Tag / Senators

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Angels All Time Leaders – Through 2015

laangelsWith 4 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. We continue today with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The Angels began life in 1961, joining the American League along with the second incarnation of the Washington Senators.  They’ve changed their location designation multiple times, starting in Los Angeles, changing to California in 1966, moving to Anaheim in 1997 and, finally, awkwardly incorporating both Los Angeles and Anaheim starting in 2005.  I’ve seen them play 31 times, including games 1 and 2 of the 2005 ALCS against the White Sox and Jim Thome’s 500th career home run in 2008.

Home Runs

Name Total
Vladimir Guerrero 5
Chone Figgins 3
Garret Anderson 3
Juan Rivera 3

Hits

Name Total
Maicer Izturis 21
Howie Kendrick 18
Vladimir Guerrero 16

Runs

Name Total
Vladimir Guerrero 10
Maicer Izturis 8
Chone Figgins 8

RBI

Name Total
Garret Anderson 9
Howie Kendrick 9
Vladimir Guerrero 8
Juan Rivera 8

Doubles

Name Total
Torii Hunter 5
Maicer Izturis 4
Casey Kotchman 4

Triples Continue reading →

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Franchise Four – AL Central

Major League Baseball is asking its fans to vote for the four most impactful players who best represent the history of each franchise.  The winners will be announced in July at the All Star Game in Cincinnati.  Today, I will give my Franchise Four picks for the American League Central, save the White Sox.

F4IndiansWith 6 of their 8 nominees debuting in the major leagues prior to 1950, the Indians representation is focused on their early successes, with the remaining 2 covering their renaissance in the 1990s.  The obvious choices are Nap Lajoie, for whom they owe their nickname, Tris Speaker, and Bob Feller.  For the final slot, I will go with the criminally overlooked Larry Doby, who gets none of the credit that Jackie Robinson gets despite facing the same challenges.

F4TigersThe Tigers nominees are more spread out across their long history, although their four selections are all fairly obvious.  With little thought, my picks here are Miguel Cabrera, Hank Greenberg, Ty Cobb, and Al Kaline.

F4Royals Continue reading →

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Franchise Four – AL West

Major League Baseball is asking its fans to vote for the four most impactful players who best represent the history of each franchise.  The winners will be announced in July at the All Star Game in Cincinnati.  Today, I will give my Franchise Four picks for the American League West.

F4Astros

The Astros, around since 1962, have 2 obvious options, and both are from their World Series team in 2005: Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.  After that, there is a bit of a drop off.  Nolan Ryan would seem to be a good pick for the third slot, having spent more years with the Astros than with any other team.  For the last slot, I’ll go with J. R. Richard, whose career was cut short due to a stroke, but still came to represent the franchise in the late 70s.

F4Angels

Despite existing since the 1961 season, the Angels have a complete lack of star power in their 8 nominees.  Garret Anderson?  Tim Salmon?  Brian Downing?  While fine players, none of them would be confused with an all time great.  Of the remaining 5, I will dump Jim Fregosi and take Chuck Finley, Nolan Ryan (again!), Vladamir Guerrero, and, despite being in only his 4th season, Mike Trout.

F4As

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#197 – Jerry Reuss

3995933638_ddab119bd9_zName: Jerry Reuss

Rank: 197

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1988-1989

Jerry Reuss signed with the White Sox toward the end of spring training in 1988, joining the rotation just 2 victories shy of 200 for his career.  He had to wait until May for the achievement, a 3-0 victory over the Orioles.

He finished the season with 13 wins, tops on the team that finished with a 71-90 record.  He also had the second lowest ERA among the team’s starters, coming in at 3.44 in 29 starts.

In 1989, Reuss, 39, along with 41 year old catcher Carlton Fisk, made history by becoming the oldest battery ever to start on opening day, surpassing pitcher Johnny Niggeling and catcher Rick Ferrell of the 1944 Washington Senators while beating the Angels 9-2.  That may have been the high point of the season, though, as his ERA ballooned up to 5.06 in 23 games.  With the White Sox again on their way to a 90 loss season, they traded Reuss to the Brewers in exchange for Brian Drahman.

Ruess returned to the White Sox for spring training in 1990, but did not make the team and was released.

Reuss’ numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

Continue reading →

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A Party 100 Years In The Making

1922-Chicago-Cubs-UniformThe Cubs, headed up by Theo Epstein and Crane Kenney, put on a dog and pony show for their season ticket holders over the weekend, where Epstein gave updates on the on-field product and Kenney gave updates on the plans to rehab Wrigley Field.  I had planned on attending the session on Saturday at noon, but found myself unable to make it downtown.  However, it doesn’t seem as though I necessarily missed much that hasn’t been reported online elsewhere.

The big news coming out of the presentations was the plans for next season surrounding the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field.  A commemorative patch will be on the sleeve of the home jersey and the side of the cap.  There will also be a new road alternate jersey, based on those worn during the 1920s.  They gray jerseys will have “CUBS” across the front, in the same font as the 1922 jersey.  The lettering will be blue with a thin white outline, and the player’s number will be on the lower left in red with white outline.  Blue piping will run down both sides of the buttons and around the collar, while blue and white piping will be near the cuff of each sleeve.

There will be 10 straight weekend homestands dedicated to the 10 decades at the ballpark, beginning with the 1910s.  On Fridays of those homestands, the team will give a unique bobblehead honoring an individual or event from that decade.  On Sunday, the Cubs and the opposing team will wear uniforms from that celebrated decade.  Concession stands also will present decade-themed food.

While the 10 bobblehead giveaways could be awesome, the lack of night games on Fridays means that I will not have tickets to any of those games.  Depending on who (or what) it is, it may be worthwhile to make an extra trip for one or two of them.  The throwback games on Sundays could also be a good time.  The Washington Nationals are coming to town smack dab in the middle of the season, meaning they would have to be included as one of the 10 consecutive homestands.  Assuming the throwback uniforms they will wear are those of the Expos and not of the Senators, that game gets bumped up on the list of those I need to attend.

The season tickets for next year will move away from the Topps baseball card motif they’ve had the past two years and will have historic scorecards from the stadium’s history, not just for the Cubs, but for the Bears and Blackhawks as well.  If the last two years are any indication, they will be impressive.