The Angels and Why You Became a Fan

For me it wasn’t anything as special as something as I’d watch it with my dad.

There was always sports on in the house when I was little, mainly Nebraska football or Lakers basketball because that’s what the grown ups in my house would watch. So I watched them not really caring about the teams just hoping for a good game.

One day in late September of 1984 I’m doing my 1st grade homework & turn on my AM only radio to try & find something to listen to… the only station that came in was the Angels station. So I sat there & listened to my 1st game on the radio & imaged everything the announcers were describing and have been an avid fan ever since.

The only reason I remember it was 1984 is that one of my 1st memories of baseball is the announcers talking about Reggie Jacksons 500th home run.

made me believe that Mel Clark could through 160 pitches in a game…. too bad about that whole lung cancer thing

After the trade from the Mets he told us how good a career he would have. He underestimated, but I was hooked thinking that I would be able to cheer for the modern Walter Johnson. I did it mostly by boxscores. This being a Dodger/Giants State.

he had a Rangers vs. Angels game on and I walked in the room. That was 1998 and Garret Anderson became my favorite player because he was so aggressive and awesome at the plate hahaha. Been an Angels fan since I was 5

Grew up 14.9 miles from the Stadium in Yorba Linda so that’s a big reason… went to many games with my parents and brothers growing up, even went to the 89 ASG.

My first memory of an Angels game was the 1988 4th of July game. I forget who, but an Angel hit a walk-off 3-run homer in the 9th to win it, right before the huge 4th of July fireworks show. I’ve been a fan ever since.

Plus I hated Vin Sculy’s voice on the Dodger TV broadcasts then. He sounded so boring and monotone that it made me hate the Dodgers from the beginning.

My parents are both angels fans, grew up in buena park and I have been going to games since I was born in 82.
I started taking friends to angels games when I got my license in 98 and am responsible for converting at least 4 people from dodger fans to angel fans.
I have 3 kids (soon to be 4) and my wife and I take them to quite a few games through the season. One of my favorite moments was when my son (he’s 3) said he wanted to go see the angels instead of going to disneyland.

I dont think I answered the question… I guess I have always been a fan, the angels have been a part of my life since I was born.

It was kind of a funny story. My parents took me to a store and showed me a dodgers jersey and an anahiem angels jersey and asked me which one I liked best.
Obviously it was an angels one and my parents were proud and decided to take me to my first angels dodgers game in 1998 (they lost Haha)

My stepfather intro’d me to the Halos in 1970. I remember the league guides you got at local liquor stores in the mid-70’s that you could get at the counter that had all the teams records and statistics in them. The Halos were always picked to win the west (at least as I remember), but always fell short to the Royals. Went to the the first playoff victory in ’79 and also went to a playoff game in ’82. Heartbroken in ’86 and frustrated in ’95 (considered changing teams). In 2002, I was at an overnight field trip in Dana Point for game 6, got the news that they were losing 5-1 only to hear the roars from fans across the bay as the Halos came back. Watched game 7 at home, but have since always regretted not seeing the greatest game in Halo history live.

and so the late 70’s was the last time I rooted for the Yankees. So I loved Reggie and then him joining the Halos in ‘82 sealed the deal. I was lucky enough to be there to rush the field in ’82, when they used to let fans do that. Also in ’86. Lot’s of memories: Lynn’s Slam against the Giants’ Atlee Hammaker, being there for Carew’s 2,999th hit, plus hearing Reggie’s 500th against Bud Black in Kansas City and Sutton’s 300th. And using Thunderstix to literally deafen (I really tried) the two Giants fans sitting in front of me and my bro during Game 6 in 2002. Ohhhh, that was sweet.

Went to my first game in ‘78. I grew up around doyer fans for the most part, but my uncle was a die hard Halo fan, so I guess he rubbed off on me. I remember my first Halo heartbreak occurred in ’82, but 1986 was really hard for me. That was the year I really became enamoured with the Halos. I pretty much lived and died with every game, and the ALCS drove me to tears. I cried like a little girl after game 6. Ever since, the Angels have been my team. All the years of my fandom paid off in 2002, I didn’t go to game 7, (and I had a chance to, god I suck!) but I did go to Downtown Disney, watched the game with a few thousand other Halo faithful outside of the ESPN Zone, and cried when we won. My uncle, who had introduced the game of baseball to me had passed away 2 years earlier. Although i’m fairly certain he was watching with me, I wish he could’ve been there.

