It is that special time of year for Angels fans. That time of year when you are made to feel old and feel as if your favorite Angel team ever is completely unappreciated in baseball history. Yes, that’s right, it is almost time for the Hall of Fame voting for 2015 to be revealed and for key members of that magical 2002 Angels Word Series champion team to get completely ignored.
It all started in 2010 with Kevin Appier. He actually managed to get one vote. He was a big part of that team, but he also was an Angel for just that 2002 season and part of 2003. There was no great nostalgic loss involved with his snubbing.
The Hall of Fame gave the 2002 Angels a year off in 2011, but in 2012, it dealt Angel fans a huge blow as Tim Salmon, Mr. Angel himself, received a mere five votes, appearing on less than one percent of the ballots. For the greatest player to never make an All-Star team, this was just par for the course.
In 2013, the lone member of the 2002 Angels on the ballot was Aaron Sele. Somehow he got one vote. I’m pretty sure this was done just for comedic purposes. No real skin off the Angels fans’ collective back though as that World Series was won in spite of Sele, not because of him.
2014 was another reprieve, one that will turn out to be much-needed because things are about to get real for the 2002 Angels. By real, I mean real depressing.
This year, Darin Erstad and Troy Percival will make what is going to be their lone appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot (the BBWAA didn’t even have the decency to put Jarrod Washburn on the ballot). I know they won’t survive because they have yet to garner a single vote, according to the ones that have been revealed publicly. They definitely won’t be getting the necessary five percent needed to stay on the ballot. Realistically, they probably won’t even get one vote between them, not on this ballot where voters are complaining they don’t have enough slots on the ballot to vote for all the deserving players.
Zero votes? That really hurts. This is Troy Percival, the guy who was on the mound to close out Game 7 and Darin Erstad, the man that made final put out of the game. There isn’t an Angels fan alive who can’t visualize Erstad excitedly camping out under that flyball and Percival’s triumphant fist pump once the catch was made.
I’m under no illusion that either of these players are worth of the Hall of Fame, mind you. Erstad had that insane 240-hit season and was a highly underrated defender, but he also finished his career with a 93 OPS+. His career started out great, but once his body started breaking down, he was just an average player who only survived in the game as long as he did because of he was the grittiest grinder that ever scrapped.
Percival has at least a little bit of a case. He made four All-Star teams and currently sits at ninth all-time on the career saves list, which would matter if HoF voters had shown any appreciation for modern closers. Still, Percy was never thought of as one of the greatest in the game. He was very good, but you know what they say about it not being the Hall of Very Good.
Ersty and Percy getting shutout is going to be painful. Alas, it is only an amuse bouche for what is coming next. The 2016 ballot will include Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus, Bengie Molina and David Eckstein. That is going to be the holocaust for 2002 Angels. There are several All-Star appearances and Gold Gloves spread around in that group, but not a one of them rates particularly well in terms of having a magical career milestone that will help garner them votes, nor do any of them rate well in Hall of Fame monitor or JAWS scores.
Once again, it would be shocking to see any of them survive to a second ballot. Well, maybe Eckstein will just because he’s so scrappy. Assuming that happens, the only hope for any level of recognition for the 2002 Angels on the Hall of Fame ballot is Francisco Rodriguez and he’s still got a few years yet before he even retires. So at least there is a chance, right?
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