#57 - Gary DiSarcina, SS
One of only 8 Angels to play in more than a 1,000 games in a Halo uniform, Gary DiSarcina has been mythically correlated to the infamous 1995 collapse, as his mid-August injury that year seems to be the demarcation between a hot and a cold team. What really happened was that a lot of guys were hot and then they all were not, but DeeSar turned 99 games with a .307 batting average that year into a cult of loyalty - among fans as well as the front office. I wanted to believe too, but by his 80th career Ground Into Double Play sometime in the 1997 season, I hopped off the Gary Bandwagon for good.
Recently, Chronicles of the Lads offered a statistical breakdown on just how poor a choice that continual reliance on DiSarcina was for the club.
In his favor, a classic anecdote: Troy Percival, Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad phoning Gary from the Texas clubhouse in September of 2002 after the team had clinched the wild card. They wanted their longtime teammate to be a part of the celebration. It underscores his intangibles as a clubhouse presence and a teammate. Too bad more of that didn't land on the field.