#10 DARIN ERSTAD - OF/1B (1996 - 2006)

Franchise Win Shares Rank: 8 (146 Regular Season Win Shares)

Post-2005 Season Top 100 Angels Ranking: 10 - Read our DARIN ERSTAD tribute there.

Darin Erstad played near-flawless defense and had a few outstanding offensive seasons before he was slowed by nagging injuries.

In the 2002 postseason he found that offensive spark again, with an OPS of .947 in the ALDS, .864 in the ALCS and .813 in the World Series. His solo homer in Game 6 of the World Series followed the legendary Spiezio HR but was no less dramatic and almost as instrumental in delivering that victory.

Erstad's legacy with the Angels rides along with that lone World Championship. If another ten years goes by without one, expect to find him hovering in the franchise Top 15. Put another ring on our fingers and he might precipitously cling to the far reaches of the Top 20. But for a mostly glorious decade, he was the team leader, the closest thing that the Angels have had to a "captain" since the 2nd half of Jim Fregosi's tenure.

CAREER STATS

#11 JOHN LACKEY - STARTING PITCHER (2002-Present)

The numbers compiled by John Lackey (thru the completion of the 2008 campaign) match up well to those of Angel great Frank Tanana's. While Tanana's 1600+ Innings pitched as an Angel is about 300 more IP than John's, Tanana was throwing the era of the Complete Game. Meanwhile, Lackey's numbers have to be construed as having been brushing up at least part of the Big Steroid Era (leaving John with a 3.81 ERA compared to Frank's 3.08 ERA).

Tanana and Lackey are within 10 Wins of each other, ranking 4th and 5th (Lackey with 91, Frank with 102). Lackey's W-L % of .591 is the franchise standard, but shouldn't mike Scioscia get some ofthe credit. Meanwhile a struggling Angels team gave Frank a .567 mark, good for  5th place. Lackey's K/9 is 7th place all time, ahead of Tanana's 10th place rate. Lackey is one of 6 Angel pitchers with over 1,000 strikeouts and is less than 200 away from Frank's hold on 4th place.

But we will never know how Frank Tanana would have performed as the starting pitcher in Game 7 of the World Series a few weeks shy of his 24th birthday. He would have been great no doubt, but we do know that one of the ten guttiest performances by an Angel ever assured the once-cursed franchise on the banks of the 57 Freeway would finally get a ring.

And that is why John Lackey ranks ahead of Frank Tanana on the countdown of the Top 100 Angels, illustrating that poignant aphorism: The saddest truth that can be spoken is that many are called but few are chosen.

#12 FRANK TANANA - Starting Pitcher (1973 - 1980)

Post-2005 Season Top 100 Angels Ranking: 14 - Read the Frank Tanana Essay

Win Shares Ranking: 12 (113 Regular Season Win Shares)

Talk about a pile of Franchise marks...

3.08 ERA (6th)

102 Wins (4th)

1.166 WHIP (3rd)

2.35 BB/9IP (5th)

6.87 K/9 (10th)

1,615+ IP (4th)

1,233 K (4th)

218 Games Started (4th)

92 CG (2nd)

24 Shutouts (2nd)

2.92 K to BB (1st)

117 ERA+ (7th)

Among Frank's many single season rankings, his WHIP of .988 in 1976 ranks #1 for an Angel Single Season mark.

CAREER STATS

#13 TROY PERCIVAL - Closer (1995 - 2004)

Franchise Records Owned by Troy Percival:

Games Pitched: 579

Saves: 316

K/9: 10.43

H/9IP: 6.03 (Nolan Ryan is 2nd with 6.27 by comparison)

WHIP: 1.101

Games Finished: 466

Adjusted ERA+: 157

ALL FIRST PLACE. Meanwhile, his Angel career ERA of 2.99 ranks 4th All Time.

4 of his Saves season totals rank in the Franchise Top Ten.

His 110 Regular Season Win Shares ranks 14th in Franchise History. He finished every series of the Angels' 2002 postseason. He was left in the pen for the final pitch of the team's 2004 postseason. He ranked 7th on our post-2005 Top 100 Angels list.

