Pre-Angels Career
Seattle drafted Mark Langston in the second round of the 1981 draft out of San Jose State. He debuted with the Mariners in 1984 and he won Rookie Pitcher of the Year. Langston was a four time All Star, a seven time Gold Glove winner, and three time American League strikeout leader. A left handed pitcher, he was possessed of a devastating pickoff move. His 91 career pickoffs were the most in baseball history at the time of his retirement and he still ranks fourth all time. Seattle traded him to Montreal for Randy Johnson, Gene Harris, and Brian Holman. The Expos traded him to the Angels after one year and he was an Angel from 1990 through 1997.
Angels Career
He had several notable achievements as an Angel including three of his All Star appearances, five of his Gold Gloves, and the first seven innings of the combined no hitter that Mike Witt finished. He started the 1995 American League West tie breaker game against Randy Johnson where he held the Mariners to one run into the seventh inning stretch in the tightly contested pitcher’s duel. The Mariners broke the game open in the seventh and eighth innings, eventually winning 9 -1. Tony Phillips hit a solo shot in the 9th inning for the Angels lone run. The Angels missed the playoffs.
Post-Angels Career
After playing for the Angels Mark Langston played a year for the San Diego Padres and a year for the Cleveland Indians. He retired with a record of 179 – 158, a career ERA of 3.97, and 2,464 strikeouts. Today, Mark Langston serves as the color commentator for the radio broadcasts of Angels Games on KLAA. He is a real character who always imitates a pirate or a parrot when reading rum commercials.
Health Scare
On September 20, 2019, after reading the starting line ups for the game in Houston that day, Langston went into ventricular fibrillation and collapsed in the broadcast booth. He was revived and taken to the hospital where he had a defibrillator installed. Nine days later he was well enough to resume his broadcast duties.
He signed as a FA, not acquired in a trade. I remember because it was a big-ass deal that they signed him and after double checking on bbref, I confirmed my memory.
Still love that he had the combined no-no with my favorite Angel Mike Witt.
During the Seattle outburst during the 1995 AL West playoff, after a play at the plate didn’t go the Angels’ way, Langston just stared at the roof of the Kingdom. The headline in the LA fish wrap, “Here Lies Mark Langston.” At the time, I thought his reaction was playground nonsense and it upset me. That’s when I knew the season and the game was over.
Wow, I didn’t know that. I’ll have to read up on that.
Langston’s five GGs with the Halos were consecutive. He’s the only Angel to do that.
My boys were young in the Langston vs Johnson match up. They all collected Topps Baseball Cards with their allowace and knew who was playing that day. Collectively they pulled for the Mariners against Dear ‘Ol Dad. What a great time it was, all l heard for a long while is how they beat the Angels. Langston was a favorite of mine as he give all of us a scare in Houston last season. l am glad he was mentioned this far up the ladder of the best Halos yet.