The Angels got a taste of 1st place on June 26 after riding a mini hot streak. After two days on top of the AL West the Halos began to leak oil and within a month they were almost 9 games back. By early September they were almost 20 out. Angel fans spent the season being captivated by the other worldly performances emanating from the talented right arm of one Nolan Ryan. Every time out he was a threat to throw a no-hitter, which he accomplished twice during the season. Good thing they didn't have pitch counts back in the day or Ryan might not have made it out of the 5th inning. After notching two no-no's Ryan went after the holy grail for power pitchers: The single season strikeout record held by the immortal Sandy Koufax. Ryan (20-16, 2.87) fanned 383 batters in 326 innings. He was even called upon to save a game on top of his 39 starts. Backing up Ryan was Bill Singer, the strike throwing machine. Singer also won 20 and chipped in 315 innings. The Halos pitching was not an issue. Even an off year by 4th starter Rudy May (7-17, 4.38) wasn't what held back this team. The culprit was an offense that was 11th (out of 12) in the league in runs scored. Not one regular even approached hitting .300. The closest anyone came was the .284 from centerfielder Ken Berry. The team was also dead last in home runs. 37 year old DH Frank Robinson had 30 roundtrippers, which was close to 1/3 of the team total. Bob Oliver hit 18. Combined Oliver and Robinson had more than half the team's homers. Ryan literally needed to throw a no-hitter just to have a chance to win.
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| Ryan is congratulated by his manager (Winkles) and his catcher Kusnyer smiles |
26 Cards were created to complete the 1973 set for the Angels.
OK...I pieced it all together. I mean how does a guy who hit .273 in over 300 AB's on a team that was last in runs scored, wind up not being resigned by the team at the end of the season. Well it turns out "Dirty Al", his college nickname for never washing his uniform, tried to bowl over Carlton Fisk in a game in August. Fisk as you know is as strong as an ox and built like a cement retaining wall. Turns out Gallagher's shoulder learned that first hand. To his credit he tried to play in September, but the pain was just too much. His post season diagnosis was that he needed reconstructive surgery and approximately 2 years off to rehab. Instead he opted for PT and rehab, but the team wasn't interested in that diagnosis, so they parted company. He signed on with the Braves organization, accepting an assignment to Triple-A Richmond. Released by the Braves, Gallagher sat out all of 1976 before agreeing to become the player-manager for an independent minor league team, the Texas City Stars, in 1977.
Hassler returned to the Halos for his second cup of coffee in 1973 where he was 0-4, 3.69 in 7 games (4 starts). He learned quickly that you better post goose eggs on the board with this team or you're going to get a lot of "L's" on your record. The Angel brass liked what they saw and he got 22 starts the following season with an impressive 2.62 ERA, but thanks to their stale offense he had a crappy 7-11 record. Hassler eventually found his stride as a swingman between the rotation and pen and lasted 14 seasons in the big leagues. He even made a return trip to the Angels in 1980 and was a key member on their '82 divisional championship team. His final season was with the NL Pennant winning Cardinals in '85. He didn't qualify for the post season roster, but we all have to admire the dedication he showed by spending most of the season in AAA Louisville (4-5, 3.29).
Poor Artie. I spelt his name wrong and did a Google search on him only to find tons of crap about the President's son in law. Since he's the same age of the president I knew it wasn't him. I corrected my error and found basically a blurb or two about him. His playing highlights include getting to catch Nolan Ryan's July 15, 1973 no-hitter. That's pretty cool, right? He also had a 5 RBI game the previous season vs the lowly Texas Rangers. Seems he was a favorite of Tony LaRussa and served as his bullpen coach in both Chicago and Oakland, which must mean he lost at cards a lot to Dave Duncan. I saw he's on Facebook, so I shot him a friend request. No reason to think that a career backup catcher wouldn't want to be friends with a radio podcast host, right? In 1973 Kusnyer hit .125 while backing up Jeff Torborg, a guy who himself should have been just a backup.
With a name that sounded like a Spaghetti Western co-star and a right arm that screamed out "mop up role only" Monteagudo tooled around baseball for 22 years. Only parts of 7 of those seasons were spent on the major league level. Still he got to play in exotic places like Vancouver, Hawaii and Omaha. 1973 saw him split time between two AAA teams (Hawaii/Salt Lake City) and the Angels where he went 2-1, 4.20 in 15 games. After that he was out of organized ball for a decade then mysteriously resurfaced in AAA-Edmonton (CAL) where at 39 years of age he went 1-0, 2.53 in 4 games. During that decade he bounced between the Mexican and Venezuelan leagues. Aurelio Monteagudo was killed in a car accident in Saltillo, Mexico nine days before his 47th birthday. He, Aurelio Rodríguez and Aurelio López are the only three players in MLB history named Aurelio, and all three were killed in car accidents between the ages of 44 and 53. Lesson learned: Don't drive if you are a retired baseball player and your name is Aurelio.
