#77 - KEN MCBRIDE, P
Ken was not listed on our Top 100 Angels list compiled after the 2005 season, but he was ranked #97 on our list compiled after the 2008 season (LINK). Credit advanced stats for revealing his true value to the franchise.
Taken with the thirteenth pick in the AL expansion draft of December, 1960, Ken McBride was good luck to the Los Angeles Angels for three of the five seasons he pitched with them. He had played a few games for the White Sox but was thrust into a full time starting position with the Angels, starting the third game in club history.
For Angels pitchers who threw more than 500 innings for the club, he still ranks 9th in fewest hits per 9 IP, his 7.970 being just behind 8th place Jered Weaver's 7.910 H/9. While Don Drysdale got headlines at Chavez Ravine for hitting batters, McBride hit 16 men in 1964 and 14 in 1963 - second and third all time Angels single season records. His 48 HBP is tied with Mike Witt for 6th place all time in club history - Witt had 1,100+ more innings pitched than Ken to get that many!
Ken's 5.2 WAR in 1961 was still in the top ten all time among Angels pitchers after 25 seasons of Halo baseball and still ranks 24th all time. His 7.5 WAR is 25th All Time in club history.
In 1961 and 1962 there were two All Star games and Ken made the AL squad representing the Angels for one in each season. In 1963 there was only one midsummer classic and Ken was named the starter. He pitched three innings, allowed three runs on four hits and also drove in teammate Leon Wagner within RBI single for the AL's first run of the game.
Those three all star seasons saw McBride put up some great numbers - in 640 innings he allowed only 563 hits. His ERA+ in 1961 was 123 ...and that was in homer-happy "Old" Wrigley Field. He had a lousy 1964 and 65 with ERAs over five and six respectively and pitched his final game in the majors three days after his thirtieth birthday on August 15, 1965. the Rolling Stones had the number one hit of the summer that year with (Can't Get No) Satisfaction but Angels fans had already had three satisfying seasons from their first All Star Game starter.