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Sandy Alomar - Top 100 Angels #68

This is the FOURTH Halos Heaven offseason Top Angels list we have compiled. We did a Top 100 Angels list after the 2005 season (LINK) and another one after the 2008 season (LINK) and we published a book after 2010, the fiftieth season of Angels baseball (LINK) of the Top 50 Angels of the first 50 seasons. With analytics being radically more sophisticated, look for this offseason's list to measure advanced metrics and traditional stats balanced with where a player rests in the hearts of every Halo Fan.

By Rev Halofan
Sandy at the induction of his son Roberto into the Hall of Fame.
Sandy at the induction of his son Roberto into the Hall of Fame.
Jim McIsaac

#68 - SANDY ALOMAR - 2B

The father of major leaguers (Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr.) was an Angel. He placed #69 on our Top 100 Angels list after the 2008 season and #71 on the list we compiled after 2005 (LINK).

Santos Alomar arrived in Anaheim early in the 1969 season from the White Sox. He was traded for Bobby Knoop and immediately replaced the elder 2B at the keystone. Of his 795 games as an Angel, he played 703 at 2B - this is following Knoop's 801 games there. Alomar was younger than Knoop and faster too and took over the leadoff spot.

The Angels took advantage of Alomar's speed to put him at the top of the lineup, and he stole 139 bases while he was here, but if you want to get a load of how backward analytics were - the Angels were relying on a great glove leadoff batter whose on-base percentage while with the team was .296 ...not his batting average (he hit .248 over his 3,314 Plate Appearances in Anaheim).

When he was traded to the Yankees for salary relief in 1974 those 139 Bags were the most ever by an Halo and it still ranks fifth in franchise history. His 74% success rate on the basepaths is still ninth best.

Now get ready for this... his slugging was .290. Basically he was a one in four shot to hit a single and a one in three shot to make it to 1B. Ouch. At least they realized he was not a cleanup hitter. But he did shine in a few places. His 2.9 defensive WAR in 1971 was the fifth best dWAR season by an Angels batter ever. He is one of four Angels to play in 162 games in a season and the only one to do it twice (1970 and '71). The reason he doesn't rank higher on this list is that concommitant with those full seasons was his setting the record for second most outs made in a season (535 in 1970) and most outs made in a season (536 in 1971).

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