FanPost

My Angels Fandom Journey

Bobby Grich circa 1986

Absolutely should be in the Hall of Fame, if only for helping me become a Halo Fan :)

Since we are sharing our Halo fan stories, I thought I would add my own.

Like many of us I have always loved the game of baseball. My entire family is very baseball centric, my father and grand parents having immigrated from Cuba brought a passion for the game. My father was a Dodgers fan, my Grandfather was a Reds fan and my mother was a Phillies fan. So we had an eclectic variety of baseball going on in the house.

While I grew up just 10 minutes from Dodger Stadium and regularly ate at Tommy Lasorda's now defunct restaurant in South Pasadena I never became a Dodger fan. I can not really pinpoint the beginnings of my Angels fandom, but I do know that at the tender age of 7 the '86 ALCS was very damaging to my psyche. I am sure our family friend, the late Preston Gómez, taking the 3rd base coaching job with the Halos in '81 and staying with the team in various capacities had a heavy hand in that, as we made the drive from South Pasadena to Anaheim frequently to watch the Halos. I am sure the contrarian nature of myself and wanting to be different from everyone else around me (read Dodger fans) was also a major influence on my decision to adopt the Angels.

I remember Bobby Grich being my favorite player for a long time, but after his retirement having a tough time latching onto any particular Halo as a real anchor as to why I remained an Angel's fan, I mean I played 2B in Little League, but was Johnny Ray all that inspiring? That is until I read an article in '91 about a prospect we had in Midland that just passed the 20 HR barrier and was looking at being fast tracked to the Majors. This is really my first recollection of ever following a Minor League player at all. Turns out this guy down in the Midland was Tim Salmon who I loved greatly throughout his career, I still wear his jersey to every game I go to.

By the time I left Southern California for college in Pittsburgh I had become deeply invested in the Halos, but did fear that exposure to the Pirates might turn me (keep in mind this is the pre-MLBtv days and I was only able to watch about 3 games a season on TV when we were lucky enough to be playing the Yankees and be the game of the week). Fortunately, I remained steadfast as an Angels fan never wavering (though I did adopt the Pirates as my NL team). A steady diet of the early editions of angelsbaseball.com and lots of reading on the interwebs made this less painful, and of course summer vacation back home in South Pasadena with many a trip to the Big A helped a lot. The occasional road trip to Baltimore and Cleveland when I could save the money was a great reward and motivator as well.

After completing my studies and returning to SOCAL and using my new found professional income to purchase a season ticket mini plan and playoff tickets when they became available, the Halos were kind enough to reward my persistent support with the wondrous playoff run that was 2002.

I have since left CA again on an interesting life journey through PA, TX, San Diego and now Tampa, but with the invention of MLBtv has made raising three young Angels fans no problem at all. A special assist to Mike Trout for being a once in a generation talent that allows me to easily say things like yes daughter, he is the best player in baseball with a straight face (she is very proud of the fact that she got to see him as a AA prospect when the Travelers played in Frisco for her first game ever in 2011). They were all incredibly happy to go watch their Halos this week and get to travel across the country to see them again in mid June, it will be my youngest's first trip to the Big A.

This FanPost is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.

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