Our All Time Angels List was my best idea in years, but was too a big task to take on alone; so I asked members of the Halosphere to send me their lists - their Top 100. Well, only The Chronicler jumped in the pool and the list so far has been a point calculated total of his rankings and mine.
Fortunately, Rob McMillin (of the 6-4-2 L.A. Baseball Blog) helped out with almost daily essays, along with a few other Angel-committed writers. Thanks Rob!
I decided to reach out to the Halosphere again and sent out an alphabetical list of the Top 40 Angels and asked people to number them 1-40. Fortunately, a few people responded with their votes and comments. Tomorrow the countdown begins, today allow me to introduce the prestigious voters and their Angelic qualifications:
The Bloggers
Reverend Halofan - Angel fan since 1975. Tattoo of the old red haloed California logo on right shoulder where it appeared on Angel uniforms from 1972-1986. As an art major at Cal State L.A., he once entitled an abstract painting Gus Polidor.
The Chronicler, aka, Black Hawk Waterloo - Angel fan who named his Chronicles of the Lads blog after a Bob Starr quote. Excellent grasp of stats and an ability to communicate what they mean rather than be an obtuse Mister Spock like 99% of the unwashed sabermetric hordes. His Detailed Biography clearly articulates the post-Game 6 parallel universe theory that haunts every longtime Angel fan's psyche.
Matt Welch - Is a famous political blogger and cultural commentator. Few people in Southern California can get you tickets to a sold out Angel playoff game AND a sold-out Bob Dylan concert. I first met Matt on the Amtrack back to Union Station once after a game and he can talk about any subject - but unlike the rest of us - he knows what the fuck he is talking about. He discusses the real world and the occasional Angel issue on what he calls his WARBLOG.
William "Shredder" Seitz - This man went to battle on internet message boards to defend the 2002 Angels as more than "just lucky" against the Spock-laden arguments of an army of nerdy stat heads who wouldn't bathe for a date if their mom started charging them rent on their 30th birthday. He was once featured in the Wall Street Journal as an Angel fan living in Chicago. On his L.A. Seitz blog, he blogs about sports and music, but (wisely) never about his personal life.
Rich Lederer - Proprietor of the excellent and informative Baseball Analysts site, Rich is most famous for taking his campaign to get Bert Blyleven elected to the Hall of Fame directly to the sportswriters who do the voting. Rich declined to vote for the entire list of forty candidates, picking what he considered to be the Top 25, and so vote totals on these Angels are divided by 8 and the remaining 15 players by 7.
The Faithful
Brent Carter - A pessimistic Angels fan, Brent has a photographic memory of Angels games from yesteryear that always impresses/amazes me. If he is not calling Angel Talk after games, his brother Kevin will occasionally steal some of Brent's great observations and phone in with the suggestion as if they were his, and thus is Brent's influence felt in the franchise
CUPIE - a regular poster to Halos Heaven best known for inventing our PANTHER! cheer, Cupie attends most regular season weekend games and is unofficial mayor of the $6 dollar parking lot on the South West corner of the stadium. He will hibachi a mean carne asada there for anyone who brings their own beer.
YESWECAN - when he is not phoning the Rev from Vegas asking about which pit bosses are likeliest to give him comps, Yeswecan is substitute posting here on this site while the Rev is on those very same Vegas craps tables. If you give up on the Angels at any point in the season and then they are kicking ass a little later on, he will never let you forget it. He bets Ace/low kicker like it is pocket rockets and sucks out top pair on the river so often you just want to kill him.
Thanks to our voters, see you all at Fresca's before the game!