CAREER STATS

#14 TROY GLAUS - 3B (1998 - 2004)

Post-2005 Top 100 Angels Ranking: 9 - Read the Glaus Essay, but don't stare into his eyes for too long!

Franchise Win Shares Ranking: 15 (104 Regular Season Win Shares)

Franchise Rankings
16.3 AB per HR – 1st
.497 SLG (4th)
.854 OPS (4th)
182 HR (4th)
470 BB (6th)
523 Runs (7th)
.357 OB% (9th)
1,423 Total Bases (10th)

Single Season Rankings
47 HR in 2000 – 1st
.604 SLG in 2000 – 1st
1.008 OPS in 2000 (2nd)
41 HR in 2001 (2nd)
112 BB in 2000 (2nd)
120 Runs in 2000 (3rd)
107 BB in 2001 (3rd)
340 Total Bases in 2000 (5th)

Plus the World Series MVP in 2002

Glaus’ 2000 season has to be seen as one of the 5 great seasons in Angel history – Vlad in ’04, Baylor in ’79, Salmon in 1995 and teammate Darin Erstad in 2000.

CAREER STATS

#15 CHILI DAVIS - OF/DH (1988-90, 1993-96)

Franchise Top Tens:

3,490+ At Bats and 4,030+ Plate Appearances (Each 8th place)

OBP .365 (7th)

SLG .464 (6th)

OPS .829 (5th)

520 Runs (8th)

973 Hits (7th)

1,620 Total Bases (7th)

156 HR (6th, and 2nd All Time when he set this mark)

618 RBI (5th)

493 Walks (5th)

To give you an example of how great Chili was as an Angel, he had 1 fewer Plate Appearance as an Angel than Gary Discarcina and made 335 fewer outs.

Franchise Win Shares Rank: 11 (114 Regular Season Win Shares)

Post-2005 Season Top 100 Angels Ranking: 23 - Read the essay that had so underestimated him (although the Chronicler called it, ranking him 10th all time back then). Check out his CAREER STATS - he ended up with 3 rings - 91 with the Twins and 98-99 with the Yankees.

#16 DON BAYLOR - OF/DH (1977-1982)

If the only season Don Baylor ever played as an Angel had been his 1979 AL MVP campaign, he would still be in the top 40 on this Top 100 Angels list.

If the 1979 Angels had won the World Series he'd be in the Top 3.

They called him GROOVE. We wrote about him in our Top 100 Angels compiled after the 2005 season. His CAREER STATS are not quite Cooperstown but are the essence of a great player. If Don has any knocks on him it could be his "product of his time" fluidity, moving from team to team, not quite associated with any single franchise in a solid way. He won a ring with Minnesota in 1987, the MVP in Anaheim, a Silver Slugger with Boston and even won the Roberto Clemente Award with the Yankees in 1985. This was after his magnificent early days with the Orioles and a curtain call with the AL pennant winning A's in 1988.

Plus he managed the Rockies and Cubs for a total of 8 and a half seasons.

#17 - ROD CAREW - 1B (1979 - 1985)

Franchise WIN SHARE Ranking: 16 (102 Regular Season Win Shares)

Post-2005 Top 100 Angels Ranking: 12 - OUR ESSAY ABOUT HIM from then still applies.

Over the past few days, there has been a lively discussion HERE (as well as HERE) at the site over Rod Carew's impact on the franchise in comparison to some other players, most notably his colleague and teammate Don Baylor.

Rodney's On-Base % as an Angel is the franchise record: .393 (Vlad is 2nd at .387)

His single season batting average of .339 in 1983 was the Angel record until Darin Erstad's .355 in 2000.

If anything is to lessen Rod's glory as an Angel, it is the Twins cap he wears on his Cooperstown plaque, as well as the fact that of his 968 hits as an Angel, 788 were singles. But you have to wonder somtimes if, had he been retained as a role-playing sub and pinch hitter in 1986, if we might not have been able to use his bat in the extra innings of Game 5 of the ALCS...