But the Angels had the movie that I loved. And the Angels had Tim Salmon.

They couldn’t agree on Dodgers/Giants, and my mom was sick of the pompous 70s Doyers, so they married and entered into a holy covenant with the Angels. I was a fan by birth, but loved watching as a really young boy because I had decided Fred Lynn looked like my dad, Bobby Grich looked like one of my dads friends, and Brian Downing looked like Clark Kent.

Way back when we still lived in San Jose in the early Sixties. Albie Pearson was her favorite baseball player. No one else in my large family liked baseball, but since I was the youngest Mom made a point of inculcating a love for baseball in me.

When we moved to north Glendale in ’64, it was only natural that I adopt the Angels as my team. It would be a lo-o-o-ong time before I met another Angels fan.

I decided that they were my team after a one year stint with the Indians, the angels repeated for 4 more years.

It’s a blessing that my father was never a sports fan. He was born and raised in New York, and I was born there and went to Pre-School in New York before we moved to California, 15 minutes from the big A. After a confusing first day playing baseball, I came home and tuned into the Angels game. It was fun, I got the gist of the rules, and made sure to stop and watch a game whenever I was flipping channels and saw it on after that. It was 1994.

That Summer, when the strike happened, I was not ready to let go of baseball. I bought found a newspaper at LAX which had fake baseball results and complete stats for every player based on computer simulations of the continued season. I bought a baseball game for my Mac, Hardball II, and recreated the ’94 Angels by painstakingly entering all the stats from the newspaper into the computer, and then I played the games. I fell in love with my virtual Gary DiSarcina because he always seemed to be in the middle of exiting plays. Tim Salmon, Chili Davis, Chad Curtis, J.T. Snow… I knew who had power, who had speed, who I was excited to see come to the plate.

When the strike ended, I was excited to get to see some real baseball. I got a couple friends into the Angels, and was able to go to a few games with their families (my Dad is still not a sports fan). I remember being absolutely devastated when Gary DiSarcina was injured and was floored as the team’s lead in the standings started to disintegrate. Then game the one game playoff. It was a Monday afternoon, and I don’t remember how I managed not to be at school, but I wasn’t. I paced in my family room alone as Langston and Randy Johnson got through four innings relatively quickly. When Seattle scored in the fifth, I was a little bit worried. Johnson was a beast, and it wasn’t looking like we would be able to score against him. And then the seventh inning happened. Watching the final blow in the Angel’s season collapse was completely heart-breaking, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing happen. After the game, I was more upset than I’d ever been in my life. Less than two years ago, the most I knew about baseball was that sometimes players hit Grand Slams and then Denny’s would give away their baseball card. Now, I’d been fully indoctrinated into the sport. The sweet agony of defeat. The pain that has to exist to make winning mean something.

I became a fan by accident because I needed to learn how to play baseball. I became a lifelong Angels fan in 1995 when I gave a piece of my soul to the team and then they stomped on it and didn’t make it whole again for another seven years.

Back in the 80’s I was a Doyers fan (Bill Russell was my fave player with Steve Sax a close second). I will admit it. However, In the 90’s I gravitated more to the Angels and their brand of baseball. I went to my first game in my mid teens. I sat on the 3rd base side in the 100’s roughly in line with the 3rd base bag. I was exciting, immersive and infectious. It was more than a good time, it was the beginning of a something that means a lot to me now.

The signing of Soth to guide the ship helped to cement the relationship. While I was not always as ardent a fan as I am know, I have been a fan for a long time (nearly half my life now, sheesh!) and plan to remain so for the future.

I followed my favorite player at the time, Ken McMullen, from the Dodgers to the Angels in the late 70’s. I liked Angel Stadium much more than the ravine (even back then, Angel Stadium seemed much more family friendly and welcoming than Dodger Stadium). So, between the ball park, the location (Anaheim > Los Angeles), and team, I made the switch.

There was only one way for me to become an Angels fan: baseball cards. Lot’s and lots of baseball cards.

I started playing fantasy baseball in 2000, and it opened me up to every team and all the players in the game. That year and the next, I ended up with a lot of Angels players on my fantasy team. I loved rooting for Percival and Washburn and Erstad and scrappy Eckstein. I grabbed Jered Weaver when he first came up, and he’s my favorite SP in the game. I was fortunate enough to get on board right before the World Series win, and after the Cubs they’re my favorite team.

