#100 - ALEX JOHNSON, OF
Alex Johnson ranked #51 after the 2005 (LINK) season and #86 (LINK) after the 2008 season on our Top 100 Angels lists.
Does this mean that 49 players have come since then to displace him?
Not at all. While plenty of players on this list played after the first and even the second list was published, I have no problem admitting that his high ranking came from our overvaluing batting average - specifically his American League batting title.
But as long as Alex Johnson remains the only Angels player to win a batting title, that hallmark hardware demands his inclusion on one of these lists.
Johnson came to the Angels in the final trade the team made in the 1960s. He batted .329 in 1970, a slim .0004 ahead of Carl Yazstremski. When they get down to percentage points that is pretty slim. That currently ranks tenth among single season marks. His 202 hits that year is third behind Vlad's MVP 2004 season and Erstad's monster Year 2000.
He had 920 Plate Appearances as an Angel with an OPS+ of 119 - serviceable but hardly noteworthy - save for that hardware.
He got injured in 1971, playing in just over sixty games. He was legendary as a disgruntled loner, clubhouse cancer and saboteur of chemistry. The Angels traded him after the 1971 season for an aging Vada Pinson. Once another Angel wins a batting title he will be demoted to the asterisk heap of halo history. Until then he is a top 100 Angel.