart only played one season with the Bees in 2008, a season in which he also pitched three games for the Angels toward the end of the season. During his time in SLC Adenhart went 9-13 in 145.1 innings and had a 5.76 ERA. Based on the numbers, you’d think he was just a mediocre pitcher; however, if you saw him pitch in 2009, you’d have a different opinion. I couldn’t think of a better person to remember and share on this hat. I truly wish he could have had a long and fulfilling life.

January 11- Cedar Rapids Kernels

I find it kind of fitting that I’m sitting in a bar right now, writing this piece and enjoying a pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon and jamming out to The Clash. The library closed at 7 PM and I of course waited until the last minute to write it. Those are the breaks I suppose. Now, onto business.

I came across this hat in July of 2010 on the Lids Web site and immediately shouted in my head, “Daddy likes!!!” The Cedar Rapids Kernels introduced this hat in 2007 while they were still an affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which they were from 1993-2012. During that stretch was the last time the Kernels attained a league championship in 1994. At the start of the upcoming 2013 season the Kernels with be the high-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

I’m not really sure what is what that made this hat so attractive to me so quickly. For starters, I’ve always had a fondness for navy blue and green; yet at the same time, there’s just something amusing about an ear of corn in the shape of a baseball bat mean mugging people on the center of a cap.

#20- Picking out numbers to mark my cap with it became a bit of a challenge. The thing that’s consistent about high-A ball is that there is always a plethora of talent rolling through year after year. After all, you have to get your start somewhere. In the same breath; however, I had to stay between 2007 and the present. When searching through the Angels rosters over the last five years, I came across an unknown talent who may or may not have a decent career in the majors. He originally grew up in New Jersey and made his original debut during the 2011 season, but didn’t do so hot. The Angels moved him back to AAA and called him back up in late April of this last season. His number is 20 and I’m sure he’ll fall suit with being a solid franchise player like the other outfielders who came before him whose last names happened to be the name of a particular breed of fish. Maybe you’ve heard of him… Mike Trout. (Before you have to ask, yes, the last few sentences were oozing with sarcasm.)

Trout played two half-season with the Kernels, hitting .358 with six home runs, 39 RBI, 50 walks and 45 stolen bases. His OPS was .966. Even then, people knew how special this kid is.

For the other number, I decided to roll the dice with #33. This one is a bit more obscure. Back in 2001 there was a kid drafted in the 23^rd round (677^th overall) by the Minnesota Twins, which coincidentally his little brother was also selected by the Twins much earlier in the draft. He played for four seasons in the minors and was sidelined permanently after injuring his elbow. At the end of the 2005 season he accepted a coaching job and eventual managing job with the Gulf Coast Twins in 2008. During the two years he acted as skipper, the team finished in second place the first year and in first place the second year, combing for a record of 69-42. He then moved on to manage the Fort Meyers Miracle in 2010 where he was met with lesser success, posting a record of 64-74. Despite the bad run, this guy was promoted to manage the upcoming Kernels squad for the 2013 season. Oh, and in case you haven’t figured it out, this guy’s name is Jake Mauer, the older brother of Joe who was selected #1 in the 2001 draft.

So with that I have a little bit of the old and a little bit of the new as the Kernels transition into the Minnesota Twins era.