World Series champion and MVP, 3 time All Star, and 2 Silver Slugger awards as an Angel – Glaus certainly earned his way into the top 15 on our list. The 2002 World Series alone may be enough to put Glaus high on our list with his 3 home runs, .385 AVG and .467 OBP. It wasn’t even the World Series where Glaus shined – it was the entire 2002 Post Season (and the 2004 ALDS). Glaus was made for the Post Season and Angels fans are thankful for it. His two-run World Series game six double with the Angels down 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning was quite literally a game (and series) changer. A huge moment in Angels history.
Fortunately for the Angels, Glaus turned down the Padres after they drafted him in the 2nd round out of high school in the 1994 draft. Instead, the Angels nabbed him 3 years later with the 3rd overall pick in 1997. Glaus debuted in 1998 but much to the disappointment of fans, it took him a few years to get moving. However, he broke through in 2000, slugging 47 home runs with a 1.008 OPS, earning him his first All Star nod and Silver Slugger award at age 23. Those 47 home runs still stand as the club’s single season record with Trout falling 2 shy in his 2019 season. Glaus’s .604 slugging that season is 4th best in Angels history behind Mike Trout’s 2017-2019 seasons.
Glaus only played 91 games in 2003 and missed most of 2004 with a shoulder injury. Despite his post season heroics, the Angels put their faith in Dallas McPherson at the hot corner and moved on from fan favorite Glaus who had spent his entire career up to that point with the Angels. McPherson, of course, turned out to be a dud while Glaus turned out to be incredibley productive over the next few years and he earned another All Star trip as a Blue Jay in 2006.
Glaus ranks #5 on the Angels all time list for slugging and 6th for home runs with 182. He is, of course, also the only World Series MVP in club history.
Interesting to me is where Pujols will end up. I’d put Glaus ahead of Pujols any day.
Pujols was #42!
Allegations of steroid use or in this case the Halo Brass knew and feared the consequences. But he was a good one for a few years.
It’s pretty much confirmed he used steroids, but only for recovery purposes for his shoulder from September 2003 until May 2004. He ended up needing shoulder surgery in May 2004 anyway.
Technically it is still cheating, but it is far less nefarious than sustained usage of PEDs to gain a performance advantage. It’s the difference between using some leftover prescription pain pills for actual pain and taking them to get high.
Sorry, but Glaus is higher than 15.
we all have our own lists. I think this is a combined thing. We’re going to disagree, for sure. I know Aybar had a higher WAR than Mike Witt (barely) but, for me, there’s no question I’d have put Witt well ahead. That’s cool, though. This series gives us a chance to enjoy reminiscing about our favorites. Although when we get to #1 it won’t be reminiscing at all.
I think # 1 will be the only pick we ALL agree on.
Spoiler Alert — it’s Rudy Meoli. The man with a popup baseball card.
2 through 5 will be interesting. I think I know which four they’ll be but I’m not sure of the order.
Vlad, Fregosi, Ryan, Salmon. Not necessarily in that order.
I could also see Downing, Grich, GA, and Finley making the top 5.
I have GA # 2 on my list. He had better be in the top five though.
Of course it gets very hard to push guys down with so many really quality players and men. Ryan, I think because he spent so many years away from Anaheim, is not Top 5, though I still love him of course. I have him at # 6.
I feel like Grich and Downing both need to be Top 5.
those are, indeed, who I’d put in behind Trout and, as you say, not necessarily in that order.
But, just for fun, I’d go 5 – Fregosi, 4 – Vlad, 3 – Salmon, 2 – Ryan
And it’s BELTED! LEFT FIELD!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayeK36QoTR4
Thank you Barry Bonds for taking a ridiculous route to that ball.
he really took a good swing on that. Beautiful to watch.