Two Mooses, a Hawk and The Don...
121. Jimmie Hall
122. Don Mincher
The big offseason move was trading franchise icon Dean Chance (along with Jackie Hernandez) to Minnesota for a big bat: Don Mincher, along with Pete Cimino and Jimmie Hall.
Jimmie Hall and Don Mincher were both in the lineup on Opening Day, 1968, a Tuesday evening game at home against the Detroit Tigers. Hall and Mincher took the field together, Hall in Right Field, Mincher at first Base. There were no plays to either defensive position in the top of the first inning, so by virtue of batting 3rd and making his Angel debut with a fly to Centerfield, Jimmie Hall is Angel #121. But nobody would mistake his contributions for that of #122, as Don Mincher went 3 for 4 with a homerun (in his 2nd at-bat as an Angel) and 2 RBI in a 4-2 Angel victory. The centerpiece of what we got for Dean Chance would go on to record an OPS+ of 157 in 1967, tied with Vladdy's 2004 MVP season for 4th all time Angel single season.
123. Nick Willhite
124. Orlando McFarlane
125. Don Wallace
126. Pete Cimino
127. Jim Hibbs
The 2nd game of the season saw five Angels make their debut, although none of them were in the starting lineup! Reliever Nick Willhite an offseason middle relief acquisition from the Dodgers (in exchange for then-team saves leader Bob Lee) relieved in the bottom of the 4th inning, and gave up 2 earned runs in an inning and a third. He would be traded in June to the Mets for Jack Hamilton. Orlando McFarlane only had to move from one locker room to the next when he was purchased from the Tigers by the Angels the day before the season started. He had an RBI double in his first plate appearance as an Angel, pinch-hitting in the 5th. He was removed for a pinch runner making his major league debut, Don Wallace, who would appear in 26 total games - all in 1967 with the Angels, the final one being June 3. At season's end he was designated the "player to be named later" in a mid-season trade. He would fail to score in the inning and was replaced in the lineup by the third player acquired for Dean Chance, pitcher Pete Cimino. In the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and the Angels trailing 6-3, Manager Bill Rigney pinch hit Jim Hibbs in the pitchers spot. He grounded out to end the game and had no hits in his other 2 major league at bats.
128. Len Gabrielson
129. Rickey Clark
130. Moose Skowron
131. Johnny Werhas
132. Ken Turner
133. Jack Hamilton
Reserve outfielder Len Gabrielson, Jr. had been acquired in the offseason from the Giants and made his Angel debut on April 15 at home pinch hitting in the bottom of the 9th of a tie game. He grounded out to send the contest to extras. He saw action in 11 games, primarily as a Pinch Hitter before being traded to the Dodgers in May for Johnny Werhas.
Appearing in his first of 96 Angel appearances, Rickey Clark threw 4 innings of shutout relief on April 22 in his Major League debut at home in front of 4,694 fans who saw him earn the victory as the Angels staged a mid-innings comeback from a 4-0 deficit to beat Cleveland 11-4.
He had 4 rings with the Yankees in the 50s and 60s, and when Bill Skowron aka "Moose" was traded by the ChiSox to the Angels for minor leaguer Cotton Nash, he wound up pinch hitting against his old team, striking out as a 9th inning pinch hitter in a 2-1 Angels loss to the Pinstripers. A trade on May 10 brought Johnny Werhas to the club from the Dodgers for Len Gabrielson. Werhas was a utility infielder type whose Angel debut was as a pinch runner for Buck Rodgers representing the winning run in a game that would see Bobby Knoop strike out and Tom Satriano ground out to end yet another Angel loss.
Tune in, turn on, drop out: Left Handed Pitcher Ken Turner made 13 total Major League appearances, all in 1967 as an Angel. The first was on June 11, where he induced a double play from a threatening Tiger team in the 8th inning of a 6-4 Angelswin. A June 10 trade with the Mets for Nick Willhite delivered Righty Jack Hamilton, who gave up a run in two-thirds of an inning in his major league debut on June 12.
A June 15 trade with Baltimore sent Marcelino Lopez and a minor leaguer to the Orioles for veteran utility man Woodie Held. On June 16, Held showed that the change of scenery did him good - he went 2 for 3 with a homerun in his first game as an Angel and 1 for 4 with a homerun in the 2nd game of that day's doubleheader - the Angels and Held took two from the Orioles in Baltimore!
134. Woodie Held
135. Roger Repoz
On June 27, at Fenway Park, newly acquired outfielder Roger Repoz started the game in Centerfield and went 1 for 4. He had been traded to the Kansas City Athletics for Jack Sanford and Jackie Warner. It would be the first of 563 games as an Angel in which the platoon man would appear.
136. Hawk Taylor
137. Curt Simmons
138. Jim Weaver
139. Moose Stubing
A July 24 trade with the Mets delivered 2nd string catcher Hawk Taylor to the club. He entered the July 28 game as a replacement for Buck Rodgers. Left Handed Pitcher Curt Simmons was sold to Angels by the Cubs in August and he made his debut under the Halo on August 9. The veteran Simmons had made his major league debut in 1947. Rookie Jim Weaver made his major league debut on August 13, surrendering 2 runs that did not help Boston in a 3-2 Angels victory at home in front of 22,008 Sunday afternoon fans. Angels coaching legend Moose Stubing debuted on August 14 and in his 5 games in the Major Leagues he had no hits in and 4 strikeouts. But he stuck in the Angels system for over two decades, and when he was given the final 8 games of the 1988 season to show what he could do as Angels manager in the wake of the Cookie Rojas debacle, he went 0-8.
140. Aurelio Rodriguez
141. Bobby Locke
The final two Angels to appear in the Summer of Love would both debut on September 1. Rookie callup Aurelio Rodriguez led off the game playing Third Base and doubled in his 2nd at-bat, scoring later that inning. Journeyman pitcher Bobby Locke entered the game in relief, and was the pitcher of record when the Angels scored two in the bottom of the 9th to win 4-3.
Despite all the roster shuffling, Mincher and the Angels finished 1967 with a respectable 84 - 77 record in 5th place, 7.5 games behind the AL champion Boston Red Sox.