Let’s assemble the best possible Angels team by letter of the alphabet to begin a player’s last name. Today is B. 100 men whose last name started with “B” played major league baseball in an Angels uniform.
C – Bob Boone
1B – Steve Bilko
2B – Rocky Bridges
3B – Gordon Beckham
SS – Rick Burleson
OF – Bobby Bonds
OF – Juan Beniquez
OF – Bruce Bochte
DH – Baylor
With apologies to Peter Bourjos, here is the B-Team, featuring the only solid starter at 2B with a B starting his last name, Rocky Bridges. Bobby Bonds delivered a 130 OPS + in two mid-1970s seasons; Bilko batting behind Bonds would be a thing to see, but if wishes were horses we’d be riding a few seasons of Lyman Bostock delivering at the plate like he did in 1978. Bob Boone’s D behind the plate would help the following B pitchers.
SP – George Brunet
SP – Bert Byleven
SP – Bo Belinsky
RP – Cam Bedrosian
RP – Jaime Barria
While Paul Byrd’s 113 ERA+ as an Angel tops these three starters, he only pitched in one season (albeit to a division title and was the Angel arm who got the lone W in the 2005 ALCS), Brunett started 157 games, Blyleven is a HOFer and Belinsky put the Angels on the map, media-wise, in their infancy. Cam Bedrosian’s 285 games is the most by an Angels B pitcher and lookie there, Jaime Barria is fantastic out of the pen!