After struggling for the past 2 seasons the "Singer throwing machine" was deemed expendable by the crosstown Dodgers and shipped off to Orange County. LA, which finished just a few games out of the money sure could have used the 20 wins that he posted for the Halos. After a great start the following season his arm woes returned. After brief stints with Texas and Minnesota he looked for a final chance to right his ship and get healthy with the expansion Jays in '77. A miserable 2-8, 6.79 season spelled the end of the road for a man who inexplicably only won 118, while losing 127 with a fantastic 3.39 ERA. Singer won 20 games twice in his 14 seasons and never pitched on a post season team.
Brooks just didn't have the skill to make it with the uber talented A's. After 3 failed tries he wound up in Anaheim as a 27 year old corner outfielder with a modest AAA resume. He hit just .246 with 12 homers for the Salt Lake City AAA affiliate of the Angels before getting a 4 game audition with the parent club where he hit .143. After sitting out all of the '74 season he bolted to Mexico for one final shot at glory.
After winning 3 National Tittles as the head baseball coach at Arizona State University Winkles decided to give pro ball a shot. As a career minor leaguer for the White Sox in the '50's he had some semblance of what it would take to manage professionals. In a year and a half with the Halos he was not able to produce a winning ballclub, so he was fired. He caught on as a coach for the A's and got a World Series ring in '74. He was promoted to manager midway through the '77 season and quit with a 24-15 record just 2 months into the '78 season because he couldn't stand owner Finlay's micromanaging.
The Halos spent most of 1973 auditioning catchers. Sands hit .273 in 17 games, so they thought he could either be a starter or a good backup. Turns out he was neither. He hit just .193 in 43 games the following season. He found his way to the Oakland organization and had two stud seasons for their AAA-Tucson team hitting between .282 and .293 with 18 and 19 homers each year respectively. The A's, who were in the throws of liquidating payroll didn't see fit to call him up to the parent club and eventually released him. The highlight of his career would be getting an AB in the '71 World Series for the eventual champion Pittsburgh Pirates, as the team's 3rd string catcher.
Chalk hit .232 in his 24 game audition that won him the starting SS position for the 1974 season. Chalk hit .252 and .273 in the following two seasons and became an All-Star. Remember this was the pre-Trammell/Ripken era where shortstops hit .220 and were wizards in the field. His starting days ended after the '78 season and his traveling days started. Over his final 3 years he moved from Texas to Oakland to KC, where he played in 1 game during the 1980 World Series.
Sells aquitted himself quite well going 7-2, 3.71 with 10 saves out of the pen in 51 games of action. 1974 saw a similar performance sans the save. In July of '75 he was used as "trade bait" to acquire veteran closer Jim Brewer from the Dodgers. Brewer pitched two solid seasons for the Angels. Sells suited up for just 5 games for the Dodgers. LA sent him to AAA Albuquerque where his ability to get outs was non-existent. After the '76 season he was gone from baseball.
Lange was another mediocre arm in the Angels pen. After a cup of Joe in '72 he bumped up to 52+ innings or work in '73. '74 would be his breakout season for the Halos who desperately needed rotation help behind Ryan. In 21 games, 18 starts, Lange was 3-8, 3.80. 1975 saw him come right back down to earth with a 4-6, 5.21 in 30 games. The Halos sent him down to AAA-Salt Lake City where he posted winning records during his final seasons in baseball. With his ERA and his WHIP ballooning the Angels lost interest an he lost his job. Listed at 5'10", but probably shorter Lange was the shortest starter (in height) in the AL during his 2 years in the rotation. He currently sells Real Estate and gives pitching lessons to up an comers.
Howard had 3 cups of coffee with the Halos starting in 1972. In 8 games during the '73 season he hit .095. 1974 saw him hit .231 in 22 games. He got cups of coffee with both the Cardinals and Indians and hit in the low 200's with limited game action. Howard was the quintessential "Quad A" player. He ripped up AAA hitting 24, 18 and 14 homers with a +.300 average for 3 consecutive seasons, but always seemed over-matched in the biggs. After hitting .308 for Cleveland's AAA Toledo in 1976 he was traded to the expansion Blue Jays, but was released at the end of Spring Training and not considered a prospect, so he wasn't given a minor league assignment. The rest of baseball agreed with Toronto's assessment and no one offered him a contract thus ending a career that saw him hit 1 homer with a .212 lifetime major league average.