I was born in 1968. First strong memories are of the ’73 team. Been hitting it hard ever since.

Attended the ‘79 playoff win (despite Dad’s truck breaking down somewhere around Westminister). Waited in line under horrendous conditions to buy ‘82 World Series tickets. 1986 is a bit fuzzy, with the college-freshman problem. Was out of the country, mostly Internet-free, from 1990-97, so the 1995 didn’t hit me that hard. Got the crack pipe back during the awful periwinkle period. Watched Game 6 at my grandpa’s wake.

The team’s longtime public relations chief, George Lederer, lived on our street, and we were family friends. He tragically died young of a brain tumor. (Rich Lederer is his son.) Another guy on our street was Eric Neel, who is now the managing editor of ESPN Los Angeles.

I was on the same J.V. team as Damion Easley, before he really figured out how to hit. Our school district (the Moore League) had produced twice as many professional baseball players (including minor-leaguers) as the #2, so the baseball culture runs very very deep. I got to play a lot of ball in Blair Field, which is a helluva thing for a teenager. One of my last ABs was a backwards K (total rarity for me) on a 3-2 slider from Larry Casian. Angel Aviator and I played together through those years; he was an excellent catcher, I was a scatter-armed, uniform-dirtying, contact-hitting 3Bman. Played in a surf/Beatles cover band with Dave Hansen, called The Ladds.

Grew up in Orange County going to Angel games because of proximity but since neither one of my parents was a native Southern Californian it wasn’t really “their team” to push onto me so I just adopted them as a passionate fan as I became a bigger fan of baseball in my teens

So roughly about 15 mins on the freeway from the Big A. My dad started taking me to games when I was two. He was a Dodgers fan but since it was closer and cheaper than Chavez Ravine, we went to the Big A.

Little did he know that he was cultivating the roots of a what would become a lifelong Angel fan in myself.

I was born in the early 80s so fortunately, I only really remember about 10 years of below average/crappy baseball. However, I was well aware of the Halos long tradition of losing. In fact, once when I was ten, I turned to my Dad at an Angel game we went to where the Halos were being blown out and said, “I don’t think I will ever see the Angels win a world series.”

Damn if I wasn’t wrong.

So my dad would take me to games back in the mid 70’s. I remember emulating Bobby Bonds and Joe Rudi in my back yard. Been going to Angels games ever since. I don’t understand how some people can change favorite teams. But I guess that’s just me. I have been there through low times (and there have been a lot) and the high times, keep ’em rolling! Even if I move away I would always be an Angels fan. I now have 4 kids and they all are Angels fans too. Angels fan to the end.

Even when the Angels were in LA, I was a fan. I owned an Angels hat with the halo on top with the interlaced letters “LA” on the front (I’ve heard that that Dodgers (O’Malley) had purchased the PCL Angels, in part, in order to have the right to use that “LA” logo on their hats, although the Dodgers letters were sans serif).
Jim Fergosi and Bobby Knoop were favorites as were Dean Chance and later Frank Tanana and Nolan Ryan. I recall going to the Big A, and while walking to the entrance, seeing Gene Autry outside speaking to a young fan. Nice.
I still have the World Series hat wrapped safely in a plastic bag. Maybe I will buy a 2012 World Series Angels hat this year. Angels Rule!

used to go to Dodger games back before they were the symbol of all that is ghetto. I grew to love the game of baseball. When I got older, Mom watched the Angels on TV and I’ve been a hAlo bug ever since.

So it was obvious, really.

Aug 11, 1972…vs Minnesota…Clyde Wright vs Jim Kaat…Helmet night…10 years old at the time and it was MAGIC!…. Thought I was in heaven seeing the Big A in person!… My best friend was from Cincinnati and a Reds fan, the rest of the kids on the block Dodger fans, but my little league team was the Angels!!…Lived in Venice then, didnt realize how far Anaheim was to drive to the stadium, but I’d get free Angels tickets by sending questions into KMPC Fred Hessler’s radio show…Every couple weeks poor Mom and Dad would have to work all day, then battle the 405 and 22 to get me to the game….I got to listen to Drysdale and Enberg every day….See Frank Robinson hit home runs…Nolan Ryan record his 383rd SK….Bobby Valentine before he broke his leg….Jimmie Reese hit fungos….Bill Singer….Frank Tanana….Its been a great 40 years!

