The Angels play in Orange County, but Los Angeles is in the team name and that's good enough for me. Here's the latest on the Halos and Dodgers…
- ESPN's Buster Olney says (on Twitter) that some baseball executives believe Magic Johnson's group is the frontrunner to buy the Dodgers. He notes that there is still a long, long way to go in the process.
- Meanwhile, Bob Nightengale of USA Today hears that Tony LaRussa and agent Arn Tellem would assume front office positions with the Dodgers if Steve Cohen ends up buying the team. The four ownership finalists include Cohen's group, Magic's group, a group led by St. Louis Rams and Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke, and a group led by Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley.
- Angels closer Jordan Walden is looking to bullpen-mates and former closers Jason Isringhausen and LaTroy Hawkins for advice in his second year on the job, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. "There are some years right there," Walden joked. "I’m trying to learn things, all kinds of things that they’ve done that have worked for them."
Fun fact: The Angels also happen to be the only team founded in LA and named after the city, rather than moving there and being named after folks who dodged street cars in Brooklyn at the beginning of the last century.
The Angels The Angels of Anaheim
So important, the name had to be in there twice. Still sounds better than “The Angels Dodgers”. Although, when you look at the head-to-head record since interleague play started, it’s fairly accurate.
“The Angels Dodgers” does NOT sound worse than “The The Angels Angels of Anaheim” (<– which is what it really is).
"The The Angels Angels of Anaheim" makes it sound like the team was named by someone who was having a stroke mid-sentence when pitching the name.
“The Angels Dodgers” implies that the Angels own the Dodgers and/or play in Angels territory, which is pretty much the case for the last decade-plus in every measurable way on the field and off.
Yeah let’s ignore everything before 2002. Makes sense.
I’d at least go back to the mid-90s when interleague play started. Too bad neither team made it out of the LCS in ’09 so we could have settled this.
“The Angels Dodgers” implies that the Angels own the Dodgers and/or play in Angels territory, which is pretty much the case for the last decade-plus in every measurable way on the field and off.
Another fun fact: Anaheim is in Orange County.
That just means they don’t play in “The Latrine” and their games are a bit easier to get to.
Only easier for the unfortunate souls living nearer the house that Walt built. I’ll take Los Angeles and Chavez Ravine over the big A and Anaheim any day.
They were also kicked out of Los Angeles because the city found a better team.
More like moved out of the city to a better facility…and has won something since the 80’s.
A similar situation happened twice to the AAA team now called the New Orleans Zephyrs—it was forced out of Kansas City by the A’s, and then out of Denver by the expansion Rockies.
Not quite. The Los Angeles Angels were a Pacific Coast League team (ironically) bought by Walter O’Malley for the rights to move the Dodgers to LA. That franchise was moved out of state. The current Angels team was created in an expansion and is not connected to the PCL team in any way. They have never had a stadium of their own outside of Orange County.
Next we will discuss how LA has a basketball team called the Lakers. They must be named for Silver Lake.
And? Did the MLB team currently known as the Angels get founded and initially play in LA or not? The answer is yes and your point is invalid.
As for the Lakers, yes, you’re right; they are transplants with a strange name like the Dodgers. But the NBA is a terrible sports league, so I’m not too concerned with that.
whats the big deal
Just killin’ time until the season starts by responding the the 15 millionth quip about Anaheim/LA. It’s always a good time!
I’m not concerned with any of it, really, except to keep the history straight. The current Angels franchise is not connected to the PCL Angels team, so no, they don’t inherit the PCL Angels history and they are not the first MLB team to be located in the state. The team with that distinction would still be the Dodgers. The MLB Angels played in Dodger Stadium before building the park in Anaheim, but I don’t see what difference that makes.
Lots of MLB teams have changed cities and kept the same name, so I don’t get your point.
There’s a difference between founded in and located in. The Dodgers were founded in Brooklyn and moved to LA. The Angels were founded in LA and just moved to the suburbs of LA.
None of it matters, but writers continue to bring it up like it does, so it still gets discussed.
So by that logic are the Angels an LA team, and the Dodgers are a Brooklyn team? Neither team plays where they were first located. Are the Orioles really a Milwaukee or a St. Louis team? And I gotta wonder how many OCers would call the county “a suburb of LA,” if only because 3 million people live there.
HAhaha so true
It still doesn’t feel quite right not hearing LaRussa as a Cardinal…
Or as an A or White Sox, but more so with the Cards I suppose.
What’s enviously and financially good enough for a few is laughably wrong for everybody else.
They’re still Anaheim to me.
I didn’t get no check.
fun fact – Mets fans used to think the Mets had taken over NYC. Then the 1990s happened. Enjoy it while it lasts, Angels fans.
This again? They’re LA because they play in the LA market. Just as the NY Giants and Jets don’t actually play in NY or Dallas Cowboys don’t actually play in Dallas but they represent the market/metro area.
If you wanna to get goofy about it…an argument can be made that Anaheim is more “LA” than Chavez Ravine since Anaheim is located in the LA Basin. Chavez Ravine is up on the hills and therefore not in the LA basin.
Your geography is kind of messed up. If you’re going to rely on the LA Basin definition then the geography dictates that the entire region defined by the surrounding mountains is in the basin. That’s most of five counties.
Hence “If you want to get goofy about it” so I’m not going to try to defend the argument. I personally don’t like the name but I understand why Moreno changed it. If it was up to me, I’d call them So Cal Angels…easiest way to group the 5 counties in the greater LA market.
They were the California Angels for most of their history. I believe they changed the name to Anaheim Angels to satisfy the City of Anaheim, which sued to prevent them from removing Anaheim from the name entirely. That’s how they ended up with the confusing and silly current name.
Yeah, they have to keep Anaheim in the name until at least 2016. After that, Moreno can opt-out of the lease and negotiate a new lease that doesn’t require them to keep Anaheim in the name. Doubt the city of Anaheim is going to play hardball and lose risking the team moving out of Anaheim.
Why use the LA Basin as a benchmark? That’s like saying the Long Beach Aquarium is closer to Los Angeles than Dodger Stadium because the LA River runs next to it.
How about downtown Los Angeles, 1st Street and Main, the heart of the city? Walking distance from Dodger Stadium, 45min-1.5+ hours from Angel Stadium, depending on traffic. Trying to argue that the Angels, in Anaheim, are closer to LA is dumb.
I understand the LA market argument and I don’t fault the Angels for changing their name to reflect that. Anaheim, CA might as well be Oxnard or Redding, CA to someone not familiar with the state. I just get annoyed when people try to make a case that the Angels deserve it more than the Dodgers.
They can share the LA name, they are in different leagues so I don’t even know why there is a rivalry. I will always choose the Dodgers during the freeway series, but other than that, I root for both LA teams. Now if we had a freeway World Series…
Any team that doesn’t make it’s fans wear a Snuggie in order to break a ridiculous world record is better than any team that does. Case closed.
Dodgers>Angels
Anyway… I think the two best bidders are leading the pack. Johnson-Kasten are still my first choice, but if LaRussa is part of the Cohen package then they’re now number two on my list.
Still going to suck for Dodger fans having to pay McCourt to park. These groups need to demand that he include the lots in the sale.
if TLR is in charge of baseball moves, im going to shoot myself