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Los Angeles Angels

The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team has played its home games at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.

This article is about the Major League Baseball team. For the historic Minor League Baseball team, see Los Angeles Angels (PCL).

Los Angeles Angels

The franchise was founded in Los Angeles in 1961 by Gene Autry as one of MLB's first two expansion teams and the first to originate in California. Deriving its name from an earlier Los Angeles Angels franchise that played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL), the team was based in Los Angeles until moving to Anaheim in 1966. Due to the move, the franchise was known as the California Angels from 1965 to 1996 and the Anaheim Angels from 1997 to 2004. "Los Angeles" was added back to the name in 2005, but because of a lease agreement with Anaheim that required the city to also be in the name, the franchise was known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim until 2015. The current Los Angeles Angels name came into use the following season.


Throughout their first four decades of existence, the Angels were a middling franchise, but did win three division titles and notably hosted the careers of Nolan Ryan, Rod Carew, and Reggie Jackson. Under manager Mike Scioscia, they would eventually achieve their first Wild Card spot in 2002, and used this momentum to win the 2002 World Series, their only championship appearance to date. They, along with the Washington Nationals, are the two MLB franchises to win their sole appearance in the World Series. Over the next seven years under Scioscia's management, the Angels would then win five division titles, spearheaded by their lone Hall of Fame representative Vladimir Guerrero. They also saw an increase in fan attendance, consistently placing the franchise among the top draws in MLB. This notoriety has grown into international attention since 2012 with the emergence of superstars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, who cumulatively have won five AL Most Valuable Player awards with the team; despite this, they have only made the playoffs once since 2009.


Through 2023, the Angels have a win–loss record of 4,958–5,016–3 (.497).[3]

Los Angeles Angels logo from 1961-1965

Los Angeles Angels logo from 1961-1965

California Angels logo from 1966-1970

California Angels logo from 1966-1970

California Angels logo from 1971-1972

California Angels logo from 1971-1972

California Angels logo from 1972-1988

California Angels logo from 1972-1988

California Angels logo from 1989-1992

California Angels logo from 1989-1992

California Angels logo from 1993-1996

California Angels logo from 1993-1996

Anaheim Angels logo from 1997-2001

Anaheim Angels logo from 1997-2001

The Los Angeles Angels have used ten different logos and three different color combinations throughout their history. Their first two logos depict a baseball with wings and a halo over a baseball diamond with the letters "L" and "A" over it in different styles. The original team colors were the predominantly blue with a red trim. This color scheme would be in effect for most of the franchise's history lasting from 1961 to 1996.


On September 2, 1965, with the team still a tenant of the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, Autry changed its name from the "Los Angeles Angels" to the "California Angels". With the club's 1966 move to Anaheim, the logo changed as well. During the 31 years of being known as the "California Angels", the team kept the previous color scheme, however, their logo did change six times during this period. The first logo under this name was very similar to the previous "LA" logo, the only difference was instead of an interlocking "LA", there was an interlocking "CA". Directly after this from 1971 to 1985, the Angels adopted a logo that had the word "Angels" written on an outline of the State of California. Between the years 1971–1972 the "A" was lower-case while from 1973 to 1985 it was upper-case.


It was in 1965, while the stadium was being finished, that Bud Furillo (of the Herald Examiner) coined its nickname, "the Big A" after the tall letter A that once stood beyond left-center field and served as the ballpark's primary scoreboard (it was relocated to a section of the parking lot southeast of the stadium in 1980 when the facility was enclosed and expanded for the NFL's Rams.).


In 1986, the Angels adopted the "big A" on top of a baseball as their new logo, with the shadow of California in the background. After the "big A" was done in 1992, the Angels returned to their roots and re-adopted the interlocking "CA" logo with some differences. The Angels used this logo from 1993 to 1996, during that time, the "CA" was either on top of a blue circle or with nothing else.


After the renovations of then-Anaheim Stadium and the takeover by the Walt Disney Company, the Angels changed their name to the "Anaheim Angels" along with changing the logo and color scheme. The first logo under Disney removed the halo and had a rather cartoon-like "ANGELS" script with a wing on the "A" over a periwinkle plate and crossed bats. With this change, the Angels' color scheme changed to dark blue and periwinkle. After a run with the "winged" logo from 1997 to 2001, Disney changed the Angels' logo back to a "Big A" with a silver halo over a dark blue baseball diamond. With this logo change, the colors changed to the team's current color scheme: predominantly red with some dark blue and white.


When the team's name changed from the "Anaheim Angels" to the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim", the logo changed only slightly, the name "ANAHEIM ANGELS" and the blue baseball diamond were removed leaving only the "Big A".


For the 2011 season, as part of the 50th anniversary of the Angels franchise, the halo on the 'Big A' logo temporarily changed colors from silver to old gold, paying tribute to the Angels logos of the past (and also the 50th Anniversary tradition of gold). The uniforms also reflected the change to the gold halo for this season.


During the 50th Anniversary season the players wore throwback jerseys at each Friday home game reflecting all the different logos and uniforms previously worn by players. Also, Angels alumni from past seasons threw the ceremonial first pitch at every home game during the 50th Anniversary season.


A new patch was added on the uniforms before the 2012 season, featuring a red circle encircling the words "Angels Baseball" and the club logo inside and flanking the year 1961 in the middle, which was the year the Angels franchise was established. With this new patch, the Angels' A with the halo now appears on three different locations of the jersey: the right shoulder, the wordmark, and the left shoulder.

No. 26 was retired for Gene Autry to indicate he was the team's "26th Man" (25 was, at the time, the player limit for any MLB team's , except in September)

active roster

No. 42 was retired throughout Major League Baseball in 1997 to honor Jackie Robinson.

A 1985 episode of titled "The Unnatural" featured the Angels. George Jefferson is disheartened after dropping a foul ball hit by Reggie Jackson on live television. Brian Downing and Mike Witt also portrayed themselves in minor roles.[68]

The Jeffersons

The team is featured prominently in the 1988 comedy film . Police lieutenant Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) secretly umpires a game between the Angels and Seattle Mariners while Reggie Jackson portrays himself in the movie.[69]

The Naked Gun

The 1990 comedy features a fictional World Series matchup between the Angels and the Chicago Cubs. Angels pitcher Bert Blyleven was cast in the film.[70]

Taking Care of Business

The 1994 Disney film features foster kid Roger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who loves the California Angels, even though they're the worst team in the major leagues. His estranged dad promises to reunite the family if the Angels make it to the World Series, so Roger decides to ask for some divine help and prays that his favorite team will turn things around. Soon, a real angel named Al (Christopher Lloyd) shows up in response to Roger's prayers, and Anaheim's hopeless coach (Danny Glover) is shocked to see his team on a winning streak.[71]

Angels In The Outfield

In 2014, the Angels and Angel Stadium were featured in of The Big Bang Theory in an episode titled "The First Pitch Insufficiency".[72]

season eight

List of Los Angeles Angels first-round draft picks

List of Los Angeles Angels no-hitters

List of Los Angeles Angels Opening Day starting pitchers

List of Los Angeles Angels owners and executives

List of Los Angeles Angels seasons

Bisheff, Steve. Tales from the Angels Dugout: The Championship Season and Other Great Angels Stories. Sports Publishing L.L.C., 2003.  1-58261-685-X.

ISBN

2005 Angels Information Guide.

Los Angeles Angels official website

Los Angeles Angels Baseball-Reference.com