The Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels have played almost 60 seasons of baseball. As the baseball world is suspended due to circumstances outside its control, it is time to look back at the history of this organization. There have been many talented players to put on the uniform, and we at Crashing the Pearly Gates wish to highlight the best who have ever represented the Angels. Without further ado, here we go!
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#53 Geoff Zahn
Geoff Zahn had played six years in the minor leagues after being drafted by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the January 1968 draft and he made his major league debut with the Dodgers on September 2, 1973. He pitched for the California Angels from 1981 through 1985 at the tail end of his 13 year major league career. He was kind of a workhorse averaging 165.6 innings pitched per year. If one omits to include the paltry 37 innings he pitched in 1985, he averaged 198.1 innings pitched from 1981 through 1984. His mean ERA+ during his time with the Angels was 107.8. He had a will to win and it showed. He won 52 games while with the Angels and lost only 42. His overall career record was 111-109. The best season of his career was with the Angels in 1982 when he went 18-8 and helped the Angels win an American League Western Division title.
After his playing career, he was the head of baseball for the Michigan Wolverines from 1996 to 2001 and has been a pitching clinician and instructor for over 20 years specializing in the mental side of the game. He also works as a motivational and Christian speaker as well as writing articles about pitching for MLB.com.
thank goodness for 2002! Our history has so much “close but not close enough” (that’s another way of saying “failure at the worst moment”). Zahn was terrific in 1982 but he didn’t have it in Game 3 of the ALCS and, unfortunately, that’s my most enduring memory of him.