Greetings, from Joe McDonnell

Joe McDonnell (left) pictured with AngelsWin.com founder Chuck Richter (right) at #AWFanfest13

By Joe McDonnell, AngelsWin.com Staff Writer – 

Well, here we go…..

Before I get into the balance of this column—my first-ever for AngelsWin.com—I’d like to thank everyone at the site for welcoming me on board.  And I’d like to thank the supporters of this site and the Angels’ fans for all the positive feedback since Chuck Richter made the announcement. I’m honored to be here.

Many of you have written to me asking where I’ve been the last six months. Well, it’s quite a complicated explanation, so I’ll try to keep it brief . I’ve been recovering from three surgeries on my right knee/leg, rehabbing before I get to have one more surgery in a few months. Yipee! Well, not exactly, but at least that will hopefully be the end of the slice and dice on me. 

Oh, and did I forget to tell you that my first day not using a cane I fell flat on my face and saw my beautiful mug turn into a sea of purple for about a month? Finally, I totaled my car in an accident on the 210 freeway about three weeks ago. No damage to me, but the car was literally destroyed. When the Highway Patrol arrived, the officer asked me if I knew which hospital the driver had been taken to. When I informed him that he was talking to the driver he said “You’re one lucky man. I’ve seen wrecks where the car had much less damage, but no one lived.” 

An eye-opening moment to be sure. 

While I was recovering, Senior Writer David Saltzer planted the thought of joining AngelsWin.com, so when things settled down, I decided to call Chuck and see if there was any room for me on the staff. He immediately told me that he would like to have me on board and within a day it was a done deal

And I’m definitely lucky, living through all of that and ending up no worse for wear. And I feel very lucky to be a contributor to AngelsWin.com and be able to bring you a look at the Halos from inside the clubhouse, dugout and front office.

I’ll be writing columns, features, Q & A’s and will be adding a podcast in the very near future. You’ll be hearing from your favorite Angels as well as top players, managers, coaches and executives throughout the game. And you can certainly expect for me to talk and write about other sports—can’t wait to hop into the Lakers forum!

If you have any feedback about anything I write or would want to feature on a podcast, please drop me an email at [email protected] and I will do my best to get back to you ASAP.

Now, let’s see if the Halos can recover from a bad weekend in Oakland and trounce the Astros in Houston!