1973 was an amazing year for future HOF'er Frank Robinson, who hit 30 homers for the final time in his illustrious career. The amazing part of it all is that he did it in a lineup that afforded him zero protection. If I was a pitcher I would have walked him every time and pitched to the rest of the sloths that the Angels gave a pair of double-knits to. In one season's time he would head to Cleveland to become the first African-American major league baseball manager. He finished up his incredible career at the age of 40, in 1976, to concentrate solely on managing. Cooperstown came a calling in 1982 for the 2 time MVP and 1966 AL Triple Crown winner.
Tanana and his fastball had a meteoric 2 year rise through the Angels system. After playing rookie ball in 1972 he jumped 3 levels in 1973 en-route to the big club by the age of 19. 1974 saw the 20 year old anointed a full time starter with a 14-19, 3.12 record. The following season he led the Angels and the AL in strikeouts, a feat not easy to accomplish when Lynn Nolan Ryan was around. The following season he came up one game short of winning 20. 1977 was the year he led the league in ERA. 1979 was a pivotal year in his career. The Angels finally made their first post season in their 19th year of existence. For Tanana it was a bittersweet year. Pitching in the post season vs Baltimore was exhilarating, but the arm trouble that he was developing limited him to just 18 starts. It also robbed him of the explosive fastball that he possessed for the first 6+ seasons of his career. Rather than become a footnote in baseball history he reinvented himself at the age of 26 as a crafty lefty. Tanana learned to fool people rather than rely on blowing them away. He managed to fool hitters for 21 major league seasons to the tune of 240 wins.
Other than the 1972 season, where he spent the full year in the minors, DaVanon put together an 8 year career as a utility player for 5 different franchises. In his one season he hit .245 for the Halos in 41 games where he played every infield spot except 1st. After hitting just .240 in AAA in 1972 for the Halos SLC farm team it's amazing he even got a shot with the big club. Then again, hitting .240 on this team could net you a starting spot. He was traded to the Cardinals for Bill Stein.
When your biggest claim to fame is being Jim Bunning's final victim in a 1964 perfect game you know you're career has reached exulted footnote status. Stephenson, who was in his 3rd and final season with the Halos hit .246 with 1 homer in 60 games. California was stockpiling backup/platoon type catchers and Stephenson certainly fit the bill having never exceeded 100 games in his 10 year career. His post playing career included decades of coaching opportunities.
As outlined earlier the Rangers were ecstatic to dump "Super Jew" on the Halos in exchange for a rock solid performer like Jim Spencer. After arriving in SoCal all he did was bad mouth his former team and former manager (White Herzog). Epstein hit just .215 for the Halos in 91 games after arriving from Arlington. He had just 8 homers and only 32 RBI's. AFter going .161 in the first 18 games of the '74 season he was released and his career was over. His best season was in 1969 when under the tutelage of Ted Williams he hit 30 homers and had a career high .278 average. During the 1972 playoffs he, Kenny Holtzman and Reggie Jackson were allowed by owner Charlie Finlay to wear black armbands on their sleeves in memorial to the slain Israeli athletes during the '72 Olympics. Epstein won his only championship ring that season.
Hand was rescued from the crap show in Arlington along with Epstein. Unlike Epstein he had a decent year in SoCal (4-3, 3.62). Apparently the Angel brass didn't agree with my assessment and sent him to SLC-AAA when he didn't make the '74 team out of Spring Training. Hand didn't respond well to the demotion and went 3-8, 5.63 which earned him a nice brand new pink slip of paper. The Red Sox signed him up quickly and sent him to AAA-Pawtucket where he was 2-3, 2.91 in 10 starts. Those types of numbers usually get you a greyhound ticket from Providence to Boston. In Hand's case it was a ticket out of baseball.
Scheinblum enjoyed a brief Renaissance in SoCal thanks to a June 15th deal with Cincy. In 77 games (229AB) he hit .328 with 3 HR's and 21 RBI's playing both corner OF spots and DH. After a very slow star the following season he was shipped off to KC where he continued his lack of hitting prowess. A third stop would be St. Louis where he went 2 for 6 in 6 games after hitting .247 in AAA Tulsa. Figuring his major league days were over and not overly interested in being a 31 year old in AAA Scheinblum went overseas for 2 seasons with Hiroshima in the Japanese league where he hit .281 with 13 homers in his first season, then .307 with 20 long balls in year two. Scheinblum was the American Association (AAA) MVP in 1971 whee he hit .388 (.490OBP) for the Denver Bears. When asked about his sporadic numbers he said, “I couldn’t hit in cold weather, for some strange reason. I needed to play every day – and when I didn’t, I had some problems.” Ted Williams said, "If you take away April Scheinblum was a career .314 hitter." Richie's replay, "April games count too."
After hitting just .111 in Texas Stelmaszek was included in the Epstein trade and sent to the Halos where he wasn't much better (.154 in 22 games). His final season was 1974 where he hit .227 for the Cubbies.