In the early 80’s I was working for Fluor Corporation in Irvine, One of my co-workers and friends had left Fluor and went to work in the Angels front office. He moved rapidly up the ladder later to leave the Angels and go to work for the Ducks. He is now vice president/Marketing. In 1986 I called him inquiring about season tickets. I ended up buying 4 seats and have had the same 4 for 27 years. I now live Arizona and still have the seats and have no plans of letting them go especially with Arte Moreno’s drive and determination to field a winner. I have been a season ticket holder during some of the Autry years , all of the Disney years and all of the current Moreno years. Arte is the best owner we have seen in my opinion and here’s hoping he will be around for some time to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=UUt5XDmfksnmQgDWfF7tnZpA&v=1nYL-Uw70d8

The Angels rookie league team was then the Idaho Falls Angels, their triple A team (like now) was in Salt Lake (the Salt Lake Angels). Jerry Remy started his career in rookie league in Twin Falls, Idaho (the Magic Valley Cowboys). Then there was Nolan Ryan on the cover of Sports Illustrated. I had no choice but to be an Angels fan and I am glad that I am.

It was 1982 and I was 7. I just really liked Reggie Jackson. My grandfather was a die hard dodger fan. He watched every game and made his own scorecard for each game. So I quietly cheered for Angels until i was in college then I didn’t have to hide it.

When i was 13, in ’04, i visited some relatives who lives in california who are fans of the Angels. They took me to a game and i loved it, even though I had never seen or heard of this thing called “baseball”.

I grew up rooting for the Mets. My dad was old enough to have rooted for the NY Baseball Giants as a really little kid living on Long Island and was a huge Willie Mays fan. They moved when he was a kid, and the family “adopted” the Mets as their local Queens team. Since the family tradition of hating the Dodgers existed strongly from the NY Giants days, when we moved to California, it was honestly more a process of elimination.

It was pre-internet days, and as a little kid who had not been to an MLB game (6 month old me at an ’86 NLCS Mets game notwithstanding), and had only ever seen the Trenton Thunder AA franchise in person, I wanted a local team to follow closely. The Angels were the obvious choice. I fell in love with J.T. Snow in the brief flash I saw of him in ’94, and then again for good in ’95. I was distraught when he was lost for Allen Fucking Watson. I remember him hitting a homer up a row of stairs in the outfield that then rolled back down the stairs, and loving him from that moment on.

I was a diehard Dodger fan from a family of Diehard Dodger fans, except for Grandpa who passionately loved the Angels, so I grew up with those stories too. The baseball strike happened the same summer I left for college. I was so angry over the strike, and college provided so much distraction that I barely watched a game for six years through grad school. By the time I tried to get back into the game, the Dodgers absolutely were not my Dodgers anymore. No O’Malleys, I barely recognized the players and it seemed like their whole philosophy had changed. As sad as it sounds, I decided I just must not be a baseball fan anymore…for years…

…until my company started taking us to Angels games as a reward during the 2005 season and I was instantly smitten again. Angels baseball is my kind of baseball, a great mix of NL and AL sensibilities and just plain baseball played the right way…oh, and the familiar presence of Mike Scioscia and so many of the other coaches didn’t hurt. Smitten quickly blossomed back into the old baseball love all over again, just in red this time. My husband, who was really more of a football fan, and I started watching games at home together, he got really into it too and now that baseball love is a full blown, I’ll bet we watch 150 Angels games a season, obsession – not to mention one of my favorite things we do together. Going back to Dodger Stadium in red a couple of times a year seemed a little odd at first, but I got over it fast. ;)

Or my environment.

My brother was obsessed since several years before I was born. He is eight years older than me and wanted to name me after his favorite player (didn’t happen, my name is not Doug). I was the typical little brother obsessed with older brother. Also my family went to lots of games when I was young. Also my childhood best friend was even more obsessed (if that’s even possible) than my brother was. It all kind of rubbed off.

But then my Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me and told me to change my evil ways. The rest is history.

And I wanted to be just like my cousin. He became an Angels fan, so naturally, so did I. We started watching games together. Talking Angels baseball. Even today, we’ll occasionally go to games together.

