Los Angeles Angels

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1961
• Home ballpark: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California
• Owner: Arte Moreno
• Team colors: Red, navy blue, and silver

Overview

The Los Angeles Angels are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team playing in the West division of the American League (AL). Founded as one of MLB’s first expansion teams, the Angels played their inaugural game in 1961. Originally owned by renowned singing cowboy entertainer Gene Autry and later controlled for a time by the Walt Disney Company, the Angels have earned a number of accolades over the course of their history. Chief among these accomplishments are the AL pennant and World Series championship the team won in 2002. Over the years, the Angels have also claimed numerous divisional titles. Heading into the 2024 season, the team had an all-time record that included 4,958 wins and 5,016 losses for an overall .497 win/loss percentage. Despite having relatively little postseason success, the Angels have been a competitive team throughout much of their history and remain a fan favorite.

History

The history of the Los Angeles Angels began with the 1961 MBL expansion. Facing potential competition from a proposed third major league to be known as the Continental League, MLB officials looked to orchestrate an expansion that would remediate the threat posed by a new league. Expansion talks began with a National League (NL) proposal to incorporate four of the teams then set to join the Continental League. Soon thereafter, the AL announced its own plans for expansion. The AL plan originally called for two new teams join the league in 1962. That timeline was eventually moved up a year so that the teams would begin play in 1961. Once the expansion process was in motion, new franchises were awarded to Washington, DC and Los Angeles. The Washington DC franchise was named the Washington Senators and played in the city through the 1971 season before moving to Arlington, Texas, and becoming known as the Texas Rangers. The Los Angeles franchise was purchased by famed singing cowboy Gene Autry, who was one of Hollywood’s biggest and most successful stars at the time. Autry called his team the Los Angeles Angels as a nod to a minor league team of the same name that played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) from 1903 to 1957.

The Angels took the field for the first time on April 11, 1961, earning a 7–2 win over the Baltimore Orioles. While the Angels were off and running, they did not yet have an official home. Initially, the team was to share the new Dodger Stadium with the crosstown rival Los Angeles Dodgers, but that facility was not completed until the following year. In the meantime, the Angels had to play their home games at Wrigley Field, a smaller but otherwise exact replica of the famous Chicago stadium of the same name. The Los Angeles version of Wrigley Stadium also served as a shooting location for several baseball movies and other productions. The next season, the Angels moved to Dodger Stadium, where they played alongside the Los Angeles Dodgers for several years.

Despite performing relatively well through their first several seasons, the Angels enjoyed only limited success. In their opening year, the Angels earned a 70–91 record, the best ever earned by an expansion team in its inaugural outing. They subsequently improved to 86–76 in 1962, only to fall back to 70–91 in 1963. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, the Angels continued earning similar records. In 1965, the team moved to Anaheim and became known as the California Angels. The following year, the Angels moved into their permanent home at the newly constructed Anaheim Stadium.

The Angels’ on-field fortunes began to improve after the team acquired the all-time great pitcher Nolan Ryan in 1972. With Ryan at the helm, the Angels eventually climbed the rankings and became a legitimate contender. In what turned out to be Ryan’s final season with the team in 1979, the Angels made the postseason for the first time in franchise history and made it all the way to the American League Championship Series (ALCS) before falling to the Orioles. Throughout much of the 1980s, the Angels remain one of the AL’s best teams. They returned to the ALCS twice more in 1982 and 1986 only to lose again on both occasions. In the wake of their 1986 ALCS defeat at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, the Angels entered a period of decline during which they struggled to find any meaningful success at all. For around a decade, the Angels managed to contend only in 1989 and 1995, though they ultimately came up short after blowing late-season leads both years.

In 1997, Autry sold his majority interest in the Angels to the Walt Disney Company. As part of its efforts to revitalize the franchise, Disney oversaw an extensive renovation of Anaheim Stadium in conjunction with the city of Anaheim. This partnership between Disney and the city led to an agreement stating that both the stadium and the team itself would include the name “Anaheim” in their names. As a result, the team was redubbed the Anaheim Angels and the stadium became known as the Edison International Field of Anaheim heading into the 1997 season. Disney also allowed the team’s baseball experts to begin a rebuilding effort that quickly produced positive results. Through the remainder of the 1990s and into the 2000s, the Angels had a string of mostly winning seasons. The culmination of the team’s newfound success came in 2002. That year, the Angels won 99 games on the way to their first playoff appearance since 1986. In the postseason, the Angels defeated the Minnesota Twins in the ALCS and made their World Series debut against the San Francisco Giants. After a back-and-forth battle with the Giants, the Angels pulled out a crucial 4–1 Game 7 victory to win the first World Series championship in franchise history.

Following their World Series win, the Angels remained a regular contender for some time. They won divisional titles in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009. After that, the team fell into mediocrity for a few years before reemerging in 2014 with a 90-win first-place finish for a playoff berth for the first time since 2009. In the years that followed, the Angels began to slump once again, only once managing to finish better than third once from 2015 to 2023.

Notable players

A number of former Los Angeles Angels players has been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Chief among these honorees is pitching legend Nolan Ryan. By the time he started playing with the Angels in 1972, Ryan had already led the New York Mets to a World Series title. In his eight seasons with the Angels, Ryan threw four no-hitters and firmly established himself as one of the game’s best pitchers. By the time he left the team following the 1979 season, Ryan had racked up 2,416 strikeouts and 138 wins. Right fielder Vladimir Guerrero played with the Angels from 2004 to 2009. In that time, he recorded 1,034 hits, 544 runs, 173 home runs, and 616 runs batted in (RBIs). By the time of his retirement in 2011, Guerrero was regarded as one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game. First and second baseman Rod Carew was an Angels’ favorite from 1979 to 1985. Over the course of those seven seasons, he had 968 hits, 474 runs, 18 home runs, and 282 RBIs. He was also a major contributor to the team’s divisional title wins in 1979 and 1982. In 1983, he set the Angels’ franchise batting average record at .399. Right fielder Reggie Jackson played with the Angels from 1982 to 1986. A two-time All-Star during that period, Jackson recorded 557 hits, 331 runs, 123 home runs, and 374 RBIs before leaving the team to join the Oakland Athletics for his final MLB season in 1987. Pitcher Bert Blyleven played the final years of his MLB career with the Angels starting in 1989. By the time of his retirement in 1992, Blyleven had 270 strikeouts and 33 wins with the team. Other notable Hall of Famers who played for the Angels include Frank Robinson, Don Sutton, Hoyt Wilhelm, Dave Winfield, Lee Smith, and Eddie Murray.

There have been many other notable Los Angeles Angels as well. Center fielder Mike Trout began establishing himself as one of the greatest players in franchise history from the time he made his rookie debut in 2011. A multiple time All-Star, AL Most Valuable Player (MVP), and Silver Slugger Award winner, Trout earned 1,624 hits, 1,106 runs, 368 home runs, and 940 RBIs through the 2023 season. By that point, he was already widely considered to be one of the best players of his generation, if not of all time. From 2018 to 2023, Trout was joined in the Angels lineup by Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani, who accomplished the rare feat of being both an All-Star hitter and pitcher. Ohtani won two MVP awards with the Angels before leaving for the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2023 season.

Pitcher Chuck Finley played 14 seasons of his 17-season MLB career with the Angels. Joining the team as a rookie in 1986, Finley eventually became the franchise leader in wins (165), innings pitched (2,675), and games started (379). He also earned 2,151 strikeouts with the Angels before leaving to join the Cleveland Indians in 2000. Other notable Angels players include Tim Salmon, Brian Downing, Jered Weaver, and Bobby Grich.

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