The 50 greatest Angels (41-50)

Here we go… the Orange County Register has begun revealing the 50 greatest Angels of all time as voted upon by a group of panelist including myself. The last ten (41-40) was released today and each day this week, the next ten will be published.

This should be somewhat of an interesting process. I’ll admit right now that my list isn’t perfect and that if I had to do it all over again, I’d probably make some changes, additions and deletions. That being said – I really like the top of my list; it’s the bottom half that gets a little tricky.

The Register’s list includes Dick Enberg and Bartolo Colon tied for 49th; followed by Kirk McCaskill (48), Gary DiSarsina (47), Andy Messersmith (46), Dick Schofield (45), Leon Wagner (44), Jarrod Washburn (43), Scott Spiezio (42), and Albie Pearson (41).

Three “Angels” on today’s list didn’t make my list at all; they’re Dick Enberg, Albie Pearson, and Bartolo Colon.

Pearson has to be a sentimental choice among some of those voting. I couldn’t justify putting him on my list because he didn’t impress me from a statistical point of view. Pearson had one all-star season (1963) but was pretty underwhelming the rest of his career in my opinion. I will admit he’s a name that comes up quite a bit when talking about the Angels’ history and might have deserved more consideration from me for that reason alone. At least I wasn’t alone; four panelists left him off their ballot.

As for Colon – he was only really healthy for two of his four years. Granted he did win a Cy Young Award (2005) along the way, but I just couldn’t put him on my list. How the OC Register’s Early Bloom could rank him 13th is beyond me. Ten panelists left him off their ballots.

Then there’s Dick Enberg. Hmm. I could have easily put him on my list. I have very fond memories of Enberg calling Angel games when I was growing up. Let’s just say that if I did it over again, I might include Enberg. I found it interesting the OC Register’s Earl Bloom ranked Enberg #19 and the Angels’ Vice President of Communications - Tim Mead ranked him 20th; especially when you consider that eleven of the fifteen panelists left him completely off their list.

As for the rest of the list…

Leon Wagner didn’t get as much love as I thought he should. I ranked him 37th. While Wagner only had three seasons in Anaheim, they were monster seasons just the same. For his three years from 1961-1963 he averaged 30 homeruns and made two all-star appearances.

Looks like I ranked Kirk McCaskill higher on my list (30) than the rest of the panelists. Let me trumpet McCaskill’s case just a bit… McCaskill ranks 8th all time on the win list for Angels pitchers, 8th in career shut-outs (11), and 12th in strike-outs (714). Not bad huh? I’m surprised Tim Mead left him off his list all-together.

I’m wondering if Jack Howell, who I ranked 46th on my list will make the top 50. We’ll see as this will all continue through Friday.