He gave me a bat early in 2003 that apparently was a bat of Spiezio’s in 2002 during the World Series. Not sure if it was THE bat, but it’s a bat.

The merch started piling up in 2003, when I got a toy helmet (put the number 16 on it in honor of GA). That was followed by my first Angels jersey (a blank white, but I didn’t care), and my fanship increased. Game 3 of the 2004 ALDS made me cry like a little girl.

In any case, I digress into another interesting topic about merchandise.

One of my earliest memories is sitting in the shitty football seats in the outfield for the Angels’ little league day.

While I was being born at the hospital my dads friends were at Angel Stadium watching the California angels spank the Texas Rangers 6-1 lead by a 3 run bomb by Carney Lansford. Later in the year of my birth the Angels went on to win their division for the first time and make their first ever playoff appearance. My dads friends used to say that I was born to be an Angels fan and that I was good luck for the Angels.

I went to my first game that i can actually remember in 1984 when I was 5 against the mariners. I remember being very angry and yelling at the Seattle pitcher when he beaned Bobby Grich and then jumping up and down cheering when Grich took him deep later in the game.

Ever since I’ve been an Angels fan to my core.

That’s a very cool thing. Glad to hear your stories, guys!

I was 10. He even took me to the game they won in the LCS. “YES WE CAN” reverberating throughout the stadium. How could I not fall in love? It helped that I played ball at fields off of Orangewood on the other side of the 57. I’d play a game and when it was over my dad would take me to the Angels game just down the street. My best friend and I skipped high school to stand in line for World Series tickets in 1986. She flew into town so we could go to the first 2 World Series games together in 2002. Oh! And if you look close on the commemorative DVD, you can see my husband and me jump up as Troy Glaus hits his homer in Game 3 of the LCS to put us up 2-1 in the game and the series. We were supposed to go to Big Bear for our anniversary, but I snagged some front row tickets and postponed the trip a day.

We love lurkers but you can always dive into the moshpit here. Big thanks to Jeff for making this FanPost. Kinda freaked out how old many of you are making me feel by being so young.

The Angels were a way of representing and connecting with my hometown. Sports were a way that I was able to embrace my California roots while still living so far away. As I got older I learned to really love the teams and the sport beyond just local pride. Also, now being able to watch a full 162 game schedule of Angels games and/or not having to wake up at 3am on a school morning makes it WAY easier to keep track of them now haha. Every time you guys saw and heard “Broadcasting on AFN American Forces Network Overseas” during an Angels broadcast before 2007, you bet your ass I was up with some coffee and watching.

Hello fellow Halo Heaven folks. I’ve been following the blog for years, but have not posted until today. I grew up going to Angel games during the era of Doug DeCinces, Dick Schofield, Gary Pettis, & Brian Downing. My favorite pitcher was Mike Witt. When not watching the games on channel 5 KTLA, I listened to them on 710 KMPC. My heart broke when we lost to the Red Sox in 1986. It was redeemed in 2002. Now living in NYC, I love the Angels more than ever, and I am looking forward to the new Albert Pujols era! Cheers.

To start off, I am 3rd generation Dodger hate. My grandfather (the product of Polish immigrants) grew up in Waterbury, CT and was a huge Yankee fan who loathed the Brooklyn Dodgers. When my family relocated to Cincinnati, my father grew up idolizing the Big Red Machine and hated the Dodgers who always gave the Machine a run for their money. Once my family came out west I was born and raised in South Gate (heavy Dodger country). Because I was raised to understand that the Boys in Blue are only slightly less evil than the Communists who caused my family to flee from Poland in the first place, there was no doubt I was going to stand out in the neighborhood. Even though my dad was a die hard Reds fan (going so far as to turning an entire room in our townhouse into a wall to wall shrine to the team) he loved the Halos. He would teach me how to swing a bat, throw a ball and explain to me the history of baseball as only a father can. He had great stories about the lives of players and told me to pay attention to this Angels team because they were getting good (this was the 90s). Very gradually I found myself drawn to the TV to watch (yell at) the Angel games with pops. I grew to idolize J.T. Snow, Tim Salmon, and the rest of the California Angels. I remember screaming my first swear word at age 7 after the collapse of the 95 season (for those who are curious, I screamed “that’s bullshit!” after the strikeout call on Salmon because let’s be honest, that shit was high and away). To this day, my old man and I still catch damn near every game and I still get the excitement and passion that I got when I was a kid. Baseball is a game for kids and it’s a game for fathers and sons. I’m no exception.

