Meet the Halos Heaven staff: Jessica DeLine

Back in 2011, our old supreme leader, Rev Halofan, brought a handful of us Halos Heaven ruffians up from the realm of the comments and the Fanposts, and into the world of official, front page posting. Yep, he had given us the keys to the Halos Heaven muscle car and was now allowing us to take it for a spin whenever and wherever we’d like.

In a couple months, I’ll have been in my site manager/editor-in-chief role for two years, and one of the things I’m most proud of in that time is curating a new group of amazing and talented writers to grace the front page of our esteemed site. I have tried to do the same thing for the new blood I’ve brought on as Rev did for me all those years ago, giving them the outlet, the tools and all the audience one could ever need to broadcast their Angels-related opinions.

As a community, it’s also crucial to know these writers, to feel familiar and friendly with them, because that’s what makes the Halos Heaven vibe so special. So, once again, I’m doing just as Rev did back in 2011, and I’m posting some Q&As that I did for each of the new staff writers that we’ve seen come on in the past year. Heck, I even used Rev’s same questions!

So, without further ado, let’s meet the Halos Heaven staff, shall we?

Jessica coming on board the Halos Heaven masthead was a watershed moment; It was a couple months or so into the 2016 season, and I was getting burnt out writing most of the articles by myself, and only had Stirrups, with his daily posts, and Carlos, contributing whenever he found time, backing me up. It was brutal, and the Angels stinking it up on the field wasn’t helping.

Then, I had a thought: What if I hit up BaseballChick? (That was Jessica’s old screen name, as well as the title of a blog she had going)

My thinking was that since she was already enough of die-hard fan that she’d have her own baseball blog, then she would totally be down to help out around the site. What I ended up getting from that one simple email is something that still astounds me to this very day. Halos Heaven got another big voice, someone who was going to kick this site up a few notches, and I got a gigantic, much-needed dose of help behind the scenes.

Jessica, of course, was happy to come on in an official capacity, and after spending a few days learning the ropes, she was off and running and she’s never looked back since. Now, she’s got weekly features, interviews with players and prospects, and other opinion/analysis pieces whenever some big news breaks. The pace at which she gets her Angels ideas out to the world is breathtaking, and the quality is always there to back it up.

Like I mentioned, I had Stirrups and Carlos, but the first big addition to the Halos Heaven squad, that would set into motion getting the rest of the staff, that you so thoroughly enjoy nowadays, assembled and drafted into HH service, was getting Jessica DeLine. When she started writing for us, it changed everything, and it set the Halos Heaven ship in a much more hopeful and promising direction, without a doubt.

There’s really not much I can say that I haven’t told her in emails before, about how much I appreciate her work, and how awesome of a job she does. She’s a blogging legend in the making, folks, and we have her right here on this very site. We should all count our blessings.

Now, without further ado, here’s Jessica’s turn in the Q&A spotlight.

WHO WAS THE FIRST ANGELS PLAYER YOU DECIDED WAS "YOUR GUY"?

Rod Carew was the man. I grew up in Minnesota and a Twins fan but didn’t really start getting into baseball until the mid 80s in Minnesota when Carew was playing for the Angels. I was a Twins fan but also a Carew fan. He was one of my first favorite players next to Dusty Baker (because I thought he had a cool baseball name).

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CURRENT ANGEL AND WHY?

With Mike Trout on the team it's almost not fair. The guy is just fun to watch. He enjoys the game and plays it like few I have ever seen. One day when I'm sitting on my front porch telling kids to get off my lawn, I'll be talking about how I got to see Mike Trout play back in the glory days. Aside from Trout, I'd have to say Andrelton Simmons. He is one of the best guys to watch in the field and I love seeing him make ridiculous plays and always have his head in the game – often surprising opposing base runners.

WHICH SIDE OF THE "STATS VS CHEMISTRY" DEBATE ARE YOU ON AND WHY?

A bit of a mix really. Club house chemistry is really important though. I have played enough organized team sports to know how much good chemistry helps. We had a team in my softball league win 7 years in a row because they pretty much had all the same players those 7 years and all had great chemistry. They did not have the best stats. That being said, you obviously can't bring in a guy that can't hit just because he gets along well with everyone else. I'm going with 60% stats and 40% chemistry.

PICK A SONG FOR THE ANGELS TO REPLACE BUTTERCUP WITH?

Anything? California Girls would be a great choice and the Beach Boys are from the area. The Ramones “California Sun”would also be really fun (or any cover of it).

IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF THE ANGELS SUMMER CONCERT SERIES, NAME THE PERFORMER YOU BREAK THE BANK TO GET...

Sadly, it's a bit late but I would have picked Prince. Given that he's not an option, I'd go with Matt Nathanson. I love lots of different music but singer songwriter stuff is way up there on my list AND he puts on an awesomely entertaining show.

SAY SOMETHING BALLSY / CONTROVERSIAL FOR US TO REMEMBER YOU BY...

Bryce Harper was right when he said baseball is“tired”. Don't get me wrong, there is a fine line between celebrations, having fun and just being a douche. But what's wrong with a little celebration or bat flip so long as you are not pointing at the pitcher or saying “in your face?” What's wrong with a rookie getting pumped up on his first big hit without having to worry about taking a fastball to the ribs on his next at bat?

If someone wants to celebrate – let them. The game is hard and it will humble them. They don't need a 98MPH fastball thrown at them to remember that. The WBC has reminded us that baseball can be fun so act like you are enjoying it boys. After all, we already have a sport that has no fun or emotion and that's called golf.