Arguably the top reliever in the 1960's Perranoski caught on with the Halos hoping to catch some lightning in a bottle. That lightning might have been the final 9 games he spent with his original team, the Dodgers, during the final 9 games of 1972 where he was 2-0, 2.70. When LA realized it was the end of the road for the former star Perranoski was forced to head south on I-5 and give it a go in Anaheim. The Angels didn't use him much (just 8 games). He was released at the end of the season. Perranoski led the league twice in saves and had 178 career saves. His best season was 1963. He went 16-3, 1.67, 21 saves for the World Champion Dodgers. After his playing days he stuck around baseball for decades as pitching coach and executive.
Banjo hitting Meoli was the Angels starting SS during the '73 seasons. He hit just .233 with 2 homers, the only 2 he hit in his 6 year career. The following 2 seasons saw him in a key utility role. 1976 and 1977 saw him spend all of his time at AAA Indianapolis (CIN) where he hit .261 and .286. With guys like Chaney and Flynn holding down the utility job in Cincy he was hopelessly buried in AAA. In 1978 he got a chance in the big leagues again. This time with the Cubbies. In 47 games he hit .103 and wound up back in AAA-Wichita again. '79 was a mirror of '78, except it was with the Phillies organization. On June 29th the Twins bought his contract and assigned him to AAA, where for the first time he had a sub par season. Minnesota realized that Meoli wasn't in their plans and released him before Spring Training. The Giants brought him into Phoenix for Spring training but released him on April 3rd before the beginning of the '80 season.
A speedy, talented and versatile infielder, Sandy Alomar Sr. spent half a century in professional baseball as a player, coach, and manager. That time included 11 full seasons plus parts of four others in the majors from 1964 through 1978. Alomar made the American League All-Star team in 1970 and was a member of the New York Yankees when they reached the World Series in 1976. His biggest contribution to professional baseball, however, might have been his two very talented sons (Sandy Jr. & Roberto). Alomar had been a regular in Anaheim since he arrived early on in the 1969 season from Chicago. After back to back poor seasons (72-73) after he hit .239 and .238 the Angels decided to bring in Denny Doyle to take his spot. After a woeful start his contract was sold to the Yanks on July 8, 1974. The change in scenery boosted his average to .269. After back to back .239 seasons in '75 & '76 he was on the move and played 2 more seasons in Texas before turning out the lights on a 15 year playing career.
Wilshusen appeared in just one Major League game for the California Angels on April 7 during the 1973 season. He faced four batters, walking two and hitting one while getting just one out. All three of the batters who reached base scored, leaving Wilshusen with a career ERA of 81.00. Wilshusen got his one start on the heels of an impressive spring and AAA season in 1972 (6-3, 3.40). After being sent back down he went 3-3, 7.71 and was released. He got into 5 games for the Reds Indianapolis team, but was let go after sporting a 4.09 era and 7 walks in 11 innings.
Tommy McGraw was a mainstay in the Cleveland Indians lineup throughout the 60's. After suffering through a terrible season in Washington (1971) he wound up back in Cleveland (1972). The Halos acquired him & a minor leaguer on April 2, 1973 for Leo Cardenas. McGraw played 1st base and all 3 OF spots and hit a solid .265. He started off 1974 hitting .286 for the Halos in 56 games when the Indians purchased his contract on July 17th and brought him back for a 3rd term. McGraw, but this time purely a part time fill in hit .304 and then .275 the following season before deciding to retire. McCraw holds the distinction of being the 1st Angel DH. He went 1-4 in the season opener vs KC. After his career was over he spent decades as a respected hitting coach. He followed his former teammate/manager Frank Robinson around to 4 different teams.
Lllenas spent all 6 years of his career with the Angels. After 2 cups of coffee in 1968 & 1969 he spent the next two and a half seasons tearing up the minors. He hit .361 in 1969 (won the PCL RBI title) and .339 in 1970, both in Hawaii. When the Angels moved their AAA affiliate to Salt Lake City his average dropped to .300, but he was recalled to the majors. Amazing how leaving Hawaii makes one want to leave AAA, right??? After hitting .392 in AAA in 1973 he hit .269 for the Halos in 78 games playing all over the field. 1974 he recreated that same role and hit .261. 1975 looked to be a good year for the 31 year old Llenas, but that all changed when he hit just .186 and was sent back to AAA. This time he hit only .254 in SLC and the Halos believed he was done. When he hit just .227 in Japan the following season he moved on to the Mexican League for the next 6 seasons. At age 39 he played in 1 game for the Angels AA-Nashua Eastern League affiliate. In the Dominican Winter League he's been part of 19 championship teams as a layer, manager and Executive. In 2008 he was part of the 12th class inducted into the Caribbean Baseball HOF.
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