I was 8 years old and remember going to my first game. At Dodger stadium. My Dad worked at the post office and we would go as a group.
We then got tickets for an Angels game one time. I think i rooted for both at first but i quickly chose the Angels as my favorite team. Maybe it was a flip of a coin or maybe it was that it seemed that everyone was a Dodger fan and i wanted to be different. This season will make it 30 years as an Angels fan for me and i really believe i chose wisely back in ’82.

I became a fan in 1978 when I was starting high school. My grandfather and father were both Yankee fans so that’s who I grew up rooting for in the early-mid 70s. In the late 70s I got sick of the Yankees. Every day it was the George, Billy, and Reggie sideshow. Besides, I always viewed the Yankees as my father’s team. I guess I wanted a team of my own. Since I always had a fascination with California teams (i.e. Chargers and Kings) it seemed natural place to go. The 1978 Angels were the up and coming team, had players that I liked (Grich, Rudi, Baylor) and had a really cool Big A scoreboard in left field. Everyone though I was nuts…until that magical three game series in 1979 against the Yankees. Game 1 Angels blow out Yankees. Game 2 Baylor hits the foul pole. Game 3 Bobby Grich wins it with a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 9th. That series hooked me for life. Screw the Yankees.

I hoped to hear some cool stories but some of you completely blew me away. Proud to ba an HH’er today.

used to take me to a game every year around my birthday, but I was always more a fan of the Angels….finally one day I got up the nerve to tell him I liked the Angels better because I saw their games on TV more…plus I liked their color scheme more. Ever since 1990 ive been hooked.

My Dad took us to a game at Wrigley Field in 1961 and then used to get free bleacher passes for Chavez Ravine whn both clubs called it home. I played high school ball with former Halo Rudy Meoli and it was a kick to be able to see him play in other cities when I was in the USAF. I’ve actually seen more Angel games as a visitor than I’ve seen in California because of that 24-year career. I wouldn’t trade it for anything………………well, maybe for back-to-back-to-back WS titles!

I haven’t seen probably 3/5 of these names before. Welcome aboard everyone. Get ready for some hilarious HH fun this season.

But my story’s not very exciting. :P
Grew up near the stadium, went to games with my dad every now and then. Watched the heck out of Angels in the outfield on VHS, watched what games I could on TV (no cable).

Although I don’t think I really became a serious fan until the ‘98-’99 seasons (I distinctly remember Terry Collins managing, hah)

Best game I ever attended: April 28th, 2002

of the first game in 1961. I was just a kid. After college I moved to San Francisco, then Chicago, then Santa Fe, then El Paso, and now central Wisconsin. Been an Angels fan the whole way, never wavering. As a consequence of my wandering ways, I’ve seen very few games in person. But have spent my share of time following GameCast into the wee hours (it’s two hours later here than in Anaheim) – that’s die-hard. After 50+ years of following the Halos, I’ve had my share of crushing disappointments – the ’95 collapse took me years to recover from. Then 2002, OMG. But this coming season – I’m about as excited as I’ve ever been and can’t wait for it all to begin!

In 6th grade or so, my best friend at the time played little league baseball and we’d always talk about baseball. I didn’t watch baseball, but we played softball during lunch so he always gave me tips on how to catch and bat and stuff. Anyways one day I asked him what his favorite team was and he told me he loved the Angels. And for that reason, I started telling everyone I liked the Angels if they asked me what my favorite team was. Of course I didn’t really watch MLB still, but when I remember distinctively when they beat the Yankees in the ALDS because it was on the news that night and it was a big deal. I was really happy they won but I had no idea of the significance of the time.

It wouldn’t be until sometime in high school I started watching baseball. When I did start watching MLB, I naturally followed the Angels. And that’s how it happened.

My NY-transplant grandparents had aisle 29 seats for like 8 years 79-87-ish and they kicked down tickets for day games and the occasional night game. Dad would torture me by leaving entirely too early.

Now, I “torture” my kids by staying the entire game, even wrong-way blowouts. We laugh at the fools who depart at 9:30.

