The Dodgers are playing the Angels this weekend in another "Freeway Series"/interleague clash. This doesn't mean a whole lot to me. I've lived on the east coast my whole life, and was a baseball fan for more than 20 years before interleague play started.
But the Angels have popped up a couple of times recently in my fan and hobby pursuits. I've been struggling for blog topics lately. It's not just lack of time that's caused me to slow down here -- inspiration's been elusive when life is one demoralizing incident after another.
Then I received a quick envelope in the mail the other day from Batting Out of Order. Tom was clearing out some duplicates of the Angels, his favorite team, and sent a few from the 2005 Topps Update set.
That's fun. Remember when the Angels were good enough to beat the Yankees in the playoffs?
I haven't done much with my 2005 Topps set needs the last year or so. I'm only 29 cards away from finishing the base set so I should really take care of that. There's much more to do with Update though.
But these three cards completed the thought on a Joy of a Team Set post that I had in mind. I wanted to do something with the 1986 Topps set -- it's been 40 years -- and all the Angels reminders helped me settle on the topic. All I had to do was look to the sky!
Forty years ago, the Angels came one out away from making their first World Series. Their ALCS battle with the Red Sox in 1986 was epic. I've mentioned before that I was in college at the time and my fellow employees in campus food service would keep track of both the Red Sox-Angels and the Mets-Astros via a couple of radios where we worked. I can't say I watched much of the Red Sox-Angels -- most of the games were on when I was working -- but we could feel the excitement from the radio!
In all the years since, the Angels are probably the least-remembered of those four teams. I really had to rack my brain on who was on that team. But Joy of a Team Set is going to help me (I haven't done one of these in more than a year!)
The final three cards are from the Traded set -- Burleson, Forster and Joyner. I added them because they were figures on that 1986 team.
A few players shown here were not. Rod Carew was granted free agency after the 1985 season and retired in June of '86 after failing to find another team. Craig Gerber spent all of 1986 in the minors. Daryl Sconiers was dealing with substance abuse issues and was released. Juan Beniquez played for the Orioles in '86. And pitchers Al Holland, Geoff Zahn, Luis Sanchez and Stu Cliburn moved on/played in the minors.
The most notable 1986 player absent from the Topps set year is starting pitcher Mike Witt, who started 35 games in 1985 (license issue?). Other minor non-inclusions are reliever Gary Lucas, pitcher Chuck Finley, who was a rookie in 1986, and Devon White, who appeared in just 29 games in '86.
OK, enough of that, let's do the JOTS rundown:
Favorite card runners-up: 5. John Candelaria, 4. Don Sutton, 3. Terry Forster, 2. Reggie Jackson
Team's claim to fame: Took the Red Sox to seven games in the ALCS but squandered a 3-1 series lead that was kicked off by Dave Henderson's two-run home run with two outs in the top of the ninth in Game 5 (the home run put the Red Sox ahead by a run but the Angels still had to bat and tied it in the bottom of the ninth, forcing extra innings. Then Henderson hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 11th inning off Donnie Moore - WHO WAS STILL IN THE GAME after giving up Henderson's HR in the ninth).
Favorite element on the back: I had no idea that Willie Montanez started his MLB career with the Angels -- a full five years before he appeared on a baseball card. I always thought he started with the Phillies.
I never realized that the Talkin' Baseball facts in '86 Topps are so great. On the Angels cards alone, the little cartoon baseball mentions Montanez, Joe Adcock, Stan Cliburn, Stu Cliburn (sadly, not on Stu's card but on Luis Sanchez's), Chico Ruiz, Sandy Alomar, Billy Cowan, Ryne Duren, Jarvis Tatum, Albie Pearson, Paul Schaal, Jim Fregosi, Merv Rettemund and Nolan Ryan. And they're all Angels facts.
Players I've talked to: None. I almost had a chance to talk to Jim Slaton, but ran out of time on the story.
Former or future Dodgers: Terry Forster, Don Sutton, Geoff Zahn, John Candelaria
Players cards I remember pulling in the 1975 Topps set: Geoff Zahn, Bob Boone
Best card in the set:
Bunting in the batting cage? What's not to like?
To show you how long ago 40 years was, the Angels aren't close to going to the ALCS these days. Heck, 24 years seems like a long time as that's when they were last in the World Series.
I rooted for the Angels in the 2002 World Series. And in the 1979 ALCS. I didn't root for them in the 1986 ALCS. As for any of those other times in the postseason, I honestly can't remember. That's what happens when you water down the playoffs.
MLB: always "more" but not necessarily "better".
Comments