Baylor, Lansford, Thon, and Downing are the players that captured my youthful attent

My dad is a dodger fan and his family lives in so cal but when we would go down there to visit and see a baseball game the Angels were cheaper and less traffic from RC. became big fan in 2000 after who knows why.

I think this will be the last thing ever posted. It’s been on here for 3 days…

Moved here from Canada in October of ’87. Was a huge Jays fan, but lived so far north of Toronto as a kid that I never saw a game there. My dads company had first base side tickets, front row, and at my first game, McCaskill was the featured player in that days program, and he was running pregame laps around the field.

Reading the bio on him in the program, I learned he was from a town about 100 miles from where I had just moved, both of our towns being really small rural bumps in Northern Ontario. They even had his youth hockey team picture as a “hockey card” included in the materials. As he ran in front of us, amid cheers from fans all over the place, I yelled that I was from his neighboring town, and he stopped. Spoke directly to me and my brother/dad. Signed everything, his hockey card, my hat, the program, was really gracious.

That dialed it in. Halos fan ever since.

…from a roll of MLB stickers that came in a box of cereal, I picked the late-80s/early-90s logo in the shape of California with a halo over it. I think I recognized the shape of CA and the star thingy over Anaheim as home…probably had some coaxing from mom too for all I know. That’s my first memory of anything relating to the team.

If you’re gonna make life-long decisions, they might as well start in a box of cereal.

so i flip it to FSN and there it was the Angels in those God awful periwinkle jerseys…and i thought to myself hey this is pretty cool…watched it occasionally….then in 2000 is when i got hooked on to the Halos and Baseball Troy Glaus became my favorite Halos player and still is my favorite Halos player of all time, but i dare Pujols to change my mind :)…i remember during summer vacation i would watch it live at night then at 12 the next day they showed the replay and i would watch it again….went to my first game in 01 vs the Dbacks Big Bang Friday!!then in 02 i went to 3 games vs Pirates vs Yankees and vs the Rangers…i have tons and tons of great memories and then finally in 2009 i found this site where i can chat with a bunch of crazy Angels Fans just like me :)

Grew up in 70’s Michigan (Trammel, Whitaker, Morris, Parrish, & Gibson).
My dad loved all sports and we watched all of them together (awesome times).
I was 13 when we moved to O.C., but was young enough that I could adopt new teams.
I missed the 1979 excitement, but I’ve been through all the ecstasy and agony since (a lot of agony).

I didn’t know that I was supposed to hate the Dodgers, so I really enjoyed `81 & `88 (besides of course, `84.)
But the Angels are my team and 2002 was the electric pinnacle of it all (words can’t describe as most of you know!)

I’ve lived in the bay area now for 15+ years, but I’m too old to learn new tricks (although it was fun to be here in 2010).

I feel pretty connected to 5 great world series wins – but nothing compares to 2002.
Go Angels!!!

Way back in 19-diggity-something my dad was a fan of the Angels when they were in the old PCL. He would tell you that he was a fan of the Cubs, though, because the Angels were actually a feeder team for the Cubbies, as there was no MLB team west of the Mississippi in those days. When Autry got his team in ‘61, dad continued his love affair with the team named ’Angels’.

As a kid growing up, I didn’t pay much attention baseball, although the memories of my dad and uncle listening to Angel games on the radio while working on cars in the backyard is sacred to me. I became the diehard fan that I am when my mom was diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer. My sister and I took both my mom and dad to as many games as my mom wanted -just thinking about seeing the smile on their faces while watching their beloved team makes me happy all over again.

So my love for the team is really a tribute to my folks, may they rest in peace.

Went to a game with my dad in 1971 or so. I saw Jim Fregosi make two awesome plays in the field. My Dad was a big Fregosi fan, couldn’t stop telling me how good he was.

It didn’t hurt that Fregosi hit two triples off the “old” wall in the same game. I was hooked from then on, started writing No. 11 all over my schoolbooks and everything.

Geography didn’t hurt either. I grew up about 5 minutes drive from the yard.

The sound of the final out in Game 7 of 2002 is forever etched in my mind, having suffered through so many bad years. The sounds of fans cheering from the neighbourhood echoed from my parents’ house in Orange, The next day I remember seeing grown men in red cryinig. I was one of them.

Still Fregosi though. If he hadn’t made that backhanded stab in the hole and gunned down the runner (I think it was Amos Otis) would I still be an Angels fan?

Course I would. Always will be. A five-decade fan and I don’t turn 48 til Friday!

LIGHT IT UP!

The Angels were one of the underdog teams he liked. I was a casual fan until 2001 we watched a lot of the Angel’s games in 01 and I watched the world series when the Diamondbacks won it against Yankees in the hospital with my dad as he was dying (of course we were rooting against the Yankees). In 2002 My uncle from my dad’s side (who is a big Angels fan) came to help my mom and I after my dad died but we lost our house anyway and we had to move our stuff out of the house and into storage during the ‘02 world series but in all the BS life was throwing at us we kept a tv on while were moving and watched the world series as we moved. 4 days before the one year anniversary of my dad’s passing and just after moving in with my grandfather after losing our house, I had something to be happy about and ever since then I’m a devoted fan because they gave me something to be happy about in such a crappy time.

Good grief…I can’t remember that far back actually…all a big blur! I’ve been in Cabo the last couple weeks soaking in the sun and ??? so I’m a little late to the game here…

Me? I’m a former Misguided Pepsi Junior Dohhhdger fan club member from Pasadena who moved to Orange in 1977 and was born again. I forget what the Angels version of the junior fan club was, but the benefits were never quite as good as the Doohhhdgers one. :( Oh well! I LOVED watching Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana. Everyone clapping for a K3YEROUT strikeout once a batter got 2 strikes on them.

I remember Willie Mays Aikens hitting the longest HR I have ever seen back before they enclosed the Big A. “A month of singles” is my recollection of the radio quote. I was at game 2 of the 2002 WS and saw BB hit an epic shot that disappeared down a tunnel in RF that probably gave WMA a run for his money, but the big difference was you got to see WMA’s land and one hop over the BACK fence in RF!

I remember “Yes We Can” 1979 and camping in the stadium parking lot for 2 nights and 3 days to get “first time ever” playoff tix. Getting allowed by my old man to skip high school that Friday to do so…so long as I got him a ticket! ;) I remember watching the first 6-7 innings of the 79 AL West clincher at a buddy’s and then hustling over to the stadium to celebrate when they won. They let us in free after the 8th.

Boy this could really turn in to a LONG story. All the years of school/living in NoCal and summers in OC, road tripping to OAK to watch Halo games there, road tripping to SEA to watch Halo games there, then finally moving to Sea area for games at the Kingdungeon (always rooting for the Halos) and now Safeco, and flying down for EVERY playoff series starting in 2002 ( I missed the Twins in 02, no $). The highlight after all the heartbreaks along the way was obviously 2002. When the Angels made the WS I told myself it took them 40 years to get here and I might not live to see another so I’m going to go and find a way to get in. No luck for game 1, but I did manage to get in for game 2…and what a game that was! My only WS experience ever was an Angel victory.

The capstone to the story for me was the timing of the 2002 Angels. My kids were still young 9 and 11. Getting to share the experiences with them of the Angels winning the WS and watching them become Angel fans in the process was priceless! It’s all been gravy since then!

Taking my son to watch Vlad’s first game/HR as an Angel in Safeco in 2004. Later, watching Vlad hit not one, but TWO upper tank HR’s in the same game at Safeco is yet another personal highlight. I doubt anyone has ever done that before or since. Oh man I can go on and on and am out of time…

I don’t remember one resounding moment when I shitcanned the Dohhdgers and fell for the Angels, but I do have a crazy lifetime of great memories of friends and family and going to and watching Angel games. You gotta have a passion in life…and mine has been baseball!

Oh, and PS…Bobby Grich, Brian Downing, and Darin Erstad rocked! Reggie stirred the drink…and I don’t mean Willits!

It was easy to love those teams. Then came the pain.

After ‘95, I couldn’t take it anymore. In 2000 I moved to downtown LA and met a neighbor who I thought was wearing an Angels cap ironically (there were no Angels fans in LA in those days, and nobody wore Angels gear). I asked him, somewhat challengingly, “So, you’re an Angels fan, huh?” To which the Soon-To-Be-Named-Rev lifted his shirt sleeve to reveal a well-worn tattoo of the CA state logo on his arm.

“Yup,” he said.

Having a fellow fan in that desolate landscape got me back into the Angels, and I’ve been here ever since.